How hard for Air Force???

AA

New Member
How hard is it to actually get a pilot slot in the Air Foce, or even Navy, if you are in ROTC?
Also, how hard is it to get a flying slot for the military cargo op planes?

Merry Christmas Guys!!
 
Hey,
I"m currently in AFROTC on 4yr scholarship. I'm also currently in the process of applying for my pilot slot. Pilots slots right now are pretty competetive... ROTC is alloted 500+ slots this year for pilots. Normally the selection rate runs around 52%. There are a lot of factors involved in determing who gets a slot and who doesnt. The AF comprises a number on each cadet applicant called an Order Of Merit that considers gpa, cadet ranking, PFT score, field training grade, and PCSM (afoqt, BAT score , flying hours).

As for navigators, it is still pretty much critical need so if you are medically qualified and in good standing, most all that apply will get it. My backup if I dont get a pilot slot is to get a strike nav slot.
cool.gif



Hopefully this helps answer it a little bit, if you have any more questions post away
wink.gif
 
Hey USAFplt, what if you sign up for afrotc, and dont get a pilot slot, can you just quit or what has to happen?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hey USAFplt, what if you sign up for afrotc, and dont get a pilot slot, can you just quit or what has to happen?

[/ QUOTE ]

Used to be able to back in my day. Back then, you got your job, or "slot", prior to signing a committment to the USAF. So if you didn't get what you liked, you could 86 it; like I did. Back then, there were few pilot slots immediately post- Desert Storm, so I ended up with a missile slot. Not wanting to sit in a silo in Montana, I dropped out and went to pursue my civilian flying.

Today, you're given your slot upon completion of summer camp, once you've already signed a committment, so you're pretty much stuck with whatever job you get.

Regards the cargo aircraft question, it depends how you do in pilot training, or UPT, and also how many are available. Transports and tankers are as popular selections as fighters these days, due to far better quality of life. Remember, what you get is based on (in order):

1. Needs of the USAF
2. What's available
3. Where you stand (how you rate)
4. What you select

Rest of what "USAF plt" said is on the money; though, IMO, I don't know how badly I'd want to be a Nav.

MD
 
[ QUOTE ]
IMO, I don't know how badly I'd want to be a Nav.

MD

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO it still beats the hell out of any desk job.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
IMO, I don't know how badly I'd want to be a Nav.

MD

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO it still beats the hell out of any desk job.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll go with that.

Beats any silo too.
 
[ QUOTE ]
So would you say that it is harder to get a cargo than fighter slot??

[/ QUOTE ]

I would say case-by-case (class-by-class), it depends. Depends on the factors I outlined above.

Generally speaking, though, the trend has been that more students seem to be selecting transports/tankers on dream sheets; so chances could go either way.

MD
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hey USAFplt, what if you sign up for afrotc, and dont get a pilot slot, can you just quit or what has to happen?

[/ QUOTE ]

What MikeD said was accurate. This day in age you cant just drop out. As of right now i'm currently obligated to 4 years minimum of active duty to pay off my scholarship ( i have no probs with that whatsoever!! ) . However with a flight slot i would incur 10 years of active duty committment plus the 2 years it takes to graduate pilot training.

However joining ROTC you cant just drop out if you dont get a slot. If you were say a freshman however, you could potentially be in 2 years until you reached the point of field training and drop out IF you were never contracted on scholarship. That would be pointless anyhow considering you have to at least be a jr. to categorize for pilot and by that time already incurred some contract to the AF. So in long, no
smile.gif



as for in pilot training, from my own research and hearing it from others i know already there, an interesting phenomena as i call it is occurring. Traditionall the fighter track to T38s and then either A10s F15 F16 etc used to be the top students in the class. A trend is starting to occur where the top students are now tracking T1 to get heavies. But overall, it isnt too hard in the grand scheme of things to track heavies. Once in heavies the C17 is the hardest plane to get obviously because it is the new kid on the block etc.

As far as I go, if I'm lucky enough to get a slot, I wouldnt mind one bit if everyone was scrambling for a T1 slot and i just slide in and grab a -38
wink.gif
cool.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
What MikeD said was accurate.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well thank you. Of course its accurate. You didn't for a minute think otherwise, did you?:D

Judging by where you seem to be years-wise, by the time you would make it to UPT, it's going to be quite a different time than now. T-37s would have been history, all T-6s being in primary. I would venture to guess that few, if any, A-10 slots would be getting handed out. F-15 single-seaters would be getting fewer too. Probably some of the first grads to go directly into F/A-22s would be happening, as well as the F-35. In the T-1 track, C-17s and KC-10s still rank as the top picks.

....You never know.......you might even have me as an IP.

