Just that.....your only Army Solo flight was with another Student Pilot and was only one hour.
All of your Army flying will be in a two Pilot aircraft....which means you will never have the opportunity to experience what the majority of Civilian flying is like.
In the Army you have the Flight Planning room...all sorts of planning data, computer terminals, access to weather forecasts and reports, crew members or Path Finders to handle cargo, fueling, most of your LZ's will be "surveyed" to some degree.....all very structured.
Not so in the civvie world.
An example.....my first Alaska season I was given a Hughes 500D, shown a spot on a Map 900 miles away....and was told be there at 9AM on Thursday.
I was briefed....took all of three minutes....who I was to work for, their contact data, what the general task was..."support a Core Drill and Geologists doing survey and claim staking" your Mechanic will fly in to Sand Point with the Customer so pick him up there......if you need something call, if you get lonely call, if everything is going fine....see you in October. This was in Mid-April.
Where I went...out towards Cold Bay....a Tent Camp, drum fuel, hand pumps, Cook Tent, and Out House.....no shower.
Best Salmon and Trout fishing in the World however!
Those jobs are still out there....and are the best flying one can do in my view.
The further one can get from the Flag Pole the better.
Last edited by SASless; 4th Sep 2013 at 00:33.