Hornet School is an educational community in DCS with one simple mission: We give new pilots the basic skills that they need to operate the F/A18-C Hornet, such that they feel confident in joining an established squadron or any other multiplayer activities DCS has to offer. We happily train pilots of all backgrounds and levels of previous experience. Our detailed curriculum, consisting of six separate lessons, is designed to take someone entirely new to DCS through basic flight operations, radio communications, and airfield traffic patterns/control all the way through to Case I recovery at the aircraft carrier. Along the way, we provide detailed instruction on the FA18-C’s navigation and fuel management systems, the principles and practices of formation flight, aerial refueling, and night time and/or low visibility operations. Training culminates with the successful completion of a carrier qualification exam. We maintain several dedicated training servers for student use. Our program is also entirely free. We are happy to see our students develop into effective operators of the jet as our only reward.

 

Hornet School strives to operate at a high standard for all operations in flight. We believe that this approach enables our students to have success wherever they go in DCS after completion of our program. That being said, we do not expect you to spend time reading the NATOPS. We generally teach to that standard in many of our lessons, but we are happy to pass along what you need to know. We are not a milsim community in terms of our environment. No “sirs” or “ma’ams”. No ranks. No paperwork of any kind. We enjoy teaching people how to operate the jet at a high level, but we like to have fun doing it. Our program is fairly rigorous and requires dedication, but it is also very rewarding. Our mentors come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Some are professional pilots. Some simply have a great depth of experience in the virtual F/A18-C of DCS. Most of us are actively involved in some of DCS’s best squadrons, so we are well acquainted with the standards and expectations they impose on new players. All of us have a passion for sharing our knowledge and seeing people succeed in learning how to operate the jet at a high level.

 

Our training program is “hands on”. We offer a variety of ground school theory lectures for each component of our curriculum, and even some on “bonus” topics external to that curriculum. The majority of instruction for our students, however, will be one on one with an experienced mentor. Actual humans will regularly work directly with you in the sim. We will fly with you as many times as it takes to get you where you need to be on a particular skill. In short, there is no other place like Hornet School in the DCS community. You will receive dozens of hours of high level instruction. Our experienced mentor team is invested in your success. We are constantly considering how best to serve our students and make them into top notch Hornet operators. In return, we ask only for your dedication in terms of consistent practice and trusting the process.

 

We look forward to seeing you in the air.