Col. Nicholaus Lofthouse, commander of the 14th Flying Training Wing Operations Group at Columbus Air Force Base, believes that pilots are tactical athletes long before they ever step foot into a cockpit.
Whether it’s fighter pilots enduring up to 9g force during tight maneuvers, bomber crews completing round-trip missions from Missouri to the Middle East or aircrews spending more than 16 hours on a single flight, Lofthouse said the mental and physical strain on aviators is constant and extreme.
“From day one, we want to … get them integrated into a program that prepares them, that grows them, develops them mentally, physically, socially, so that when the time comes, they’re as prepared as they can be,” Lofthouse said Friday during a media event outlining the program at the air force base.
The philosophy inspired Lofthouse and Colin T. Klatt, cognitive performance specialist, to create the Tactical Athlete Program, an expansion of the Air Force’s Comprehensive Readiness for Aircrew Flying Training initiative. TAP lays out strict regimens for strength training, cognitive performance, nutrition, hydration and recovery. The structure is intentionally modeled after Division 1 athletic programs.
“As a D1 athlete, the whole day is mapped out,” Lofthouse said. “No minute is wasted. … Everything from rest and recovery, sleep hygiene, going to bed, waking up at the same time, it’s the cognitive development of when and how … you reflect on the day and on practice and on the things you need to work on. Everything’s deliberate about it. So that’s what we’re trying to bring here to our campus. … We want to treat them like athletes and map out their days so that they have all that value integrated.”
For the last eight months, pilots have entered TAP as soon as they arrive on base. A dedicated team works with each student to tailor strength, nutrition and sleep plans to their individual needs.
Lt. Col. Lindzi Torres, 14th FTW human performance lead and commander of the Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, is a board-certified sports dietician who oversees the program’s physiological training. Torres said TAP helps pilots understand both their limitations and the tools they need to endure demanding missions.
“When they go to … a real world scenario, then they know, ‘Hey, when I have to do an early morning or a 40 hour out and back (flight) with short notice, I need to have this type of electrolyte beverage, I need to have this much protein, I need to do mobility, or I need to do a yoga session or meditation, and I got to get my mind right,’” she said. “They have all those toolkits. So then they’re not figuring it out over the next 10 to 15 years by themselves.”
Inside the weight room, workouts are paired with cognitive drills. Pilots move from squats and bench presses to reaction-time tests, then immediately to breathing exercises designed to calm the nervous system.
“You need the ability to go from ramped up, fangs out back to a very controllable, smooth, deliberate mindset while you catch your breath,” Lofthouse said. “We’re practicing that now, even before they enter the flying part of pilot training.”
More than 200 officers awaiting training and roughly 100 T-6 students have participated in TAP so far. The program is fully data-driven, tracking strength gains, body composition and cognitive performance. Klatt said results have been overwhelmingly positive.
Across about seven weeks, pilots have increased their back squat by an average of 15 pounds and improved their vertical jump by about 2.2 inches, Klatt said. Still, he considers the students’ feedback the program’s greatest success. Of about 342 surveys submitted, only two participants said TAP wasn’t a suitable program.
Tim Lewis, an officer awaiting pilot training, said the program has been a major asset for him both socially and physically.
“I’m getting a lot closer with a lot of my fellow student pilots,” Lewis said. “A shared struggle of sorts is something that gets you closer to the people you’re going to be flying with in the future. I think that’s a great thing, and then obviously, just getting stronger and having a great opportunity to use the professional knowledge of our coaches to be better and smarter as it comes to lifting and eating and stuff in the future.”
Following the program’s early success, Klatt said the U.S. Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training base in Texas is now trialing TAP, and he hopes it will continue to expand.
“Basically, what we’re trying to do here is evolutionize the way that we treat humans,” Klatt said. “As much as technology evolves, so does the human factor as well, and I think that’s something we’ve been able to do very successfully here at Columbus.”
Posted in Columbus & Lowndes County
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