What branch should i join if i want to be an F-35 pilot?

Jamie Tran — Sat, 16 May 2020 00:44:56 -0400

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 16 at 2020 12:45 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 16 May 2020 00:45:58 -0400

Air Force/Navy. But it’s only offered to the top 1% of the graduating flight class so good luck

Response by LTJG Private RallyPoint Member made May 16 at 2020 12:51 AM

LTJG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 16 May 2020 00:51:50 -0400

The f-35 specifically? That road will be rough no matter which route you take.
You'll definitely get answers from people who know more than me, but I'm inclined to say navy.
Air Force has 5 fighters that I can think of. So not only is getting a flight spot tough, but then you have to get a fighter slot which is tough, then you have to get the f-35 specifically. If you just want fighters I'd say the AF is the way to go but 35s specifically... Maybe not.
I'd tie both the Marines and Navy for best options to get the 35. Getting fighters in either branch is very very tough... Their fleet is mostly helos... But the 35 is taking over their fighter community. So probably the best shot there.

The army and coast guard have the least likelihood of you getting it. and by a very huge margin

Response by SFC Bryan Stetzer made May 16 at 2020 2:07 AM

SFC Bryan Stetzer — Sat, 16 May 2020 02:07:28 -0400

Well, it's flown by the Air Force, Navy, and Marines. The Air Force is overall probably your best chance, just because they'll have the most. That being said, it's going to be a long, tough road to get in that cockpit. You will have to 1) get a commission, 2) qualify for pilot training, 3) complete pilot training, 4) get a slot flying fighters, and specifically the F-35. I was Army, so don't know the details, but I kind of think of it like flying Apaches in the Army. As an Apache pilot once told me, "There are 2 types of aviators in the Army: those who fly Apaches, and those who wish they did." My point is that even if you complete steps 1 through 3 successfully, there's no guarantee you'll get to fly the F-35. A lot of Air Force pilots fly cargo aircraft. Not trying to discourage you, just give a little expectation management. Your best bet is probably to consider the Air Force Academy.

Response by CW4 Keith Dolliver made May 16 at 2020 7:26 AM

CW4 Keith Dolliver — Sat, 16 May 2020 07:26:13 -0400

As many others have already said, it's tough to get flight slots, and then even if you do there are no guarantees what aircraft you will get. You need to be aware going in that you could wind up in another aircraft type or mission type altogether.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made May 16 at 2020 8:25 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Sat, 16 May 2020 08:25:53 -0400

Well, you have options. The Air Force, Navy and Marines use it... So I suppose the question boils down to preference. Do you want to be in the military, or the Air Force?

Response by SFC Bryan Stetzer made May 16 at 2020 1:00 PM

SFC Bryan Stetzer — Sat, 16 May 2020 13:00:32 -0400

Just a nickel's worth of free advice. I don't know how old you are or where you are on your educational path, so bear that in mind. As I and several others have mentioned, this is a tough path, but obviously it's doable. In fact, last I checked, the Air Force was suffering from a significant, and growing, shortage of fighter pilots, so if that's what your heart is set on, by all means, shoot for the stars. That said, I would look at the requirements for being a fighter pilot, and focus on accomplishing those things. Regardless of the branch, all of them require you to be a commissioned officer with a college degree. You're dead in the water without that, so start there. I would say look at the service academies (Colorado Springs for Air Force, Annapolis for either Navy or Marines). If you can get into, and graduate from, one of those, that kills 2 birds with one stone...and the selection process will give you an idea of what to expect. And you get a first-rate education in the bargain. If that's not an option, look into ROTC programs at your school, or schools you plan to attend. As you move through those programs, opportunities will be available and they can guide you on your path. Remember, the journey of 1,000 miles, starts with a single step. Good luck!

Response by LCpl John Repp made May 16 at 2020 1:39 PM

LCpl John Repp — Sat, 16 May 2020 13:39:51 -0400

Marines

Response by MAJ Byron Oyler made May 16 at 2020 3:07 PM

MAJ Byron Oyler — Sat, 16 May 2020 15:07:37 -0400

College degree and US citizenship are absolute requirements.

