Trying to become an air force pilot

gcompton923

gcompton923

New Member
Hey all,

I am hoping someone with experience with the whole process can tell me how good my chances are of being selected by the board.

My AFOQT scores
Pilot 81
Nav 86
Acad apt 70
Verbal 86
Quantities 49

My PCSM score is a 52 with 0 flight hours.

I am currently in the process of applying for the board as an OTS candidate. I have 7 years of air traffic control experience. 4 strong LORs ranging from an E6 to an O5. I nailed the interview and my resume is strong.

I am currently in the army national Guard and I'm about to have my conditional release. I actually applied to the like officer board first and was selected to be an airfield ops officer but couldn't get my release in time.

I just want to know how confident I should feel going into this board and if I should reapply for the line officer board if this doesn't work out and plan to work towards a private pilots license to boost my score.
 
There are two separate boards. One for line officers and a rated board for pilots. You can only be selected by one at a time.
 
1. Guard/Reserve (avoid drones, control where you live, your career, and how often/long you deploy)
2. mil leave the FAA
3. ????
4. PROFIT!!!
 
Not understanding 3 and 4. No interest in being a civilian controller. Money does not matter to me. Guard and reserve would be great but my conditional release is for active duty airforce and it's a pain getting one. I'll be out of the army guard in November anyways. I just don't want to wait around and miss this board. I do plan to apply at local units after November. I currently live in Denver.
 
Step 3 and 4 are a meme/joke. You did not provide much background info, so I assumed that your civilian gig was FAA controlling. As far as active duty Air Force, good luck, I wouldn't wish it on an enemy. I also don't understand how you would accept being an airfield ops officer, but are also applying for the rated board. Most guys are ravenous enough that the thought to do something like airfield ops would never cross their mind. It's kinda like "I was going to make sure that the taxiway signs were lit (I know it entails way more than that), but since I didn't get released in time to do that, I guess I'll try this flying thing". As for the "money does not matter to me", well I just don't know what to say to that. As far as how confident you should be, well they invited you to interview so they must think that you could be the man for the job. I hate the mantra of the job is yours to lose, but at the same time the worst thing they can say is no. Good luck.
 
Based on the "stats" of some of the guys with me in UPT I'd say you have a really solid shot, but why go active? Go guard/reserve like I did. All the benefits with none of the BS. ;)
 
Your PCSM score aside, I'd recommend gaining some flight hours to ensure it's something you enjoy doing. Years ago when I was considering the Air Force during college I was told this by recruiters. Sounds like you have a strong application package and passion for aviation regardless, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Also, there's a site somewhere on the internet that contains AFOQT scores, flight hours, GPA, etc. of applicants that were recently accepted into UPT. I can't quite remember the name, but it did provide some great data.

Best of luck with your application!
 
NovemberEcho said:
^ATC is part of the Airfield Ops Flight.
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Soku39 said:
Is that Army only? As far as I know at Air Force bases ATC falls under the Operational Support Squadron or OSS. I have of course been known to be wrong before.
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NovemberEcho said:
I was assuming he was referring to Air Force. I don't know about Army.
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ATC in the Air Force falls under the OSS, yes, but officers are assigned as airfield commanders, aka airfield ops. Once they reach 1LT/Cpt they will be in charge of ATC, Base Ops and Weather flights. Also, officer controllers will get a pencil whipped rating in an approach and an assist position, as that's all they need to hold the job. Occasionally you'll see and AOF/CC keep up with their proficiency, but usually once they get the ratings, you'll only see them come EPR time. I spent 9 years as an ATC in the Air Force, enlisted side.
 
bkey79 said:
ATC in the Air Force falls under the OSS, yes, but officers are assigned as airfield commanders, aka airfield ops. Once they reach 1LT/Cpt they will be in charge of ATC, Base Ops and Weather flights. Also, officer controllers will get a pencil whipped rating in an approach and an assist position, as that's all they need to hold the job. Occasionally you'll see and AOF/CC keep up with their proficiency, but usually once they get the ratings, you'll only see them come EPR time. I spent 9 years as an ATC in the Air Force, enlisted side.
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Learn something new every day. Thanks for the detailed response.
 
There is nothing worse than a 1st Lt who wants to keep up their proficiency time. They got pencil whipped ratings to begin with, and then some poor E4 has to sit there plugged in as their assist and try to respectfully keep them from killing anyone. (Yes, I was that poor E4. I think I should have earned a couple medals those days)
 
NovemberEcho said:
There is nothing worse than a 1st Lt who wants to keep up their proficiency time. They got pencil whipped ratings to begin with, and then some poor E4 has to sit there plugged in as their assist and try to respectfully keep them from killing anyone. (Yes, I was that poor E4. I think I should have earned a couple medals those days)
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Respectfully and 1st Lt in the same sentence?
 
Unfortunately, at least at the facility I was at, you couldn't just go "are you retarded? Wtf are you doing?" Instead you needed to some finesse, "sir, I think you need to turn/climb/descend that guy. And that guy. And that guy."
 
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Never had one of them. Plus you won't find anyone above a Major in the AOF, and even they are rare. Usually just captains.
 
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