LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Edward Proffit, 47th Student Squadron T-6 Texan II civilian simulator instructor and phase one handler, was chosen by wing leadership to be this week’s “XLer”, Oct. 18, 2017.
The “XLer” award, presented by Col. Michelle Pryor, 47th Flying Training Wing vice wing commander, is given to those who consistently make outstanding contributions to their unit and Laughlin’s mission.
Proffit revamped and revitalized phase 1 of student’s training, maximizing the amount of training time they have available. His changes added more than eight hours of syllabus training without adding any additional days of training to the course.
“Four hours a day of additional [computer] lab hours doesn’t sound like much but multiply that by 31 training days and that greatly expands the ability of phase one to train students,” he said. “Additional training hours plus smarter scheduling allows phase one to do more in the same amount [of] days.”
Proffit secured a vital extension to students’ computer lab time, allowing them to squeeze an extra 25 percent more time out of their day, and hopes to possibly open even more time to students.
“It made no sense to me to require students to accomplish large amounts of computer based training in a short period of time but then only have the [computer] lab available Monday through Friday for eight hours,” Proffit said. “Extending the lab availability to 12 hours Monday through Friday provided much more scheduling flexibility and opportunities for students to succeed. The next step [is] perhaps a cipher lock on the [computer] lab door and 24/7 lab availability.”
Proffit is also a co-leader of the “Tiger Team,” where he helped identify nine key retention issues in the civilian simulator instructor (CSI) side of the house, and gave his commander the knowledge to ease a 22 percent CSI deficit.
“[We looked] for innovative ways to find and hire qualified CSIs to work at Laughlin AFB,” said Proffit.
Proffit also streamlined the navigation portion of pilot training, modernizing and updating the old process of flight planning that used to be done by hand.
“It used to be that T-6 pilots had to do much of the fuel and time of flight planning for off-station sorties by hand,” he said. “This type of flight planning can now be done much more quickly via Web based programs accessed over the internet. Modernizing the T-6 Navigation courseware, plus some reorganization, allowed T-6 navigation training to reflect today’s reality as well [as] actually shorten the course.”
While Proffit is receiving recognition for standing out, he made it a point that he didn’t do it alone, and that his team helped set the stage for him.
“I don’t do my job in a vacuum,” said Proffit. “Like they say, there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’. It is a team game.”
For his contributions to Laughlin and his efforts to make Laughlin’s mission a success, Edward Proffit was awarded with the weekly “XLer” award.