SERVICE: Air Force
DESCRIPTION: The T-41 Mescalero, a short-range, high-wing trainer aircraft, is the military version of the Cessna 172. It is used primarily for pilot candidate screening.
FEATURES:
The T-41 trainer is equipped with avionics and other equipment consistent with military missions.INVENTORY:
50 at Hondo, Texas, 50 at the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo.BACKGROUND:
The T-41A model is used by Air Training Command for preliminary flight screening of Air Force pilot candidates before their entry into undergraduate pilot training. A more powerful version, designated T-41C, is used for cadet flight training at the United States Air Force Academy. The screening is conducted at Hondo, Texas. Pilot candidates train for approximately 14 hours in the T-41A before passing on to T-37 primary jet training at one of the six Air Force pilot training schools. Between September 1964 and July 1965, The Air Force began receiving the T- 41A in September 1964. The Air Force Academy acquired the T-41C in 1968 for use in its pilot indoctrination program, which allows cadets to experience in an aerial environment principles learned in other academic courses. Cadets in the program fly approximately 21.2 hours dual and solo, and receive their first U.S. Air Force flight check. The Air Force plans to replace the T-41 with a more advanced aircraft capable of aerobatics beginning in 1993.