Just remember that while having preferences is great, in reality, if for whatever reason you end up in a heavy, it isn't all that bad. Truthfully, flying anything in the AF should be something to be proud of.

That being said, it's always that much better to do the above, AND get your top choice on the dream sheet.
 
your damn straight MikeD. I will be thankful to fly any Air Force aircraft!! I'm really excited joining the best air force in the world and getting the chance to possibly fly. That would be the best thing ever to have such a badass such as yourself for an IP. I would probably be scared $hitless haha jk. Hopefully the T37 will still be around when I get there, call me crazy but I wanted to fly the thousand pound dog whistle outta tradition
wink.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
your damn straight MikeD. I will be thankful to fly any Air Force aircraft!! I'm really excited joining the best air force in the world and getting the chance to possibly fly. That would be the best thing ever to have such a badass such as yourself for an IP. I would probably be scared $hitless haha jk. Hopefully the T37 will still be around when I get there, call me crazy but I wanted to fly the thousand pound dog whistle outta tradition
wink.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Tweet is a neat airplane; it's just seen it's days. I remember the ones I was flying at Laughlin AFB, TX. You'd review the aircraft's forms prior to the flight, and the page where the aircraft total time was located, the jets, on average, had about 32,000 to 36,000 TT, with the planes being a 1956 models (oldest) to a early/mid-1960 model being the newest. US tapayer really got their money's worth with these planes. Same story for the T-38s, just somewhat newer airframes.

Would be real neat to fly the Tweet out of tradition, but the T-6 is one heck of a plane. Never flown in one, but know some guys that fly them now, and they love them. Maneuverable as heck, very nice airframe; the only true drawback being the lack of side-by-side seating that did help with teaching in the T-37. Just makes instructing a little easier.

Regards instructing, there'd definately be no need to ever be scared of me as an instructor. Reason being, flying as much as I have in the AF, it's been an excellent opportunity to see varying types of people and how they fly, brief, work as flight leads, work as mission commanders, etc. I've seen some techniques I like, but mainly (since I have my own ways of doing business), I've gotten a lot of time to truly see ways I would NEVER be to wingmen/students. Truly poor techniques, etc.

A good example is flight briefings. Average time alloted for a flight brief is about 1 hour prior to "step time", or the time you walk to the jet. Alloted time is just that: alloted. It doesn't mean that's how much time you HAVE to brief. I see SO many flight leads and IPs that brief just to hear themselves speak, while most of the information goes in one ear and out the other of the pilot getting briefed. Especially when the focus of ANY brief should be the mission in the target area...map study, target area info/familiarization, etc; not wasting time briefing takeoff procedures, recovery procedures, air-air refueling, etc. That's all category 3 BS that any qualed single-seat pilot should know how to do; in other words, it can be briefed with one simple word: Standard.

My job is to teach. To get guys to understand stuff, not waste their time with useless info and needless intimidation. That's all AF Academy BS, I like to treat guys like adults and have them be able to concentrate on learning what's important, not worry about small stuff that has nothing to do with the mission. Reminds me of these idiot civilian DEs and even many military flight examiners who think their sole purpose is to find ways to bust people. Morons. Even when examining, I'd still try to take the time to both evaluate, and still teach, if needed, so the guy gets something useful out of the flight.

So many guys forget the basics of briefs:

1. Cut out the BS, brief ONLY what's necessary. Brief the mothehood first: ground ops, going to the mission area, returning from the mission area; then brief the mission area details itself. Don't waste time, and brief as standard what is truly standard.

2. Brief for TODAY. Don't waste time with generic stuff in the brief. Brief everything with TODAY's weather, TODAY's conditions, etc.

3. Tailor your brief to the person you're briefing. For a brand new guy, it's going to take a little longer covering some of the newer stuff; for a more experienced guy, more and more is standard, and one can almost press right to the meat of flight.

.....you know......just realized something.......I'm wasting your time with my rant in the General Topics forum.............this really belongs in the CFI forum.......

My bad.
 
Mike, that's all good stuff. Applies to all sorts of situations, not just flight briefs.
Company meetings, for example.
Good insights.
 
I would be thankful if I even had the option to fly for the Air Force... but, based on their vision and health requirements...
frown.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Company meetings, for example.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, God. Don't even get me started.

So, as you can see from slide number x.......now I'm not going to cover everything on the slide because you can read it yourself (guy proceeds to go over every data point but one)

And I'm thinking that it's time to do the thing from Airplane. Should I hang myself, commit harikari, or torch myself?

Also, doesn't the military like to see engineering or science degrees for their pilots? A friend of mine was a math major and he was kind of the freak in his class, because everyone else was a this engineer or that engineer.
 
there is more emphasis based on technical degrees in the AF, but it doesnt effect your ability to get a flying slot. I"m currently in business admin.
 
Back
Top