USAF -- RAF

[BFH]

A career in the Air Force; is it a good idea?

I'm 18 years old and preparing to enter a 4 year college for a degree in Aeronautical Science. I plan on having significant flight training by the time I'm finished. PPL/IR/CPL/CFI .

I live in the US, so naturally I would be a candidate for the USAF rather than the RAF. But I assume the same fundamentals apply.

Considering this, do you think I'd be making a wise choice to enter the Air Force as a career after college? IS it true that the Air Force prefers to take in pilots with little or no flight training?

Just thought I'd take the opportunity to pick your professional brains.

Thanks.

[beamer]

Ask yourself one question - do I want to fly
commercial pax/frt around the globe for the next
thirty plus years or do I want to enjoy some
rather more demanding flying for a finite period
of time and then explore the somewhat more
mundane world of commercial aviation ?

The military route will see the indoctrination
and bull**** phase followed by high quality
training and hopefully operational flying. Remember however that not everybody gets to fly
fast jet aircraft - many will fly helos, tankers,
transports, AWAC's and the like which you may
not find quite so inspiring - don't underestimate
these roles however - they need a lot of balls too.

The civil route will be more mundane but eventually pay better assuming that you follow
a path to the majors on large commercial jets.
Of course you may decide to fly floatplanes in
Alaska or Canada, fight fires, operate casevac,
or any other of a host of 'different' types of
commercial operation.

At 18, the future looks like a long path ahead -
you have time to have a career in both the
military and civil fields if you wish - at the
end of the day what does your heart want most -
there is the answer to your qusetion !

[Dan Winterland]

I did 17 years of military flying before commercial.

The pros - I had some great flying and made the type of friends you just dont make in the civilian world.

The cons - I have less hours and am poorer than I would have been if I had gone to commercial flying in the first place.

Do I regret the way it worked out? Not a bit!

[Hornetboy]

BFH, in the US it's actually much better if you have previous flying experience. Do a little research on it on the AF sites and visit <a href="http://www.studentpilot.net" target="_blank">www.studentpilot.net</a> which is a US message board. There's a military flying section which has a whole range of military pilots who can answer any question.

Back to the flying hours....your flying hours are actually incorporated into a calculation which is your PCSM (Pilot Candidate Selection and I can't remember what the M stands for). The greater your number of hours, the higher your PCSM is boosted. It isn't the only thing that is taken into account, but a high PCSM sure helps, along with having a high college GPA, and doing well on the BAT (Basic Attributes Test) and Verbal, Quantitative, etc tests, which I think go towards your AFOQT (AF Officer Qualifying Test). I'm not too sure about the exact way it's done, this is very complicated.

But flying hours definitely are a plus in the USAF. If however you manage to get in without experience, the USAF will put you on the IFT programme to get you a paid-for PPL in 40 hours at an accredited flying school. You make the choice, you've got another 12 years to get it done over there.

[Bervie]

Military flying (FJ) is fantastic and for a young guy cant be beaten IMHO. But there is always the lure of money with the airlines.

Depends what your after I suppose.

Dont join the mil and hope for stable lifestyle, lots of money etc. But then dont join the airlines if you want to fly low level v quick, drop ordanance and see the bits of the world that generally dont have international airports that welcome you in a friendly manner.

Have fun no matter what you are lucky enough to fly though, it all rules!

[hvassk]

Want the best of both worlds? In the US there's a "golden ticket" available, it's called the USAF Reserve. You can get a reserve slot, commit yourself to ten years and spend about two or three of that as an active reservist building your hours. There are many reserve units that only hire pilots previously trained on their aircraft, so active guys getting out. However, there are some units out there that will hire a person with a 4-year degree and a PPL. The trick is finding them and getting someone to talk to. It can be done though. They have everything from F-16 units to C-17 units. Just remember, it takes roughly two years to train a military pilot. In that time you will log around 200-300 hours. That's about four month's worth at a regional. The most important thing in aviation is seniority and the second and third most important things? SENIORITY AND SENIORITY!!! If your dream is to fly commercially then either go Reserve or don't go. Seniority is your livelyhood in this industry. If your dream is to fly fast and low then go military. If you are just starting college then join the ROTC program if there is one available. Sounds like you are going to ERAU, UND, or something similar. Make sure you get a degree or at least a minor in something besides aviation. You never know what will happen (bust numerous FAA rides, violation, fail a medical) and you'll need something to fall back on. Good luck.

[hvassk]

Oh yeah, if you have a choice between the RAF and USAF I would say the USAF. Many more aircraft, more missions, and so on. However, you're going to have to make a choice on where you want to make your home. With aviation it is difficult to move from continent to continent. I know because I have both the right to work and live in Europe and in the US. In aviation it's very expensive and time consuming to get certificates that are valid in both the US and Europe. Hopefully, that'll change with the JAA over time. Plus, there are just more flying units in the USAF than in the RAF.

[Hornetboy]

Uhhhh Herluf.....why go AF Reserve when you can go Air National Guard?? Air National Guard takes guys that haven't had previous military flying experience. And this is for all ANG units, not just some, unlike the Reserves. The Unit you get into will send you to SUPT (Specialised Undergrad Pilot Training). As long as you're not eliminated through ordinary pilot training, you're gauranteed the airframe your unit flies once you get your wings. ie If you're sponsored by an F-15 unit, halfway through your wings, you're gauranteed the T-38 track (fighters), then IFF (Intro to Fighter Fundamentals), then an F-15 FTU (Formal Training Unit), then you're in your unit flying F-15's. All you have to do is pass, while the Active Duty guys are fighting for who gets the highest scores to go to fighters, etc.

With guard, you spend a few years full time, then you can go off to do airline flying, but come back to fly fighters/tankers/etc on weekends. That means the fantastic pay of airlines, and the exciting flying of the Air Force, put together! And if you can't get an airline job, you can be a "Guard bum", which means you stay at your unit after your full-time is up, but still try to fly every flying sortie available. You can get a fair bit of flying and a decent salary as a guard bum.

Personally, I'd rather Active Duty. But most enjoy ANG's options.

[hvassk]

Well, you are correct in that not all AFReserve units will accept applications from people not qualified. My opinion on the matter is that the ANG is state funded and could be more likely to run out of funds by the end of the fiscal year. However, ANGReserve or AFReserve, they are both great career tracks. If Pitot Heat is going to be starting college soon he should definitely look into ROTC on the college campus. That'll allow him/her to experience military "protocal" with no committment. Only in the junior year do you have to sign on the dotted line.

AFReserve is identical to the ANG in that you are garunteed your airframe once passing basic flight training. Just remember though, seniority is key. Getting furloughed at your airline dream job may be the difference between two weeks of date of hire.