Not sure if this the correct place to post or not but I figured the information may be helpful to future AROTC's interested in flight school. I P.M.'d scout pilot but no response yet. DS is a rising MSII and is interested in being a pilot for the Army.
How long is flight school?
Does he have to increase the lenght of his service commitment?
If so by how long.
Any referral to reference material,books we can get on the subject would helpful. Thanks.
My older son commissioned into Army Aviation.
Flight school is broken down into sections, they try to keep the bubble time between sections at a minimum but sometimes it doesn't work out that way.
The first step is Aviation BOLC.
After ABOLC they have a few things they complete before the first phase of flight school starts. These include Dunker Training (I think they have changed the name) and then SERE-C school.
Once these are complete they start IERW (Initial Entry Rotary Wing Training) There are 4 phases to this instruction.
Once they complete IERW they will select their Airframe based on a class OML. The step would be Advanced Graduate Flight Training where the train in their selected aircraft.
My son moved through pretty quick, he arrived at Ft. Rucker June 1st 2012 and graduated Sept. 29th 2013. The timeline can be longer depending on a lot of factors, a ROTC classmate has been there for nearly 18 months.
The service obligation is completely different then other branches. Aviation requires a 6 year obligation and the clock does not start ticking until they graduate from flight school. Given that the obligation does not start until graduation it really does not matter when he activates other the TIS. Once he graduates it could take up to 9 or 10 months before he receives orders to Flight School though it can be quicker, my son left 2 weeks after college graduation a fellow classmate did not leave until the following April. You should count on being in the Active Army around 8 years, give or take, from your activation date if you branch Aviation
Going to Ft. Rucker for flight school is also a PCS move, he received BAH and BAS, he chose to live in a house on base, many will live off base. The Army will pay for the move to Ft. Rucker, you would then PCS to your new unit after graduation.
There are a couple things that need to happen to be able to request the Aviation Branch. He would need to take the SIFT test and pass with a score of 50 or above to be scheduled for a Flight Physical at LDAC. You can get between a 40 and 49, but are not guaranteed a flight physical, he would have to schedule one on his own. He would of course need to pass the flight physical. Once all this is done they can list Aviation as a choice on their wish list.
There is also a back door so to speak to Aviation. There are cadets that branch Med Services and then apply for Medivac Pilot. My son's battalion had a cadet do this last year.
Flight school is long, there is a lot of studying. My son once during a phone call said he got a 97% on his last test, I said "Nice", he said "Well, the class average was 98.5%"
There is A LOT of memorization, and it doesn't stop after they graduate, they have random tests from time to time and they need to be 100%.
My son enjoys his job, it took 8 months working in Headquarters waiting for a Line Troop PL spot to open up but he is in Hawaii so I don't have a lot of sympathy, he's knee deep in RIMPAC right now so life is good.
