LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas—First Lt. Stephen Bost, 87th Flying Training Squadron T-38 Talon instructor pilot, was chosen by wing leadership to be the “XLer” of the week, for the week of March 5, 2018, at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
The “XLer” award, presented by Col. Charlie Velino, 47th Flying Training Wing commander, is given to those who consistently make outstanding contributions to their unit and the Laughlin mission.
Bost, a native of Jonesville, Va., is an instructor pilot whose additional duty is unit standard evaluation manager (USEM). As the USEM, he quizzes students with questions known as shotgun questions and is in charge of other such duties.
“I like flying a lot, and I like teaching students how to fly so I want to teach as many students how to fly as well as possible,” Bost said. “A couple of years down the road I will hopefully get a fighter [assignment] in Combat Air Force.”
Bost understands the pilots he trains today can likely become his leaders when he goes on to learn to operate another airframe, and is even more motivated to provide a solid foundation of flying to them.
Bost flew 44 flights which was equivalent to $178,000 worth of training. His lengthened amount of time in the air also bolstered his flight hours which set him at approximately two times as many flight hours as his peers.
“I don’t want to accept being bad at my job,” Bost said. “There are always areas for improvement. Every flight is an opportunity to not only teach someone something, but to learn something. I see new mistakes on a daily basis and learn more and more how to teach students what things work and what doesn’t.”
Another of Bost’s accomplishments includes completing the runway supervisory unit observer (RSU observer) training. This involved coordinating with five wing organizations and managing 24 U.S. Air Force assets, rendering greater safety for flight operations.
“RSU observers go out [to the runway] and observe in order to get a little more situational awareness on how the flight pattern works,” Bost said. “We can have up to 12 aircraft in the pattern, and sometimes it gets pretty busy.”
Bost’s next step after time and experience in the observer position is to become a controller.
“In a couple of months I’ll be the one out there actually controlling the pattern,” Bost said.
He noted even though this duty does not involve physically flying the aircraft, it will make him a better pilot and better at management.
Bost also organized a tour of Team XL’s T-38’s for Airmen from Air Education and Training Command and the 19th Air Force’s judge advocate units. During this tour, he was able to inform them about undergraduate pilot training.
Bost enjoyed the opportunity being the subject matter expert on Team XL’s T-38’s and sharing Laughlin’s mission of graduating the world’s best military pilots.
Altogether Bost’s hard work and dedication to helping his students learn how to fly and be successful has earned him this week’s XLer.