CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A 2013 Silver Bluff High School graduate and Aiken, South Carolina, native is participating in a rigorous training process that transforms officers into U.S. naval aviators.
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| Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Finley |
Ensign Sam Douglas is a student pilot with the “Wise Owls” of Training Squadron (VT) 31, based in Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. The squadron flies the T-44C Pegasus aircraft.
A Navy student pilot is responsible for learning procedures to fly naval aircraft taught by instructor pilots.
“Learning to fly is amazing because it opens up a new dimension and challenges you to quickly problem solve,” Douglas said. “It’s great knowing I am getting some of the best training in the world from the Navy.”
Douglas credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned growing up in Aiken.
“I learned from my parents to put in 100 percent in whatever I do, and to help everyone around me that I can,” Douglas said.
The T-44C Pegasus is a twin-engine, pressurized, fixed-wing monoplane used for advanced turboprop radar aircraft training using two 550 shaft horsepowered engines, with a cruising airspeed of 287 mph.
VT-31’s primary mission is to train future naval aviators to fly as well as instill leadership and officer values, Navy officials explained. Students must complete four phases of flight training in order to graduate, including aviation pre-flight indoctrination, primary flight training, and advanced flight training. After successfully completing the rigorous program, naval aviators earn their coveted “Wings of Gold.”
After graduation, pilots continue their training to learn how to fly a specific aircraft, such as the Navy’s P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft or Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. They are later assigned to a ship or land-based squadron.
A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, and that the nation’s prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the world’s oceans. More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the world’s population lives close to a coast; and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea.
Douglas plays an important role in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of National Defense Strategy.
“Our priorities center on people, capabilities and processes, and will be achieved by our focus on speed, value, results and partnerships,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “Readiness, lethality and modernization are the requirements driving these priorities.”
Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community and career, Douglas is most proud of successfully completing primary flight training.
“Each step to getting our Wings of Gold has been more and more challenging and primary flight training was definitely the most longest and challenging of them all,” Douglas said.
Serving in the Navy is a continuing tradition of military service for Douglas, who has military ties with family members who have previously served. Douglas is honored to carry on the family tradition.
“My father served in the Army as a staff sergeant and being able to serve and be trusted with a small portion of the nation's safety is a blessing and humbling,” Douglas said.
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Douglas and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“It gives me a sense of purpose to serve in the Navy and knowing that it makes my wife and parents proud in fulfilling a lifelong dream of mine is an amazing feeling,” Douglas said.