Air Force 2nd Lt. Nolan R. Bauer has graduated from Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. The student earned silver wings with an aeronautical rating of pilot in the Air Force.
He is the son of Leslie H. Wunder of Carson City and Kippen A. Bauer of Tuolumne, Calif.
Bauer graduated in 2002 from Summerville High School, Tuolumne, and received a bachelor's degree in 2008 from California State University, Fresno.
Student pilots start the 52-week SUPT program by attending a three-week preflight phase consisting of academics and physiology training for flight preparation. Followed by phase two primary training conducted in T-37 Tweet aircraft to learn flight characteristics, emergency procedures, takeoff and landing procedures, aerobatics, and formation flying. Students also practice night, instrument and cross-country navigation.
Each training phase includes extensive hours of ground events, flight simulator, day and night flying, and flight related instruction. Additional instruction is received on flight formation, navigation, low-level navigation flying, visual and instrument transition, radar cell formation, and simulated refueling and airdrop missions.
After primary training, students move on to advanced training in one of several tracks. Students selected for fighter-bomber assignments fly the T-38A aircraft; airlift-tanker students fly the T-1A aircraft; multi-engine turboprop students fly the C-130 aircraft, and helicopter students fly the UH-1 Huey at their assigned bases or stations.