I'm looking for info on the current state of military pilots

thehobbit

thehobbit

Well-Known Member
I'm starting civilian helicopter training and I'm looking for some sort of government report like the one listed, but that is more recent. I'm wanting to know how many helicopter pilots are leaving the military this year and what is the trend for retention in the next three years?
http://www.gao.gov/archive/1999/ns99102t.pdf
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

Speaking for the Army promotion rates are almost down to the levels before OIF/OEF and Fort Rucker will be reducing the number of aviators in flight school. Quite a change from only a few years ago when promotion raters were 90% and selection for flight training was pretty high to keep up with the demand for all the pilots getting out. As of now with the economy not doing well and the realization that the deployments are winding down the Army has too many pilots, especially in the junior ranks.

This was the info put out when I attended the Army HRC brief the other week. So as long as you believe a stranger on the internet it'll be current and accurate info as far as the Army is concerned.
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

I'm in a state of confusion, does that help?
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

I'm not too sure about forecasting the pilot allocations for the next 3 years, but here's a brief article about DOD recruiting and retention rates as of recent.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123200327

I can tell you that right now there aren't currently a lot of pilot slots, much less, officer accession allocations to go around. The Air Force has cancelled the last 2 non-rated boards for OTS and aren't selecting very many rated officers either; I can imagine it's about the same in the Army and other branches as well since the recession hit so it might be a while before things open up again.
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

I assume you are interested in knowing what kind of competition you are going to have down the road. Kind of hard to say, but I think you can count on a steady stream of mil helo folks entering the civilian work market for the foreseeable future. There are some folks staying in these days who otherwise might not, but the reality is that many guys/gals are getting tired of the high operational tempo and constant deployments going on right now.

That being said, if you are just now starting training, its going to be a long time before you have the hours and type of experience you need to be applying for the same kinds of jobs that these guys are getting coming off active duty. It would be pretty hard to game what the situation is going to be like in 3-5 years.
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

FWIW, I went through Army Flight School in 2000 and since then, not one pilot I know personally (warrant or commissioned) has left the service to fly civilian helicopters. Many have left to do other jobs, but not flying jobs. It's just anecdotal, but may provide some insight.
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

Ian J said:
FWIW, I went through Army Flight School in 2000 and since then, not one pilot I know personally (warrant or commissioned) has left the service to fly civilian helicopters. Many have left to do other jobs, but not flying jobs. It's just anecdotal, but may provide some insight.
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Because the jobs they are qualified for in the eyes of the insurance company kind of suck. Why would you leave the army to go fly for Temsco or some Medevac gig? I mean, the guys getting out of the Army after an initial commitment have what 3000hrs total time? Granted its all turbine, but seriously, considering that many of their civilian counterparts have racked up in some cases as much as twice the flight time it doesn't bode all that well for their paychecks after separation.
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

ppragman said:
Because the jobs they are qualified for in the eyes of the insurance company kind of suck. Why would you leave the army to go fly for Temsco or some Medevac gig? I mean, the guys getting out of the Army after an initial commitment have what 3000hrs total time? Granted its all turbine, but seriously, considering that many of their civilian counterparts have racked up in some cases as much as twice the flight time it doesn't bode all that well for their paychecks after separation.
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But some of their civilian counterparts don't always have turbine time, or mountain flying time, or hoist work, or low-level NVG time.

It's not all just hours. There are jobs out there that prefer the kind of operational experience that you just can't always get from flying an R-44 for a long time or working your way up civil.

It all just depends, on many factors.
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

Thanks for the replies. What I was hoping to get were just solid numbers, but I don't think that is going to happen. I'm not really concerned about the competition as I don't think their is going to be much money to be made as a pilot. You would think that a military trained pilot who has served in iraq or afgan would be more interested in PMC contracts that pay a whole lot better than local ems jobs. Whatever the fact I'm still starting training next week so I'll see what the future holds.
 
Re: I'm looking for info on the current state of military pi

ppragman said:
Because the jobs they are qualified for in the eyes of the insurance company kind of suck. Why would you leave the army to go fly for Temsco or some Medevac gig? I mean, the guys getting out of the Army after an initial commitment have what 3000hrs total time? Granted its all turbine, but seriously, considering that many of their civilian counterparts have racked up in some cases as much as twice the flight time it doesn't bode all that well for their paychecks after separation.
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Depending on the airframe...

I would say the average Chinook guy, at his 6 year commitment, 1000-1500 hours. And that would be with two deployments.

The 64 or 58 guys rack up 1200 a year while deployed

I would estimate the 60 guys get somewhere between depending on his mission.

It has been my experience, that most Army heli pilots do not have a desire to continue flying after they get out.
 
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