Transition from military helicopter to civilian fixed wing?

cwu50

New Member
I just turned in my Marine OCS packet to my OSO and I realize that if I get accepted, more than likely I will be getting a helo after primary flight training. My question is, what does it take to get a fixed wing job with mostly helo time?, if that is even an option after the Marines.
 
Re: Transition from military helicopter to civilian fixed wi

I just turned in my Marine OCS packet to my OSO and I realize that if I get accepted, more than likely I will be getting a helo after primary flight training. My question is, what does it take to get a fixed wing job with mostly helo time?, if that is even an option after the Marines.

The question is, do you want to be a marine, or do you want to be a pilot. Not both. I just (a few month ago) made my decision against PLC, and accepting the mulah, and being able to try out for a fighter jock slot. When it came down to it, I wanted to be a pilot first, and be marine second, and I realized that at this point in my life, I still wanted to fly more than I wanted to be an officer. I'd suggest looking within yourself and thinking strongly about what it entails to be a marine officer, that means you'll have to be an infantry officer too, just like every other marine officer. I'm not suggesting that you "don't have the right stuff or the like," however, with me, it was the personal realization that I don't like the idea that I may be forced kill someone. Each have their reasons, thing long and hard.

As for helo to fixed wing, I'd try to milk the comparatively lucrative helicopter pay, and live in hawaii. But that's just me.
 
Re: Transition from military helicopter to civilian fixed wi

I just turned in my Marine OCS packet to my OSO and I realize that if I get accepted, more than likely I will be getting a helo after primary flight training. My question is, what does it take to get a fixed wing job with mostly helo time?, if that is even an option after the Marines.

A year ago Jet Blue was recognizing military rotorwing time for their new hires though they're not hiring right now. Hacker15e started a thread about it here on jetcarrers but it quickly turned into a union/non-union cat fight. Which was too bad cause I really wanted to get some imput from some airline/fixed-wing guys being I'm a rotor guy myself. I think the industry standard is only counting up to 500 hours of rotor time towards the total time requirments.
 
Re: Transition from military helicopter to civilian fixed wi

Velo would be able to tell you how to do that (I'm sure it's the same in the corps as the Navy). Usually you can get a fixed wing job during your shore rotation (T-34s, etc). Also, there are spots that open up a lot of time for fixed wing....just depends on the needs of the service.
 
Re: Transition from military helicopter to civilian fixed wi

One, you don't know what you're going to select until you finish primary. About 75% of Marines fly helo's but you never know. Two, like mjg407 said, you can come back and be an IP in the fixed wing VT's. Many of these guys get 1500+ hours in 3 years. A good friend of mine is a Marine and 53 driver. He got hooked up on a good deal flying as a station pilot in Miramar. He flew over 1000 hours in both the C-12 and the Cessna jet (most of if C-12). Another good bud got 1700 hours in 3 years with VT-3. Now he flew a lot, many cross country's as well. Now the flight time might go down once the T-6B's arrive but 1000+ in three years is still doable. So there are certainly ways to make it happen.
 
Back
Top