View Full Version : how to be a marine aviator?
I am not a pilot (yet) but I am Inquiring to become one. I am just not sure what you have to do to become a US Marine helicopter pilot.
I am enrolled in a state university so that i can become an officer but what are the requirements that i would have meet inorder to be eligble for this carreer?
thanks in advance
brickhistory
3rd Jun 2006, 20:23
US citizen, college graduate, no criminal record, pass/possess security clearance, successfully complete Marine OCS (officer candidate school), and most importantly, and probably, the hardest, qualify/pass flight school.
Quickest, most accurate way to get info would be to contact your local Marine recruiter.
(Ok, so how long until the efforts to tie this thread to a unfortunate, hideous development in Iraq regarding Marines. I give it 30 minutes.)
Well thank you very much for the info.
Would it help to posses a private VFR license?
(I'd give it bout 25min)lol
brickhistory
3rd Jun 2006, 20:38
Probably not re the PPL. Most flight schools do not like having to 'unlearn' flying techniques learned elsewhere. Having the air sense is a plus, however.
Talk to a recruiter, or call up Pendleton. There are, hopefully, some rotary wing units still in town that could, probably would, talk to you about the subject.
West Coast
3rd Jun 2006, 21:12
lac14
In addition to what brick has posted, there is also six months of additional schooling, called TBS. Stands for The Basic School. Used to be called BS, but that had to go. Every Marine is an infantryman first and foremost. This is where you learn that skill. Much more intense than OCS.
brickhistory
3rd Jun 2006, 21:21
Sorry, that's what I thought OCS consisted of. So the lesson learned is, ask a Marine, not some USAF pogue (everyman a golfer :ok: )
SASless
4th Jun 2006, 02:30
TBS.....Thousands Being Stupid as I have heard it called by the survivors.
Question...."How does a Marine F-18 pilot know he landed gear up?
When he has to use afterburner (reheat for our UK friends) to taxi off the runway.
The Marines have a lot to offer...almost like joining a Monastic order sometimes but the lifelong bond between Marines can do a lot for you in civilian life too.
West Coast
4th Jun 2006, 06:44
SAS
Remember, there's two different Marine Corps, Air wing and division. I belonged to the former, only visiting the later when I had to.
Our favorite saying in the wing was that we don't take orders, we discuss them!