Our DS is an AF pilot (C-130J). The reality is if you want to fly the big planes for the airlines you are going g to want to go AF for many reasons.
1. Army currently has very teeny tiny inventory of fixed wing, their inventory is rotor. It is the flip of the AF. AF has a small inventory of rotor, but the largest inventory of fixed.
2. You will need a special rating, and it costs tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, the reason they love military pilots is the amount of multi-engine flight hours. Heavy pilots can rack up thousands in a very quick time. Bullet who flew F15Es for 20 years left with 2500+. Understand that a strike eagle mission is about 90-120 minutes, unless in combat. Or in other words, he had over 1200 sorties.
~~~ The reality is you do not fly everyday, maybe twice a week. You will be given a desk job too as a pilot because you don't fly everyday. You also will step out of the airframe for desk tours if you decide to stay and want to make rank. Hard to walk away from 150- 225k bonus. Fighter/heavy have different bonus structures, but it still is 25K a year on top of the flight pay that tops out at another 10k a year. Bullet flew for 14 of his 20 years.
Flight time is not cheap, even much more expensive to train on multi engine aircraft. A Cessna flight hour costs @175+ an hour. Cessna's are not multi-engine.
Most that do the non-mikitary path will get what we call puddle jumpers. IOWS, they will be the pilot that flies between DC and Raleigh....maybe or they fly out of executive airports where the big planes aren't in their way.
~~~ We had a friend that was an AF CSO, got his multi-engine while in the AF. He left as an O4 to become an airline pilot. After 4 years of puddle jumping he came back into to AF because financially he couldn't afford to keep jumping, and he was never brought up to the big leagues. Unfortunately for him, the AF brought him back at O4 and the same amount of years as when he left. He started UNT with Bullet. Bullet at that point collected his bonus, was an O5 and able to retire 4 years earlier than him.
The airlines have a choice, take you that paid to get the min. Amount of hours for training, or take the pilot that made it through military pilot training.
~~~ Statistically, from start to finish for pilot wings, about 40% will wash out of training. 25-30% at IFS, and than 25-30% at UPT.
These people also have lived in stressful situations in real life, be it in combat or when a plane malfunctions.
Additionally, the way the world works (employment) a lot of times is the word you hear bantered about is networking. It is no different in the airlines. The AF flying world is not as big as some might believe. We have friends that fly for SWA, Jet Blue, United, Continental, UPS and FedEx. They are constantly writing recommendations for other AF pilots as a referral. The airline hiring committee takes that into consideration when choosing between the applicant that paid for it on their own and the one that was military with a recommendation from one of their pilots.
~~~ When we told our best friend that is a Captain for SWA that our DS got a C-130J he was so excited. To paraphrase him, that's great I'll be still at SWA when he joins us.
We laughed and reminded him DS wants to do twenty.
His response: We'll see, I am sure I can get him to see my side of things when his commitment is up in 9 years.
NOW for your reality check.
~ You need to research the AF even more, especially AFROTC and going rated. You just don't say I want a pilot slot and they give it. You apply for all rated slots which include Navigator (CSO) , RPA and ABM. Your OML will determine which of those four you get.
~~~~ Two tests will be given, the AFOQT and TBAS for scoring purposes.
Yet, I am getting ahead of myself. You will need to be selected for field training (earlier post)
If you make it passed those hurdles, you will need to pass the flight class 1 physical. For AFROTC they will send you to Wright Pat AFB for a 3 day physical, everything from Ears, nose, throat to EKGs.
Simultaneously, you will also be going through a top secret security clearance.
OBTW, for what it is worth, becoming a pilot does not mean you need a degree in engineering. Our DS majored as a Govt and Politics major and like I said he was winged out of UPT last Friday. The top grad in his UPT class was not ROTC, not AFA, he was OCS prior enlisted, JMPO, the big reason to go engineering if you want to be a pilot is if your career goal is to become a test pilot. You must have an engineering degree for test pilot.
~~~~ At our DS det when he commissioned in 12, 50% were non-tech. 2 of the techs that got UPT never winged. 1 washed out at IFS and 1 at UPT. Flying is not just about being book smart, it is a lot about handling the stick.
