West Point pilot slots

caseyrc93

5-Year Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2010
Messages
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How many West Point Cadets earn pilot slots?
-If you go to West Point and want to be a pilot post-graduation will you be able to?
-What aircraft are offered to West Point future-pilots?

Thanks
 
Im not entirely sure on this, but from my memory the Army doesn't really have any attack aircraft other than helicopters, so you would be flying helos, or possibly transports, but im not sure on that. If your interested in flying fighters, the Air Force Academy or the Naval Academy would be the best bet.

source: a lot of reading about West Point, Principal nominee 22nd congressional district, California
 
You would fly a helicopter. There were 111 slots for the Class of 2010 for their 1000 or so graduates.
 
There are other options than just helicopters, although helicopters are the vast majority of Army airframes. By mandate of Congress in 1947 we are not allowed to duplicate the same functions as the Air Force. We do our own VIP transport in fixed wing, as well as reconnaissance (RC-12, EO-5C, and various UAS platforms).
 
If you wear glasses, are you unable to fly?
 
You may have corrective eye surgery
 
Does anyone know how many cadets wanted aviation in 2012 verses how many got into aviation? This question is very important to me, but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere.
 
For the class of 2013 (based on initial branch night data) there were 119 Aviation slots of which 117 were filled. No one was forced to be branched avaiation. Of the 117 slots, 29 had to take an additional active duty service obligation to get a slot. No one ranked below 588th in the class was able to get a slot.
 
Soccerguy: there's no data for who didn't get aviation. You can find data for who got their second choice branch, but it doesn't say what their first choice was. Numbers for aviators didn't change much between 2012 and 2013.

If you want to be an aviator, you need to plan to make good grades so you have a good class rank.

--mom3boys (aviator mom, 2012)
 
Your primary choices would be rotary wing aviation (helicopters). In that area, there are 4 basic choices:

Attack/Reconaissance:

AH-64D (Now beginning the upgrade to the E Model): A tandem-cockpit, dual engine, single rotor attack helicopter. The primary role was as an anti-armor platform, but it has been adapted with great success to a general purpose attack aircraft with solid reconnaissance capabilities.

OH-58D (Possible F Model in the future): A side-by-side cockpit, single-engine, single-rotor reconnaissance and light attack aircraft. It was originally developed to provide an armed scout capability to acquire and designate targets for the AH-64D and other fires platforms, and was first utilized in the Persian Gulf against Iranian gunboats. It has proven to be indispensable in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assault/Lift/MEDEVAC:

UH-60A/L/M/Q: Various configurations of a side-by-side cockpit, dual-engine, single rotor helicopter. The Blackhawk provides a wide range of capabilities, more than bear mentioning here.

Heavy Assault/Heavy Lift/Cargo:

CH-47D/F (Most units have upgraded to the F model): A side-by--side cokpit, dual engine, dual rotor heavy lift helicopter. A very impressive machine, but a small community.


Fixed-wing is a mish-mash of aircraft that exist in very limited numbers, and which you may or may not have the chance to select in flight school. The RC-12 is the most common, though we still have a number of DHC-7s (the Four Fans of Freedom). In general, the fixed-wing community is extremely small and doesn't enjoy the wide variety of missions that the rotary wing community does. There is, as someone mentioned, a very very small jet community (mostly Learjet type aircraft, and I think a few Gulfstreams). Those are generally senior billets or reservist billets.

If you have more questions, ask away.
 
Im not entirely sure on this, but from my memory the Army doesn't really have any attack aircraft other than helicopters

I would say that the preponderance of aerial attack right now is with Helicopters but I may be just trolling... :thumb:
 
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