Lt Col Tracy A. Schmidt is the Chief of Curriculum Development, 19th Air Force, JBSA Randolph, TX. She is the director of learning engineering efforts in support of Pilot Training Transformation, which is currently developing modernized curriculums for the T-6A, T-38 & T-1 aircraft. She oversees 17 government and contract personnel, who are responsible for supporting 75 syllabi across 19th AF flying training programs.

Lt Col Schmidt entered the Air Force in 2001 after receiving her commission from the U.S. Air Force Academy. She attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Sheppard AFB, Texas. She was then assigned to fly the F-15E at the 492d Fighter Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, England, where she deployed in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and trained with many NATO partners. She was then reassigned to the 41st Flying Training Squadron, Columbus AFB, Mississippi, as a T-6A Instructor Pilot.

Following this assignment, Lt Col Schmidt served as an F-15E Instructor Pilot and acting Director of Operations in the 389th Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.  There, she deployed in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. She also served as the Director of Staff for the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group at Bagram AB, Afghanistan, where she managed over 2,300 aerial decorations for over 800 deployed personnel and coordinated command and control for 10 combat squadrons. Later, she served as Assistant Director of Operations of the 366th Operations Support Squadron at Mountain Home, where she oversaw over 110 personnel in the base’s most diverse squadron, responsible for intelligence, air traffic control, airfield systems, programming, flight records, weather and aircrew flight equipment.

Lt Col Schmidt then served as an F-15E Instructor Pilot in the 334th Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina. While there, she also served as Assistant Director of Operations for the 4th Operations Support Squadron, as well as Director of Staff and Special Assistant to the Commander of the 4th Operations Group.

Next, Lt Col Schmidt served as Director of Operations for the 33rd Flying Training Squadron at Vance AFB.  She supervised flying operations in conduct of Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training for over 300 U.S. Air Force and allied partners each year, including over 100 aircraft and more than 16,000 sorties annually totaling over 22,000 flight hours. She also served as Chief of Standardization and Evaluation, as the chief advisor to the Operations Group Commander and AETC staff on Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training practices & procedures. She oversaw 40 Flight Evaluators, administered flight evaluations, and was responsible for  the standardization of 270 Instructor Pilots & over 500 students flying 3 different aircraft types in conduct of SUPT.

Most recently, Lt Col Schmidt served as the Deputy Operations Group Commander for Innovation at Vance AFB. She led the first-ever ground-up revision of the T-6A training syllabus to adopt lessons learned from Pilot Training Next, and shift from traditional training methods stemming from 1950’s educational standards, to modern learner-centric and competency-based training methods. She led a team of 15 instructor pilots to re-write the syllabus and conduct two beta-test classes, demonstrating a significant increase in the capabilities of the new pilot graduates compared to the status quo. This program was subsequently adopted as UPT 2.5 and scaled across all 3 SUPT bases in 19th Air Force, training over 1,200 new pilots per year.

Lt Col Schmidt is a Command Pilot with more than 2,800 flight hours in the T-37, T-38, T-6 and F-15E, including more than 570 combat hours.