Becoming a pilot

[flieger83]

Final comment...we still haven't figured out what we want to be when we grow up.

That's me precisely! My wife (Chem Engineer, MBA, senior manager at a global semiconductor company) says "when will you decide to grow up?"

My answer?

I was told I have to grow OLD, not UP.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83

 

[MN-Dad-2016]

IMO, and what I told my two sons all along (now 17 and 19), that something related to the medical field would be a good to get into. The need for medical care, new medicines and new technologies will only continue to increase.

Agreed. I said what you said to my 2 children who are both entering the military medical field. As they were growing up, I harped on the point to pick a field that cannot be easily outsourced to another country. Because if it can outsourced to save $$'s, then expect it to happen. Global competition is affecting manufacturing wages, software development, and a whole host of other careers. You don't want to be in a position where you have to compete for a job with someone in Vietnam or Mexico. If that happens, expect your wages to be pulled down.

Like a pilot who has years of training, the same it true in the medical field. I don't see our children being a doctor or dentist for the rest of their lives either. If you look around, there are MD's who are CEO's galore, Researchers, Medical consultants, or work with/start Venture Capitalist firms. Heck, there are 17 doctors just in the House of Representatives.

The same is true for pilots. I could easily see all kinds of doors open especially for degreed engineers. They could easily become engineering managers, technical consultants, or for that matter, even a plane manufacture lobbyists. Heck, if a pilot is technical, go to law school down the road and be a patent attorney. Just like doctors, if you want, you can even transition into the House of Representatives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_McSally .

The bottom line; opportunities are endless so long as you pick a smart(er) path early on. In my view, going to a SA and becoming a military pilot opens up a lot of future doors.

 

[Cdiff]

Anybody who has any insight into this feel free to respond...
After pilot school, and let's say I'm lucky enough to get a fight pilot slot, where is the most likely location I will end up being stationed at? Additionally, how long are overseas deployments as a pilot and how much input does the pilot have in where they are stationed?

 

[Stealth_81]

Anybody who has any insight into this feel free to respond...
After pilot school, and let's say I'm lucky enough to get a fight pilot slot, where is the most likely location I will end up being stationed at? Additionally, how long are overseas deployments as a pilot and how much input does the pilot have in where they are stationed?

There are so many variables to your questions that no one can really give a good answer. Also, allowing that you are at least 6 years away from getting wings, there is so much that could change. However, I will give it a quick summary for your curiosity's sake:

Where you will be stationed as a fighter pilot will be very dependent on which fighter airframe that you would get. After you graduate UPT (about 18-24 months after graduation from USAFA) and get selected for an airframe you will be sent to a formal training unit for 9-12 months. These are different for each airframe. F-16s would be at Holloman AFB, Luke AFB, or Tucson ANG. Luke will probably be out of the mix by the time you would get there. F-15C would be Klamath Falls, ID ANG, but those will most likely be phased out by then. F-15E is at Seymour-Johnson AFB. F-35 at Luke AFB. F-22 at Tyndall AFB.

After the FTU, you will be assigned to one of the bases that have that aircraft. There are a few AD bases with each airframe and some ANG or ARB units that you could go to as an active duty TFI pilot. Some are in the US and some are overseas and you can look those up yourself. You will pick your follow-on base in order of class rank in the FTU. There will be a list of available billets given to the class before graduation and they sort out who gets what amongst themselves.

Overseas deployments vary a lot by airframe. For the F-16 right now the US units official deployments are about 6 months gone and 18 months at home, but there are a lot of temporary overseas trips in those 18 months home. Expect to be away from home about 50% of the nights in a year. This is based on current deployment tempo and the future will change. I won't even attempt to guess with any other airframes since I don't have the knowledge to speak.

Stealth_81

 

[DevilDog]

I don't know if anyone mentioned this. If you get and graduate from UPT, even in the fighter track, it does not mean you will get a fighter. My son had 14 graduates in his class, only 1 got fighters. He is now an IP (instructor pilot). Recently, there have been a lot more graduates getting fighters.

He graduated 1 year ago. It comes down to what does the Air force need at that specific time projecting forward. He wanted to be in the cockpit of an A-10 or any fighter. He did not track that way, he was a little bummed out, but now 1 year later, he has over 400 flying hours. When I ask him how his work day was, he tells me, "pretty good, I flew twice today". Her also has a lot of other duties, like getting the Tee times for the weekend, arranging the weekly cookout, washing the Colonel's car. I am just kidding, if he does any of those things it is because he wants to, also, his fiance's father his a retiring Colonel (tomorrow 4/21/17), at one time they were at the same base, he may have washed the car, I don't know. I do know he makes a lot of the schedules for the following week, and he has other duties, we just do not talk about it much.

Someone said earlier that if you want to be a pilot you can get a slot out of USAFA. We were told that when we went for a tour in my sons senior year. They did qualify it with as long as you are not a discipline issue or ac pro, you will get a slot. All my son's friends did get slots, but once you get there it is not easy to stay. 2 of his really good friends washed out, and one of his friends got an F-22.
Good luck in what ever you do.