OTS for Air Force acitve duty

[comstsa]

Man I just started the process of preparing an application and am a little discouraged by how long a process it is going to be between now and the time I class up (if I get selected). The next board isn't till nov 15, they don't decide anything till oct 15, and I have been told that some people have waited 2 years to class up even after being selected. Does anyone know what the average waiting time is to class up or perhaps been through the process themselves? I am going before a rated board if that makes any difference. Is this why I see so many people on here going ANG and reserves?

 

[MikeD]

Man I just started the process of preparing an application and am a little discouraged by how long a process it is going to be between now and the time I class up (if I get selected). The next board isn't till nov 15, they don't decide anything till oct 15, and I have been told that some people have waited 2 years to class up even after being selected. Does anyone know what the average waiting time is to class up or perhaps been through the process themselves? I am going before a rated board if that makes any difference. Is this why I see so many people on here going ANG and reserves?

Did it 14 years ago.

 

[Superfly7XAF]

I'm going through it right now. I probably won't even get to OTS for about a year and then who knows how long I'll be on casual until UPT.

All in all, I figure it will be about 2-3 yrs before I ever make it into a T-6. For me it's worth the wait though, you just have to decide how important it is to you.

 

[germb747]

Remember who you're dealing with, and who you seek to deal with in the future......

Uncle Sam

:rotfl:

 

[smurphy]

Wow that's a long time. Are you guys good as far as age limits? I just started on my degree, but I'm going to apply for OTS as soon as I'm eligible.

 

[falconvalley]

It's 1-2 years at my Guard unit. It's party because of how they hire pilots. They hire a little over a year ahead of the fiscal year in question. If the money for training is intended for fiscal year 2011, that means your training slot will be for the fiscal year starting October 2010. You can go to AMS and survival school before then, but not UPT until the money is released. The biggest reasons they start selecting so early are the amount of time it takes paperwork to make the rounds and how often candidates hit a disqualifying situation.

 

[dml02b]

My $0.02...

I started the application process in October 2007 and was selected on a rated board for pilot in October 2008. It took until early July 2009 (earlier this month) for my flying class 1 physical to finally get approved by AETC, and subsequently received my OTS class date for April 2010. That's 18 months between OTS selection and finally shipping off to OTS. However, my timeline is somewhat longer than usual as compared to most other folks who persue the same avenue; mainly because the AF is only allowing 50 OTS-commissioned officers a slot in UPT in FY10. Therefore, they've only decided to allow 50 OTS pilot-selects to attend OTS in FY10. In fact there's still another guy I know who was picked up for pilot on the same board who still doesn't have his class date yet - and may not get one until June/July of 2010.

It's not the greatest time to be applying to OTS for a pilot slot as compared to years past - but don't let things like this discourage you from applying and giving it your best shot. You never know what will happen! Hopefully in the near future they'll have the UPT pipeline un-clogged a little...



One random little fact I just thought I'd throw out here after reading several misconceptions elsewhere on this site, FWIW:

Contrary to popular belief, the FC1 (flying class 1) physical for the AF is NOT like the FAA's class 1 medical exam - it is MUCH more stringent and in-depth. (Google the AFI 48-123 to get an idea of some of the standards, if you're interested).