[1] After joining TW-1, students are trained in the T-45C over a 12 month long syllabus consisting of over 130 flights in the aircraft, accumulating over 160 hours.

1st Lt. Karen Fuller Tribbett received her Wings of Gold on 17 October 1997, becoming the first female strike pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps.

In July 2004, the last T-2C "Buckeye" left NAS Meridian marking the end of Navy strike pilot training in that aircraft.

Student naval aviators or SNAs will also fly approximately 96 hours in aircraft simulators before they complete the syllabus.

[4] "First the students complete their Ground School and sims, which lasts between 1 and 1.5 months" (This covers aerodynamics, meteorology, engineering, navigation and emergency procedures).

[4] Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) is the final Intermediate Jet part of the course and this is where the students really begin to ready themselves to be tail-hookers.

A Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (known as the Meatball, or ball) on the runway verge, as fitted to all aircraft carriers and is used to assist the pilot in completing a successful trap on the flight deck.

Pilots must complete ten daytime 'traps' (arrested landings), with four touch & goes aboard an aircraft carrier at sea.