Life as a military pilot

[Winkiepinkie]

Hi everyone. I warn you now I’m gonna ask some ball breaking questions.

I like most here am a (military) aviation freak. I am fairly well clued up (or so I think) on the technical side of things regarding flying, but what I really don’t have any idea about is the life as a military pilot, specially fast jets (Tornado, Jag etc). What I would like to know specifically is how often do you guys fly and what it is you do between flying. As a kid, I thought you’d be flying everyday for perhaps 3 hrs at a time, but clearly this isn’t the case. If I bullet point my questions maybe it’ll be easier. What I’m after is this:

1. How frequently do you fly? How many hours/month, and how are they split up?
2. When you do fly, is it all ‘training’ (except of course when you’re in Iraq etc)?
3. I’m curious to know how times have changed from say 20 yrs ago, how much less flying is there, and how has it changed (do you still train as much for low level etc)?
4. Does career progression affect the number of hours you fly a year/month etc?
5. How often do you get to fire live weapons. I went to the Mildenhall Air Fete in 1999 (or 2000) and was horrified to hear from an F-15C jock that the last time he fired the gun was 5 yrs ago.
6. Past basic flying on the Tucano/Hawk, and if lucky enough to get the jet of your choice, in broad terms can you summarize, how does life in the AF works. Where do you go, what dictates where you are transferred, how long does your flying ‘life’ go for in the AF etc. Is the same in the Fleet Air Arm?
7. What do you lucky people do when not flying?
8. Do you have other duties related to the AF that do not entail flying?

Sorry if these seem like a barrage of questions, but I’ve always wanted to know.

Thanks a bunch in advance.

All the best, W.

[Surditas]

Dubya,

First off, my answers are from someone else's air force (RAAF) and from a non-fast-jet background, but I think I can help you a bit as the answers should be similar for both (and Her Majesty owns both outfits)

1) Not enough. Everyone would like more, but budgets are budgets. Trash-haulers and maritime guys will fly more hours then fast jet, but we trashies spend more time just chugging between A and B then the FJ guys.
2) No. For FJ, it's mostly training, but there is also real stuff. For trash and maritime it is mainly real stuff (not that we are always being shot at, mind) with some training.
3) Errrmm, I wasn't in the Service twenty years back.
4) Career progression in terms of captaincy/category upgrade doesn't change your flying rate much. Career progression in terms of promotion/command means you fly less.
5) Trash world: never. FJ/Maritime sometimes. See point 1.
6) Dunno.
7) In no order: Study, briefs, PT, Uckers, briefs, sloping off home early, prep for next trip, briefs, weapon (eg: pistol) currency, briefs and SLJ's
8) Oh yair. You name it, it's probably a secondary duty. Much as we'd like to have people do all the little admin tasks a SQN needs, it falls to us to do it.

[Zoom]

Dubya

2. Twenty years in the (FJ) Force and all of it was training......ALL of it....but all of it was damned good training.

[Winkiepinkie]

Thanks lads. Much appreciated.

Shame on you others for not posting (whine whine, mumble mumble).

W.

[MaddogsTwo]

I wonder what you do Winkie Pinkie that makes you asks such questions? Put yourself in our shoes, would you answer such a post?

[chromate]

I wonder what you do Winkie Pinkie that makes you asks such questions? Put yourself in our shoes, would you answer such a post?

Why wouldn't you answer such a post? He only wants a general overview. On that level, it's not exactly sensitive information, now is it?

... Why wouldn't you answer such a post? Laziness?

[snafu]

Winkie

I know you said that you wanted answers from FJ, but here's a selection from the coalface of support helos.

1. Minimum to stay current is 15 hrs a month, of which 2 have to be at night with 1.5 on NVG. How many you actually get depends on where you are and what you're doing. You'll probably get 15-20 per month when you're at home, but a 35 hour month when you're operationally deployed isn't unusual.
2. Probably split 50/50 between training and tasking when you're at home. Operationally deployed is almost exclusively tasking with the occasional training sortie to keep core skills up to date if you haven't done them for a while (IFP, GFP, NVG formation etc).
3. No idea, I only joined 13 years ago. I'd imagine it's about the same, although the amount of tasking has probably gone up due to the Army moving back from Germany and fewer frontline SH squadrons to share out the tasking.
4. Yep, the more senior you are, the less time you spend flying the aircraft. Enjoy it while you can! (I'm off to a desk job soon :{ but it's a means to an end :rolleyes: )
5. We do cabin gunning every two to three months. (OK it's not as sexy as rockets and missiles, but they're still weapons and a 7.62mm round might smart if you got hit!)
6. Depends on you aspirations and career structure. Couple of tours frontline as a gash shag pilot up to flight 2 i/c, beefer's course or warfare instructor then a mix of flying tours and ground jobs to 'broaden' you before getting up to become a Senior Pilot and maybe Boss. If you get a major career caption, there are opportunities to go further, but it gets competitive. (Not me then!!)
7. Pretty much anything we can get away with. Taking the p*ss out of the Crabs normally features fairly highly!
8. Yep, divisional work and any other jobs that get thrown our way.

Hope this helps.

[truckietypebloke]

not to dishearten such an enthusiastic person, BUT.... military life is good on the whole as long as you dont like planning anything with your gf/wife, or if you do having it cancelled.... not seeing your kids grow up.... pension reviews, going to malaria ridden , rag head countries to try and sort out what cant be sorted out, and hasnt been sorted out for a very long time..... (and generally the mess that we or the yanks created).... the government always trying to cut the little perks like petrol allowances, rates, grants etc etc..... trying to do a job with inadequate kit, having to buy your own... i could go on....... oh and having to deal with monkeys in ops!!

did i miss anything?apart from not answering any of your questions!? :ok: :O :yuk:

[D-IFF_ident]

1. We fly every week - usually at weekends so we can use weekdays to visit admin wg/DHE/Med centre, keep up with secondary duties etc. We don't fly weekends when we're SDO though.

2. It is never training, except for the 'OCU' - which isn't an OCU anymore. But when you've finished that you won't see any more training for 3 years. We do get tested though.

3. It has not changed for more than 20 years; it was fantastic then and it is more fantastic now. We didn't have Investors In People 20 years ago though.

4. Sort of. Career progression guarantees more exotic detachments and your choice of flights, but paperwork to control the masses.

5. We get to fire live weapons at least once per year, but I'd be better off throwing it.

6. Life in the 'AF' works slowly when you want to change something but quickly when someone needs you to fly tomorrow morning, check-in at 0500. We go everywhere, especially sandy places. Flying life goes on as long as your wife will let you or forever if you invest in becoming single again. What dictates to where one is transferred is where there is a position that requires filling. It is not the same for the fleet air arm because they will one day be closed down.

7. We try to catch the allowances clerk/mess bills clerk/duty clerk during 1130 - 1145 Monday to Tuesday, I'm sorry sir, she's on leave this year.

8. Yes, but I don't have time to list them. I recommend that you join and find out - it's kind of a big secret that we like to keep and oh-so-much fun what you can get up to when you've not got 100 tonnes of aircraft strapped to your back.

[Winkiepinkie]

Thanks to all that answered. This is the sort of info I was after. Regards.