Becoming a Military Pilot

FlyMarines09

FlyMarines09

Well-Known Member
I'm just curious..... (exercising all possibilities)
If someone meets all requirements for becoming a military pilot (including having previous civilian flight experience) what is the liklihood of being selected as a pilot vs a navigator, flight engineer, WSO, etc?
Does the top of the class have the option to choose which aircraft platform they go into?

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated...
 
FlyMarines09 said:
I'm just curious..... (exercising all possibilities)
If someone meets all requirements for becoming a military pilot (including having previous civilian flight experience) what is the liklihood of being selected as a pilot vs a navigator, flight engineer, WSO, etc?
Does the top of the class have the option to choose which aircraft platform they go into?

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated...
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Military FEs are enlisted. It depends on the service and how you are going in. Academy, you will compete for the slot while in. OTS, you compete for a slot before you get in. You apply for a slot for what you want to do, prior experience doesn't really mean anything.

Generally speaking, when in pilot or Nav training, the top of the class usually gets a choice, though needs of the service always come first. Go look into the military forum and search around there. There's a ton of info there. This post is going there...
 
Academy, ROTC, or OTS/OCS you'll compete for a pilot/nav/ABM slot, whatever, some being easier to get what you want than others. What you end up getting out of training depends on luck, timing, and how well you do relative to your peers. The military is getting smaller and fighters are few and far between for the foreseeable future . My advice, keep an open mind about what you think being a military pilot is and decide if it's right for you.
 
Keep in mind that prior civilian flying time is absolutely NOT a requirement to be a military aviator. I've heard that it potentially factors into selection on the AF side of the house, but on the USN/USMC side, it means basically nothing to them. Given your username, I'm guessing you are hoping for some wings of gold, so that may apply to you as well. Agree with all of the above, and I will triple second the suggestion that being a mil pilot might not be what you think it is. I thought I had it pretty well figured out before I joined (I was always an airplane/aviation dork), but the reality was very different than what I had expected. In both good and bad ways. Not sure what you are after, but I will say that flying fighters is not for everyone. Keep an open mind that there might be something else out there that interests you more eventually, and you will be well suited for the next few years of wondering what will be.
 
I'm pretty sure it does factor in with USN as the majority @ OCS had prior flight time; I know with USMC a lot of the applicants for OCS had some flight time if not a PPL. They only ones with no flight team are from academy / nrotc. In fact I know one guy with couple thousand hours that got on with a crazy low GPA.

As far as the Navy side, if you want jets and have the grades you will probably get them. I know of at least one class that had 6 jet spots handed out because everyone wanted them. If you don't want to fly helo's you almost 100% will not. There are no drafts anymore where they say "okay everyone graduating this week will get this." I know sometime beginning of last year I think they had a helo pilot shortage and asked if people were interested, they filled that very quickly...but they asked, didn't force people to go helos.
 
PGT said:
As far as the Navy side, if you want jets and have the grades you will probably get them. I know of at least one class that had 6 jet spots handed out because everyone wanted them. If you don't want to fly helo's you almost 100% will not. There are no drafts anymore where they say "okay everyone graduating this week will get this." I know sometime beginning of last year I think they had a helo pilot shortage and asked if people were interested, they filled that very quickly...but they asked, didn't force people to go helos.
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As far as the bold goes...it completely depends on the Navy's needs. If they don't need strike slots and thus no jet slots, you won't get jets, no matter what your grades are. There are times when jets are needed and times when helo pilots are. Remember, ~50% of all Navy pilots are helo pilots while ~75% of Marine pilots are helo pilots. About 35% of Navy pilots fly jets, 15% fly P-3/E-6 and the rest E-2/C-2.
 
bunk22 said:
As far as the bold goes...it completely depends on the Navy's needs. If they don't need strike slots and thus no jet slots, you won't get jets, no matter what your grades are. There are times when jets are needed and times when helo pilots are. Remember, ~50% of all Navy pilots are helo pilots while ~75% of Marine pilots are helo pilots. About 35% of Navy pilots fly jets, 15% fly P-3/E-6 and the rest E-2/C-2.
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Oh I don't disagree at all, I'm just saying from what I saw; that almost all students with above 50NSS were getting them. I think I know of only 1 who didn't but his NSS was 50.change and he went up against a good group. I think there were 2 tacamo slots given out in 2 weeks to guys who wanted them...even a P8 slot or two out of primary. However, with the military you never really know.
 
