By Rick Burke, Navy Office of Community Outreach
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A 2008 Mountain Crest High School graduate and Hyrum, Utah, native is participating in a rigorous training process that transforms officers into U.S. naval aviators.
Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Finley
Ensign Jacob Goodwin is a student pilot with the “Stingrays” of Training Squadron (VT) 35, based in Naval Air Station Corpus, Christi, Texas. The squadron flies the T-44C Pegasus aircraft.
A Navy student pilot is responsible for understanding the laws, regulations, and rules associated with the safe operation of naval aircraft.
“While you're in the air, even though it’s highly regulated, it's the most liberating feeling ever,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin credits success in the Navy to many of the lessons learned growing up in Hyrum.
“I grew up learning hard work and dedication to a cause,” Goodwin said. “This has helped me become the person and naval officer I am today.”
The T-44C Pegasus is a twin-engine, pressurized, fixed-wing monoplane used for advanced turboprop radar aircraft training using two 550 shaft horsepowered engines, with a cruising airspeed of 287 mph.
VT-35’s primary mission is to train future naval aviators to fly as well as instill leadership and officer values, Navy officials explained. Students must complete four phases of flight training in order to graduate, including aviation pre-flight indoctrination, primary flight training, and advanced flight training. After successfully completing the rigorous program, naval aviators earn their coveted “Wings of Gold.”
After graduation, pilots continue their training to learn how to fly a specific aircraft, such as the Navy’s P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft or Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. They are later assigned to a ship or land-based squadron.
A key element of the Navy the nation needs is tied to the fact that America is a maritime nation, and that the nation’s prosperity is tied to the ability to operate freely on the world’s oceans. More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water; 80 percent of the world’s population lives close to a coast; and 90 percent of all global trade by volume travels by sea.
Goodwin plays an important role in America’s focus on rebuilding military readiness, strengthening alliances and reforming business practices in support of National Defense Strategy.
“Our priorities center on people, capabilities and processes, and will be achieved by our focus on speed, value, results and partnerships,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “Readiness, lethality and modernization are the requirements driving these priorities.”
Though there are many ways for sailors to earn distinction in their command, community and career, Goodwin is most proud of receiving his commission to become a naval officer.
“It's been a dream of mine as long as I can remember,” Goodwin said. “It gives me a great sense of fulfillment ‘living the dream.’"
Serving in the Navy is a continuing tradition of military service for Goodwin, who has military ties with family members who have previously served. Goodwin is honored to carry on the family tradition.
“My grandfather on my mother's side was in the Navy as an aviation boatswain's mate, my grandfather on my father's side served in the Army and my dad served in the Coast Guard,” Goodwin said. “It’s an honor to carry on the family name serving our country.”
As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied-upon assets, Goodwin and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“Serving in the Navy gives me an opportunity to see places I never would see,” Goodwin said. "I get to help those I come in contact with as well as learn valuable lessons that will benefit myself, my family and my country both now and in the future.”
