Warrant Officer Candidate School

• Those interested in warrant officer flight training must first fill out an application listing their academic/professional qualifications and demonstrating medical fitness. Then they will have to undergo an oral examination before a board of Army warrant officers. Those who pass the board will be formally accepted into boot camp, then Warrant Officer Candidate School (WOCS). WOCS expands skills from boot camp like marksmanship, drill and ceremony and tactical maneuvers. Candidates also develop skills essential for warrant officers, such as leading soldiers, managing resources and writing reports.
  
  

Officer Basic Course

• The Officer Basic Course (OBC) for aviation WOs focuses on the basic mechanics of flight, medical issues related to flying and aviation operations. This is the basic information WOs will need before they even sit in a helicopter. The second section of OBC takes place after Initial Entry Rotary Wing (IERW) training and will focus on planning and briefing helicopter missions, as well as survival and evasion in case they are ever shot down.
  
  

Primary Flight

• The first part of IERW is Primary Flight. Here students learn basic maneuvers like taking off, hovering, straight and level flying, autorotation and landing. Mastery of these skills are essential before moving to the next phase.
  
  

Instruments

• The Instruments segment of IERW develops the student's ability to fly in low visibility conditions. This portion of the training fulfills the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirement for instrument flying proficiency. Students are required to fly a cross-country course from one airfield to another.
  
  

Basic Combat Skills

• After Instruments comes Basic Combat Skills. In this phase, pilots learn to navigate terrain, perform fire support mission and set up command and control operations. The point of this phase is to ensure that pilots can protect themselves in combat and provide support to ground elements.
  
  

Night Vision Goggles

• The final phase in IERW is Night Vision Goggles. The students make all of their flights at night wearing night vision goggles. They will have to learn to perform all of the skills they learned in the previous three sessions at night.
  
  

Advanced Aircraft Transition

• Advanced Aircraft Transition (AAT) is the phase where pilots finally begin training for their specific airframe. There are four available airframes. The AH-64 Apache provides air strike support for ground units. The UH-60 Blackhawk works as a small troop transport and medivac helicopter. The OH-58 is an observational/scout craft. Finally, the CH-47 Chinook is a heavy cargo helicopter.