PGT said:
Oh I don't disagree at all, I'm just saying from what I saw; that almost all students with above 50NSS were getting them. I think I know of only 1 who didn't but his NSS was 50.change and he went up against a good group. I think there were 2 tacamo slots given out in 2 weeks to guys who wanted them...even a P8 slot or two out of primary. However, with the military you never really know.
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I know, it does happen, every guy with a 50 NSS gets jets or everyone gets helo's. You are right, you just never know. I thought I had jets back in the day, had some inside info and bam, out of no where, two E2/C2 slots roll out and I get it. I put E2/C2 second and got it...not I'm thinking that's why I got it lol Hell, you must want it if you put it down!!! A good buddy of mine had an NSS of 67 or so put E2/C2 last, number 1 overall and got E2/C2 o_O That's the Navy for you.
 
Just like I was sure I had gotten EA-6B (hell I had been dumb enough to ask for it as my #1)....should have seen my face when the XO handed me a Hornet patch and told me where I was going. Hadn't been anything resembling a rockstar in jet advanced, and after bumbling my way through ACM/BFM like a blind kid with a bat in a china store, I really didn't think VFA was for me. Looking back, it was the best thing the Navy ever did for me, and I wouldn't change it for anything.
 
///AMG said:
Just like I was sure I had gotten EA-6B (hell I had been dumb enough to ask for it as my #1)....should have seen my face when the XO handed me a Hornet patch and told me where I was going. Hadn't been anything resembling a rockstar in jet advanced, and after bumbling my way through ACM/BFM like a blind kid with a bat in a china store, I really didn't think VFA was for me. Looking back, it was the best thing the Navy ever did for me, and I wouldn't change it for anything.
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Had it been a few years back, I would've sent you VF instead of VFA......:)

VAQ/VMAQ.......you don't want live in the neighborhood where you're a minority.........to NFOs. :D
 
Haha yeah, and if there was any lingering doubt in my mind, it went away the first night I saw the Prowler dudes flying around the boat. Earlier that day, I had checked in, and was sent to low holding where I got to just watch the show for a while and ponder my fuel state and other imponderables. Day CQ is normally pretty vanilla (at least the times I've done it), and there aren't a lot of comms. I'm listening to the typical Hornet passes with nothing more than a couple sugar calls for dudes pretty much all flying the same pass.......high come down, fly through down or just high come down all the way. And all of a sudden I hear the Prowler roll into the groove. Starts out nice and calm almost a whisper, "liiiiiitttlllee powweeeeeerrrr". A couple potatoes....more sternly "power"......couple more potatoes....."POWER"......"ATTITUDE...POWER POWER POWER WAVE OFF WAVE OFF". Pretty sure the dude got sent home to the beach that afternoon. I don't have a real good story for the night Prowler CQ experience, but I will say that they looked a lot like Cougar's pass at the beginning of Top Gun, with a lot of sparks and yelling from paddles. That night I thanked the good Lord that he let me go Hornets, with good motors, good flight controls, and a HUD :)
 
From what I understand from one of the guys I work with who is also a T-34 IP, USMCR, he said that the guys who were good at the boat, they tried to push to the EA-6.
 
///AMG said:
... That night I thanked the good Lord that he let me go Hornets, with good motors, good flight controls, and a HUD :)
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...and a hook that's designed to catch the wire on a regular basis is a big perk too. "Hook skip bolter, OK" is a common part of a night debrief from paddles.
 
///AMG said:
Just like I was sure I had gotten EA-6B (hell I had been dumb enough to ask for it as my #1)....should have seen my face when the XO handed me a Hornet patch and told me where I was going. Hadn't been anything resembling a rockstar in jet advanced, and after bumbling my way through ACM/BFM like a blind kid with a bat in a china store, I really didn't think VFA was for me. Looking back, it was the best thing the Navy ever did for me, and I wouldn't change it for anything.
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From what I hear, every student bumbles their way through ACM/BFM....even the so called rock stars.
 
bunk22 said:
From what I hear, every student bumbles their way through ACM/BFM....even the so called rock stars.
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One of the most interesting aspects of being a fighter lead-in instructor was seeing the students who'd been well above average in the USAF training pipeline up to that point occasionally "hit the wall" when learning BFM.

For many of them, it was the first time they'd struggled at anything in their entire life, and they had a tough time coping with it. I was surprised how many SUPT Distinguished Graduates were amongst the names of IFF washouts.
 
Hacker15e said:
One of the most interesting aspects of being a fighter lead-in instructor was seeing the students who'd been well above average in the USAF training pipeline up to that point occasionally "hit the wall" when learning BFM.
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Thats why the A-10 IFF track was fun.....2 offensive, 4 defensive rides (at the time, don't know if changed). Then onto the important stuff! :)
 
I think the lightbulb finally went off as I was saddling in behind an Eagle for a guns kill, following several valid heater shots :) Don't worry Hacker, it was a grey Eagle, not one of yours
 
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