Pilot Slots

Aviation/Coasters 2007

Aviation/Coasters 2007

New Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2022
Messages
7
Hello fellow users,
I am interested in becoming a pilot in the US military (honestly any branch/aircraft) and also have a dream of attending USAFA or USNA. I have seen many times that USAFA offers pilot slots anywhere from a quarter to half of the class depending on the need of pilots. On average, how many pilot slots are given to graduates of the naval academy? Thank you.
 
Profiles like this are published every year:

www.usna.edu

NAVAL ACADEMY CLASS OF 2022 OBTAIN CAREER ASSIGNMENTS

NAVAL ACADEMY CLASS OF 2022 OBTAIN CAREER ASSIGNMENTS page for USNA News Center at USNA.edu. Updated Sat Mar 02 10:22:30 EST 2024.
www.usna.edu

Focus your research on service mission and culture, career paths, airframes and their missions - the path after you go through a SA or other commissioning program, which is not the goal, but a way station. That is what should drive your decision.

USNA offers a wide variety of Navy and Marine warfare community paths. You compete for aviation there against those classmates who also want aviation, which is not the entire 1100-1200-ish class.

Read every page, link and drop-down menu item on both USAFA and USNA websites. Think past the 4 years and where you would find your best fit. Visit the SAs on your own, apply for summer programs for your rising senior summer.

The Navy does most of its business in, above or below the water, often for long periods of time far from home and out of sight of land. It is not everyone’s cup of tea. The Air Force has a different focus and is not everyone’s cup of tea either. Both are fine organizations.

Research Navy ROTC and Air Force ROTC as well. The Army also has aviation.

Put in the research time so you can make the best decision for you.
 
Capt MJ said:
Profiles like this are published every year:

www.usna.edu

NAVAL ACADEMY CLASS OF 2022 OBTAIN CAREER ASSIGNMENTS

NAVAL ACADEMY CLASS OF 2022 OBTAIN CAREER ASSIGNMENTS page for USNA News Center at USNA.edu. Updated Sat Mar 02 10:22:30 EST 2024.
www.usna.edu

Focus your research on service mission and culture, career paths, airframes and their missions - the path after you go through a SA or other commissioning program, which is not the goal, but a way station. That is what should drive your decision.

USNA offers a wide variety of Navy and Marine warfare community paths. You compete for aviation there against those classmates who also want aviation, which is not the entire 1100-1200-ish class.

Read every page, link and drop-down menu item on both USAFA and USNA websites. Think past the 4 years and where you would find your best fit. Visit the SAs on your own, apply for summer programs for your rising senior summer.

The Navy does most of its business in, above or below the water, often for long periods of time far from home and out of sight of land. It is not everyone’s cup of tea. The Air Force has a different focus and is not everyone’s cup of tea either. Both are fine organizations.

Research Navy ROTC and Air Force ROTC as well. The Army also has aviation.

Put in the research time so you can make the best decision for you.
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Forgive me, Coast Guard has aviation as well. Apologies to my sea service brethren.
 
The number varies by year. Also, it’s not all your decision. Read posts about “service assignment. It’s happening now no lots of discussion on the topic.
 
Air Force academy usually get about 550 spots and for the most part anyone who medically qualifies gets the spot. There have been years where they didn't fill all of the spots. I am sure there have been years where they offered less, but its been a while
 
Humey said:
Air Force academy usually get about 550 spots and for the most part anyone who medically qualifies gets the spot. There have been years where they didn't fill all of the spots. I am sure there have been years where they offered less, but its been a while
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For the C/O '23, there were quite a few unfilled slots. However, the '24ers were told in a brief the other day (from what I've heard) that there would be much less for '24 and '25 due to the backlog. That being said, no primary source on that, and we all know the extents of cadet hearsay...
 
Humey said:
Air Force academy usually get about 550 spots and for the most part anyone who medically qualifies gets the spot. There have been years where they didn't fill all of the spots. I am sure there have been years where they offered less, but its been a while
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Navy is at best half that number of AF. This year Pilot 230, NFO 55. Want to fly fixed wing, go Air Force.
 
CrewDad said:
Navy is at best half that number of AF. This year Pilot 230, NFO 55. Want to fly fixed wing, go Air Force.
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You are ASSUMING that they are turning away pilot hopefuls in droves. From long experience, there are not huge numbers
of disappointed aviation hopefuls and the numbers of aviation selectees does not change markedly over the years.
 
Want to fly fixed wing, go Air Force
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Of course, it's a lot more complicated than that. As OldRetSWO correctly points out, the overwhelming majority of 1/C at USNA want USMC ground, SWO, subs, cyber, SEALs, etc. Most 1/C who want to fly and are medically qualified to fly, have the required aptitude, and aren't at the bottom of their class are going to become pilots or NFOs in either the USN or USMC.

If you want to be a carrier pilot, you can't do that in the USAF. :shake: However, if you want to be land-based, you're MUCH better off in the USAF as the USN and USMC have far fewer land-based platforms.

I don't know if the USAFA still "guarantees" that qualified graduates can become pilots. If so, then there would be greater certainty of getting a pilot slot in the USAF, but not all that much more.
 
usna1985 said:
... Most 1/C who want to fly and are medically qualified to fly, have the required aptitude, and aren't at the bottom of their class are going to become pilots or NFOs in either the USN or USMC.
...
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Curious, how does NFO for MC work? Is that part of MC Aviation, and they split into pilot/nfo later? I haven't seen it separated like the Navy version.
 
justme said:
Curious, how does NFO for MC work? Is that part of MC Aviation, and they split into pilot/nfo later? I haven't seen it separated like the Navy version.
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There is no more NFO pipeline. There are existing NFOs who still fly, but there are no more coming in. All the NFO billets are either already gone, or in the process of going away. ie. EA6Bs went away and were not replaced by Growlers. USNA stopped selecting USMC NFOs a few years ago.

The last marine NFOs earned their wings in September '21
 
And don't forget about the Merchant Marine Academy as an option for that path as well. Had a USMMA grad on my MOC nomination interview panel who did exactly that.
 
flightdeck said:
My neighbor's son is a Kings Pointer and he said year after year they have several pilot slots that go the wayside
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Each year we attended Service Academy Forums, the USMMA representative, always looking dapper in his whites, told us the same.
 
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