While I would not necessarily play up flight experience the idea that it hurts in the selection process or results in habits that must be "untrained" is false.
Having taught at Ft Rucker I do not know of any students who had problems due to prior civilian experience and I would throw this idea into the urban legend pile. If there were issues it had to do with being taught something improperly or getting lazy. As an example, poor radio communication at a non-towered airport. But heck, that seems to be an Army wide issue ("Any traffic please advise.") Normally the students I had with prior experience actually knew what the FAR/AIM was.
Also standards are standards. The FAAs PTS pretty much mirrors the standards in the Army's ATMs. +-100' is +-100' be it in a Schweitzer or a or a TH-67.
Also having been in the Guard I never once heard of a pilot having issues in selection due to prior aviation experience. The unit looked at the total person and prior flight experience could be a good thing when they looked at the total package.
As a war story I spent a few weeks with my nephew after after he finished the initial civilian flight screening for Navy/Marine flight school teaching him tail wheel and basic aerobatics in my Super D. I must not have hurt him too much- he is now an F/A-18 pilot.
Wow,...........@Flyinhigh728, first allow me to state that this: Mine is not a hard and fast rule nor is it a policy of the Army AND, most importantly, your experience and mileage may vary.
So......let me re-state my earlier post and thoughts in order to clarify.....
Urban legend or not, It has been my PERSONAL experience that SOME prior experience has hindered SOME candidates in Army flight training.
There are
many, many instances of this and are well documented in flight training records…here are a couple worthy of mentioning: As a former instructor as well (and former SP), my PERSONAL experience is that of one kid (yes, I'm old so I can write that) that held a Comm/Inst and flew a Hughes 300 had issues in primary flight training. He had a LOT of hours and experience for someone wanting to start from ground zero in the Army. His tendency was to manually manipulate the throttle. Continually wanted to roll it off when he wanted to descend, especially as he landed. His was NOT a knowledge problem NOR was it a lack of understanding of helicopters in general; his was a training and, most especially, a muscle memory issue. Another was a Candidate that was fixed-wing rated; he operated out of a small grass strip "back home". His "normal" approach for the majority of his flying was to put the airplane into a hard slip when on short final. This must be great for a small plane back home, not so great in a small under-powered helicopter. Again, his was a prior training and muscle memory issue but it was manageable. BOTH of these guys graduated, however, BOTH
seriously struggled as they had to overcome bad habits (my words, not the Army's). What they learned is what they did.....primacy. Any good instructor will be able to pick up these primacy issues and re-train as necessary but it is not accurate to state that these issues don't occur. I would venture a guess that almost every prior-experience candidate has at least one mannerism that had to be re-thought and/or re-learned with regards to their flying. I am not and was not stating that prior experience eliminates you from selection, just that you will face different battles than someone with no experience.
When it comes to aerodynamics, FAR/AIM, communications, etc, you will be leaps and bounds above others. However, I caution you to use your knowledge and experience as a
foundation for learning and not as a substitute for what the Army (or anyone else for that matter) may want to teach you. Don’t flush your experience or knowledge….build on it.
This reminds me of a joke that goes like this:
Q: How do you know when a pilot arrives at your party?
A: Don’t worry,
he’ll tell you!
What I was
trying (and apparently failed) to convey was a suggestion of attitude rather than to state that since you’re already qualified, you don’t have a chance. That
was not and
is not my intention.
As you go through the selection process and flight training (if that’s what you decide to do), use your knowledge and experience as a “feather in your cap” not as a medal on your chest. There is a fine line between and knowledgeable/self-confident pilot and an arrogant/self-righteous one…..be the former. My guess is that the show off types don’t make it very far in the interview process at the majors and that there are very few Airline Captains that want to listen to a new FO tell about “all of his experience at the regionals”.
From my PERSONAL experience both as one that made recommendations and held a seat on the selection board, the confident-not-arrogant applicants won over every time.
I didn’t read into your post that this is your attitude or nature, I was just letting you know that I have been witness to these type of prior-experience applicants and I am recommending to you that you not take the same path as others that I have PERSONALLY seen.
