West Point Aeronautical Flight Labs

The academy offers several Aeronautical Engineering courses, known as the Academic Flight Program (AFP), as a sub-discipline of Mechanical Engineering. A significant highlight of this program today is the use of actual fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft as flight laboratories to demonstrate basic aerodynamic principles and validate theory. The direct impact these flying laboratories have on our Army cannot be overstated. The intuitions developed by cadets in these Cessna cockpits will forever shape how they understand the mechanics of flight. In the age of multidomain warfare, in the advent of contested cyber and space environments, it is imperative to have technically proficient officers ready to implement and modernize aerospace technology. Read more.