Response by 2d Lt Private RallyPoint Member made May 16 at 2020 11:39 PM

2d Lt Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 16 May 2020 23:39:58 -0400

I’m in Air Force Pilot training now. The only guaranteed way to secure a fighter pilot slot, to include a 35 slot, is to go Guard or Reserves. To do that, you have to interview with the different units, have pretty good scores on your AFOQT/TBAS and a PPL. Also convince them that you would be a good guy to have around the squadron 12 hours a day and be a guy they would want to deploy with. If they hire you, then you have your slot, and then still have to pass Upt, get and maintain fighter qual’d, iff, -16 b course, and -35 b course. Suck at any level with those and your out. Fail in upt and high chance you’ll lose the ability to get wings, after upt you’ll probably get a heavy slot somewhere.

If you end up going active duty, it’s all to the needs of the AF. Do well enough to get a -38 slot, then you get the fighter/bomber that they need you in, suck a little more than joe the prick, then you go the toner route while he gets a -38.

If you want more info let me know!

Response by SSgt Christophe Murphy made May 17 at 2020 12:30 AM

SSgt Christophe Murphy — Sun, 17 May 2020 00:30:38 -0400

It’s a joint strike fighter for a reason. It just depends on the variant you want to fly.

I would recommend joining the service that has the culture and disciplines that fit your personal preference.

Sounds like you have more homework to do

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 17 at 2020 7:38 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 17 May 2020 07:38:25 -0400

Space Force

Response by PO1 Rick Serviss made May 17 at 2020 4:26 PM

PO1 Rick Serviss — Sun, 17 May 2020 16:26:01 -0400

The Air Force has a lot of birds.

Response by CPO Jeffrey Bohemier made May 18 at 2020 4:47 AM

CPO Jeffrey Bohemier — Mon, 18 May 2020 04:47:37 -0400

Preferably one that flies the F-35.

Response by SPC Christopher Perrien made May 18 at 2020 7:46 AM

SPC Christopher Perrien — Mon, 18 May 2020 07:46:21 -0400

Air Force and shoot for the academy. It would be slightly easier than trying to get into one in the Navy or Marines, since the Air Force has the A version. The B and C models demand either a carrier certification or a lot more VTOL training to be flying those things. In any of the three, you might as well look at it as being almost an astronaut in how rare it will be to get that far.

One last thing, I wouldn't worry too much about the F-35. The speed restrictions it has, remove it from being a true 5th generation fighter , I don't see it staying in widespread service for long , except maybe the USMC version since it is VTOL, but with its short range and lack of payload , it may not be around long there either.

Response by CAPT Jim Coulson made May 18 at 2020 10:28 AM

CAPT Jim Coulson — Mon, 18 May 2020 10:28:52 -0400

Mr. Tran,
Good on you for your desire to fly for your country! SFC Hasbun is correct. As a retired Naval Aviator, I need to tell you that you don' t just sign on and get to fly a certain aircraft. Many "wanna be" fighter pilots ended up flying bombers, transports or helicopters.

Right now 50% of USAF pilots winning their wings end up assigned to drone squadrons. The rest are spread out among the various tankers, transports, F-16, F-15 and F-35 squadrons.
The Navy and Marine Corps do not assign pilots to drone squadrons as a primary duty, they fly them in addition to their own aircraft. (One exception being some reserve squadrons and our Triton squadron).
If I were a young man or woman starting out, I'd get my civilian pilot's license and make sure flying was for me. Then once I got commissioned into whatever service (college degree and a commissioning program like NROTC or USNA/USAFA) I'd work my tail off in flight school. The #1 grad often gets his choice of aircraft and/or coasts. However, understand the needs of the service come first. You can do everything right and end up flying other than fighters.

Hope this helps.

Response by Maj Private RallyPoint Member made May 20 at 2020 12:00 AM

Maj Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 20 May 2020 00:00:50 -0400

Per my previous reply to you on a different thread: probably the Air Force. Right now, their standards are pretty low. You probably have a 5% chance of making it all the way through the entire pipeline and be top of your class to get F-35s.

Navy: you’d have to land on a carrier, and you’re clearly looking for the EASIEST path. Just like most fighter pilots. Non-competitive, easy-going, right? No killer instinct?

Marines: better omit them. You’d have to be a MARINE. Doesn’t sound like a fit.

Good luck!

Response by Capt Vance Noonan made May 23 at 2020 6:14 PM

Capt Vance Noonan — Sat, 23 May 2020 18:14:26 -0400

Jamie, I've been mulling this question over since you first posted it. As such, some of what I'm going to say has already been said. I apologize for that and acknowledge the greatness of those who said it first. I just don't want this to be incoherent because I omitted a point that had already been made.

There are a number of questions you need to answer in order to make your decision. You're the only one who can really provide the "right" answer to them because "different strokes for different folks."

First and foremost, how important is flying the F-35 specifically to you? If it's an all or nothing proposition, you should definitely go guard or reserve since that's all that unit flies. That's a process in and of itself and I'm not knowledgeable enough to give authoritative guidance on it.

On the other hand, if you want to be a pilot first and hope to get into the F-35, let me give you the perspective of a former USAF pilot whose career path and life in general didn't remain on the vector I intended.

Back when I decided to fly for the military, I just wanted to fly and really hoped to get a (any) fighter. I looked into the USAF and USN. I didn't even consider the USMC because I wasn't even aware they had fixed wing aircraft (stupid me!). I chose USAF because I didn't want to be out to sea and away from home for 6-9 months at a time. It turns out this was the right decision for me... for the wrong reasons. USAF is still going to send you away long stretches at a time. The good part of that is that you'll be on land and not crammed into a ship. Even aircraft carriers are somewhat tight quarters compared to the deployed. On the other hand, you will have the opportunity with the USN to put in to various ports around the globe and get to experience (potentially) more exotic places than even I did. You'll also get to takeoff and land on a carrier, something I wish I'd had the opportunity to do.

It's already been addressed and you've indicated the long, hard road to get to your F-35, whichever branch you choose, so I won't belabor that point. You need to consider the consequences of failing at any point along that path. Would you be happy being reassigned to USMC infantry if you don't make it through pilot training? What about being put into a submarine in the USN? Or being made a finance officer in the USAF? None of those would have been great for me and you have to look at which "second choice" career would be best for you.

The same question applies to aircraft you want to fly. Even if you end up being God's gift to aviation and the best pilot in your class, you're going to be at the mercy of the needs of your chosen service. They may not have any F-35s in your drop at all. (If this happens, I bet $100 the next drop will have a dozen 35s.) For me, I wanted fighters all the way. I would have been okay flying anything, but it would have been severely disappointing. Right now, you say you want F-35s, but you may find you hate wearing a helmet, parachute, and G-suit all the time.

You also may find that you don't really care for the fighter pilot community. In pilot training, I made it into T-38s. After that, I was a T-37 FAIP (first assignment instructor pilot) with a fighter follow-on. I made it through IFF. I made it into and eventually washed out of F-15Es. All told, I spent about 8 years of my life striving to achieve a dream and it got shattered. Then I went to fly C-17s and found that I really liked that community much more. When you fly a fighter (at least in the FTU, which is as far as I made it) you pre-brief for hours on end, fly for an hour or two, and then debrief for hours on end. And those debriefs tended to focus solely on the negatives simply because there's not enough time to also pat you on the back for the stuff you did right. In the C-17, our debriefs were pretty much limited to "so, anybody got anything for the flight" on the bus ride back to the squadron. I'm absolutely oversimplifying here and admittedly never experienced being a qualified fighter pilot, but the laid back attitude of "those crappy cargo pilots" actually fit me better. It reminds me of the old Garth Brooks' song "Unanswered Prayers."

I loved flying the C-17, but ended up hating to operate it. The ops tempo really wore me out. After 5 years of being gone 200+ days a year on a highly irregular schedule, I decided to take a break and go fly the Global Hawk. Now, when RPAs first came out, I was like "no way, I'm never going to fly one of those dang things." When I did decide to go to the RQ-4, I thought it was going to be a quick 2-3 year tour and then back to my C-17. That was over 13 years ago and I'm still teaching how to fly them today as a civilian IP. The point is, you might find yourself being happy in places you never thought possible.

I'll wrap up this post but can actually elaborate even further (you're thinking "dear God, NO") on my experiences if you'd like.

Response by Charlie Lines made Jun 21 at 2020 4:58 PM

Charlie Lines — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 16:58:21 -0400

If you're good enough the Navy. Only a Navy pilot can land on the deck of a carrier at night. Once in the air there isn't any difference. Also sailors are better in a bar fight, ask any Marine.

Response by CPL Joseph Elinger made Jun 25 at 2020 12:18 PM

CPL Joseph Elinger — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 12:18:36 -0400

The AirForce has the most planes & F35s as well.

Response by TSgt Ray Lewis made Jun 27 at 2020 11:55 PM

TSgt Ray Lewis — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:55:30 -0400

SFC , seeing as you are a little narrow minded. I will let you in on a little secret. The AF is part of the military.