To any air force pilots

[Z71999 10+ year member]

With that private pilots lisense, how are you expected to get 200hrs of flight time if you dont have your own plane..I'd imagine that would get pretty expensive. Just curious what type of plane are you planning on flying?

 

[Johnny Drama 5,000+ posts]

With that private pilots lisense, how are you expected to get 200hrs of flight time if you dont have your own plane..I'd imagine that would get pretty expensive. Just curious what type of plane are you planning on flying?

Where I am going I am getting my commertial lisence. If you get your private through them they will rent out the planes to you for only the cost of fuel and mantience. ~$63 an hour (this is a GREAT price. Hours usually run ~$200 at other places)

Since I am getting my commertial my coarse will have 190 flight hours and then I will be getting my instrument rating which is another 15 hours. Total of this adventure will be....umm...a lot LOL!

Let just say its going to be over $40k + finishing collage which will be ~$5k.

I would like to fly whatever jet I can. More then likley for a while it will be the F-16 (reserves) I am unsure what will be in service for me to try and fly in 3 more years. After that I want to get on transport and go to work for Fedex Flying.

 

[Z71999 10+ year member]

Must be great salary/benefits for FedEx flying because I sure as hell wouldnt want to do that.

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I work for the air force...most of the people at my base have not flown a plane. They are mainly engineers, etc.

There are programs where business majors get to ride along. Squadron Officer School (I think) is one. I can ask around if you would like but I need pretty detailed questions.

 

[jjski78 10+ year member]

Well, for starters, the F-18 is a Navy bird, so you won't be getting that in the AF. Your best bet is to go to college for something in the realm of aeronautical engineering, that way they see that you have the fundamentals of flight. As for your vision, it needs to be 20/20 corrected. That means your contacts should be fine as long as you're 20/20 with them in. You need to pass a flight physical, if you're an athlete, this shouldn't be a problem. I see a lot of fat AF pilots every day! Once you get your commission, and get accepted into flight training, you pretty much have no choice as to what you fly. It's all based on how you place in the class. The lower guys get KC135, KC10,C17,C5....then the middle guys get the C-130 (that's what I currently work), the B-52, B-1, then the top guys get fighters. From there I would imagine it's broken down even further, but I have no idea how they figure out who flys what fighter. I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I bet the highest of the high get the F22 or the F117. You could also become a Predator pilot. Those guys have to get super high scores, and after a tour of flying the Predator, I've been told you get your choice of airframe afterwards.

Anyways, you could go talk to a recruiter, but I can almost guarantee you they have no idea how to do it, seeing as how they're enlisted, and aren't pilots or officers. And they WON'T pressure you to enlist seeing as how right now the Air Force is kicking out as many people as they can due to being overmanned, so don't worry about that.

Personally, I would do ROTC at college, and then get the commission that way. Apply for pilot training, and while you're in school, like mentioned before, get your private pilot's license.

 

[Z71999 10+ year member]

Well, for starters, the F-18 is a Navy bird, so you won't be getting that in the AF. Your best bet is to go to college for something in the realm of aeronautical engineering, that way they see that you have the fundamentals of flight. As for your vision, it needs to be 20/20 corrected. That means your contacts should be fine as long as you're 20/20 with them in. You need to pass a flight physical, if you're an athlete, this shouldn't be a problem. I see a lot of fat AF pilots every day! Once you get your commission, and get accepted into flight training, you pretty much have no choice as to what you fly. It's all based on how you place in the class. The lower guys get KC135, KC10,C17,C5....then the middle guys get the C-130 (that's what I currently work), the B-52, B-1, then the top guys get fighters. From there I would imagine it's broken down even further, but I have no idea how they figure out who flys what fighter. I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I bet the highest of the high get the F22 or the F117. You could also become a Predator pilot. Those guys have to get super high scores, and after a tour of flying the Predator, I've been told you get your choice of airframe afterwards.
Anyways, you could go talk to a recruiter, but I can almost guarantee you they have no idea how to do it, seeing as how they're enlisted, and aren't pilots or officers. And they WON'T pressure you to enlist seeing as how right now the Air Force is kicking out as many people as they can due to being overmanned, so don't worry about that.

Personally, I would do ROTC at college, and then get the commission that way. Apply for pilot training, and while you're in school, like mentioned before, get your private pilot's license.

Wow thanks for all the great info. Just one question? Whats the "commission"? Just the credentials required from the school?

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

There are commissioned officers like Major, Colonel, etc and the non-commissioned like SrA, Seargent, etc. From my understanding, a degree and some training separate the two.

 

[DARKHART 10+ year member]

Wow boy does this bring up memories of the whole reason I join the AF in the first place....wanted to be an F-16 pilot.....got commissioned and then they dropped the bomb.....MUST HAVE 20/20 OR BETTER VISION.....talk about crash and burn heheh Hell the coke bottle black rims I wore would have made a magnifying glass look thin....

Don't know about now but back then contacts were not allowed, hell I imagine alot may have changed in 20+ years though and I've been out for well over 15yrs.

A fighter pilot will have an engineering degree of some sort so I hope your math skills are up to par and good luck in your endeavor. Yes it will be very hard and you will want to quit many a day, but that's the way it's designed because you don't want a quiter or someone who can't handle the pressure or responsibility at the stick or defending this country....If this is what you want to do then get on course and DO IT and don't except someone telling you that you can't.......//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Lil Poot 5,000+ posts]

did someone say you can't get a private pilots license if you have laser surgery to correct to 20/20 or better? that was my plan (not military though) //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[Platestacker45 10+ year member]

There are commissioned officers like Major, Colonel, etc and the non-commissioned like SrA, Seargent, etc. From my understanding, a degree and some training separate the two.

If you are a commissioned, you are a "officer" O1-O9. You get saluted by everyone that is "enlisted" E1-E9 and anyone below your officer rank. And yes, you have to go through ROTC (not the highschool ROTC) and have a degree in college. Officer's are office type "leaders" and the Enlisted are more of a workhorse "field worker" if you will. I am a E3, a workhorse //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif.