How does one become a Air Force pilot?

2019-10-21T09:55:13-04:00

Okay, this isn't about me...for many reasons. I have a teenage daughter who is in her school's JROTC, has good grades, is considering joining the Civil Air Patrol, and is getting a job to--and I quote--"afford flying lessons", and wants to fly into the "wild blue yonder" as a pilot in the Air Force. She's a teen, so everything is subject to change on a whim, but she has been on this kick ever since she took her first commercial flight over a year ago. In your opinion, aside from attending the AF Academy, what would be a wise path for her if she were to pursue being a pilot?
Thanks.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 21 at 2019 10:21 AM

2019-10-21T10:21:48-04:00

Here's a good start point for your daughter. May she excel and soar into the blue yonder.

https://www.airforce.com/careers/detail/pilot?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn4nemsat5QIVjonICh0-VQ-EEAAYASAAEgLJrfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

U.S. Air Force - Career Detail - Pilot

Welcome to the United States Air Force. Learn about great opportunities for enlisted airmen, officers and health care professionals.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 21 at 2019 10:23 AM

2019-10-21T10:23:25-04:00

Here is another one.

https://study.com/articles/Become_an_Air_Force_Pilot_Step-by-Step_Career_Guide.html

Become an Air Force Pilot: Step-by-Step Career Guide

Learn what it takes to become an Air Force pilot. Learn about training and other requirements, along with salary and job outlook info. Also take a look at the step-by-step process.

Response by LTC Eugene Chu made Oct 21 at 2019 10:40 AM

2019-10-21T10:40:55-04:00

Double check if your daughter meets medical requirements. Although she may have desire, she should ensure vision and other body related issues are within standards

https://www.airforce.com/frequently-asked-questions/medical/

U.S. Air Force

Welcome to the United States Air Force. Learn about great opportunities for enlisted airmen, officers and health care professionals.

Response by LCDR Joshua Gillespie made Oct 21 at 2019 10:50 AM

2019-10-21T10:50:32-04:00

SGT Dave Tracy -I went into Naval Aviation, but I imagine much of what I can relate would be relevant. First, your daughter should be very realistic about what military aviation "is" and "isn't" compared to other aviation career options. Let's say she just wants to fly for the love of flying...she could go to a reputable aviation "pipeline" college and come out with a "guarantee" of employment at some level with an airline, or (the starvation route) as an instructor. She could go up to Alaska and work her way through the "dregs" and end up flying old iron like C-47s and all the planes every pilot dreams of flying. She could go into another, lucrative career field...get her PPL, buy her own plane, and fly whenever she felt like it (and the weather permitted it)...

...that, or she can try for one of the highly coveted slots for military flight training.

The advantages of going through the Academy is that over that four years, she'd have time to figure out that becoming an officer is the primary goal-becoming an aviation officer is the second. She'd network with people who are and will be among the career officers in that field. If she decides to go another route, or doesn't quite have the "right stuff" (I hate that phrase actually)...there are other options, and the Academy generally filters folks into the fields they have the best chance of succeeding at (but not always...trust me). That being said, ROTC will give her more of a "real world" university experience...and possibly provide her a more mature, realistic outlook on her options. OCS is a tried and true route to the cockpit...and if flying is her main goal, may actually prove the swiftest route, all things considered. However, she should bear in mind it's a numbers game, and the rules are ALWAYS changing! My class had many flight slots available... the one prior, may not have. Like anything in the Military, it's about being as highly ranked as you can be.

Most folks who don't make it (who have already passed the rather difficult challenges of getting a commission and service assignment to aviation), seem to fall during the initial physical, emotional, and mental stresses of what the Navy calls Aviation Pre-Flight Indoctrination (API); I'm not sure what the Air Force equivalent is, but I know we had Air Force officers in our classes. For the Navy, water survival is a critical component of the training...I seem to recall the Air Force folks could opt out of certain tests, but most didn't. Some folks just can't take not being able to breathe, panic, and decide this isn't the life for them. Others, can't keep up with the classwork...it's feeding from a fire hose, lots of memorization/recall, and very systems oriented.

In my case, what "broke" me wasn't what "broke" most of my classmates who ended up "washing out". I found API challenging...but made it alright enough. I had a "knack" for memorization, and did very well in briefings. I loved planes, and understood systems well...and I loved flying. I did well enough, initially, that I was even moved into a class that was doing two "X's" (planned, graded flights) per day at one point...and got "talked into" going tactical aviation vs. the "safer" maritime patrol route by my CO.

But navigation turned out being my personal demon.

I didn't have 20/20 uncorrected vision, so NFO was my route...and that means a lot of navigation, radio comms, flight coordination...all the "boring stuff" most people don't really think about when they see their first airshow and fall in love with flight. You're up there with an instructor, being graded constantly, on rather impressive standards of accuracy...to me, it felt like trying to find a flying golf ball in the clouds, at night, with a compass and a stop watch. At some point, I just got to where life seemed like an endless circuit of staying up late practicing checklists, getting up at "O'Dark Early" to revise weather cards, then enduring four hours of non-stop, heart-rending stress trying not to "pink" a checkride...knowing all the while, that THIS was the life I was working so hard to repeat for the next twenty or more years. Ultimately, I decided it wasn't the life for me.

Later on, I realized that I had made the right choice...but I made it too late, and for all the wrong reasons. The Navy never forgot that I DOR'd...didn't matter what else I did well, or what I volunteered for, or how much I "proved" myself elsewhere-As far as the Navy was concerned, I was, am, and always will be a "quitter". I've lived nearly two decades haunted by that...and to this day, am still seeking ways to prove to them, and myself, that I'm no "quitter". Sometimes, I get close...but I doubt I'll ever totally succeed.

I apologize for such a long response...but it's the kind of thing I wish a military aviator had told me when I was trying to decide what to do with my career. Like many things, dreams change over time, and now...at 41, I would rather tackle a winter FTX than I would go back to flying. If this is a passion that will stick with your daughter, I can tell you that I have friends for whom the life has been truly blessed. One of my closest friends retires soon having had two tours as a Blue Angel, headed up Hornet programs, and had a truly distinguished career as a fighter pilot.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Oct 21 at 2019 11:14 AM

2019-10-21T11:14:19-04:00

Literally all of us just Googled "how to become an Air Force Pilot" ;)

Response by SGT Dave Tracy made Oct 21 at 2019 11:28 AM

2019-10-21T11:28:41-04:00

To clarify, yeah, I can Google with the best of them--though do I appreciate a good online lead of course--but its opinion on the best way to go about it (Hench why I asked for opinions on the "wise(st) path"). And the opinions of those who have been there or are close enough to having been there I appreciate the most.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 21 at 2019 12:11 PM

2019-10-21T12:11:42-04:00

SGT Dave Tracy if she gets the right scores on the AFOQT to qualify to be a pilot, then UPT will teach her how to fly. If she learns to fly prior to going to UPT, she will sit doing, essentially, CQ duty until her class "catches up to her" in the training cycle.
All this is info from one of my buddies that went through UPT having already known how to fly single engine planes.
Has she thought about AFROTC? She's going to need her bachelor's to be an officer, anyways. There are tons of AFOQT prep books available - similar to ACT/SAT prep books.

Response by CPT Lawrence Cable made Oct 21 at 2019 2:06 PM

2019-10-21T14:06:58-04:00

Air Force Father, but I don't think the requirements have changed in 50 years. 1. You have to have a bachelor's degree, preferably in one of the STEM degrees and you need a GPA of 3.4 and above (let's me out), you have to be an Officer, you have to pass the AFOQT, and you have pass the flight physical. Then you need to pass both phases of flight school. That's about the end of what I know. You can commission in the Air Force AFROTC, OTC (their version of OCS), or the Academy. One thing about Air Force OTC, you don't have to go through enlisted BCT like in the Army. Dad would have liked it if I went that way, but I didn't see that I could get flight school and about the only other job that interested me is a Combat Air Controller. I figured if I was going to be a ground pounder, I might as well join the Army.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 21 at 2019 2:42 PM

2019-10-21T14:42:50-04:00

If Flying a helicopter counts the army as the most pilots.

Response by MAJ Matthew Arnold made Oct 21 at 2019 4:49 PM

2019-10-21T16:49:14-04:00

Have really good grades, because that's what makes a good pilot. (Dripping with sarcasm in case you didn't notice.) But seriously, she really needs to go talk to the AFROTC APMS, and now. The Air Force tracks potential pilots way our front. If you don't get in the pilot track, you end up in missile command or some REMF job.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 23 at 2019 8:19 AM

2019-10-23T08:19:00-04:00

ROTC is always an option. Scholarship applications are due December 1 of an prospective cadet's high school senior year. Even if she doesn't get a scholarship, she can still do ROTC and pursue becoming a pilot that way.
https://www.afrotc.com/

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