Aviation Insights

So, you want to fly the “heavy metal“! If you’ve come to the conclusion that you want to be a professional pilot, it’s likely you’ve felt like that for a long time. I fall into this category. Except for a brief period of time when I was certain I would become a professional football player, I’m told being a pilot was the only thing I ever wanted to do. The football thing didn’t work out. So, once I decided to re-focus on becoming a professional pilot I had to ask myself “how do you do that?” Turns out to be a question I still ask myself frequently. Anyway, while the majority of my high school friends seemed to have a plan, go to college – choose a major – get a job, I realized I had no idea about how to get where I wanted to go, to fly the heavy metal. Pilots for Dummies didn’t exist in 1981. Enter my father, thanks dad! He set up a meeting with someone he knew was an airline pilot. But that’s all he knew. It turns out the man was a Captain for a major airline, U.S. Air. His name was Frank and he came prepared to answer my naive questions and was able to guide me through his answers to the point of understanding. I listened and took as many mental notes possible, hoping my father was doing the same since I knew I wouldn’t remember it all. But when the question and answer session had basically ended, I realized everything he talked about referred to civilian flying, his background. He made no mention of military flying. So, I did.
He hesitated briefly and then replied with “that’s the best way to learn how to fly”. Well, I didn’t hear anything after that! Wait, I did hear something about a big commitment. But, I
basically ignored it choosing to focus on “the best way to learn how to fly” part. The result of the meeting was I now knew there were basically two paths to learn to “fly the heavy metal“. I also knew which path I was going to take.

Since this personal revelation took place late in my senior year of high school, I quickly went about learning what had to be done to become a military pilot. The basic outline is much the same today as it was in 1981. You are required to have a 4 yr degree to get commissioned (become an officer) and you must be an officer to become a pilot. There is an exception. The Army has Warrant Officers who may or may not have
a 4 yr degree (it’s not required) but are pilots. You get a commission one of 3 ways; attend the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), a reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program or attend Officer Training School (OTS). After completing your degree program and getting a commission, you go to flight training followed by your aircraft of assignment (your “weapons system”). It sounds fairly simple in its basic terms. I’ll cover the details of each commissioning source in the next blog.

Compare that to the civilian path and I think you’ll find
many more variables. For example, technically some of the major carriers don’t require a 4 yr degree. So, do you get one or not. I believe yes is the correct answer. Then, where will you get flying time? There are many choices. You can attend a 4 yr college that has an aviation program. Purdue or Embry Riddle, for example. Or, you can attend an aviation school and buy as much flying time and licenses as you can. And last, you can learn to fly at your local airport Fixed Base Operation (FBO) which may have a flying school. Then comes the big question, how will you pay for your flying and/or degree? If you are paying for flying, what kind should you buy? There are several different types of flying time you’ll need to get a flying job. These are just a few of the many issues you’ll face if you decide to learn to fly on the civilian path. The military path makes some of these decisions for you. Most notably, the who’s going to pay part. There is a trade off, however. Yes, the military will pay for you to learn how to fly and provide you with excellent experience, all in exchange for active duty service. The translation of that statement is you pay with part of your life under the military’s control. In my case, I understood it well and didn’t hesitate to join the Air Force with positively no regrets.
I can say with confidence the people I’ve spoken with over the years, and there are many, who learned to fly the civilian path would agree it was a struggle with an uncertain outcome. In
comparison, the military path may be less of a struggle for the reasons mentioned, but with the same uncertain outcome. To clarify, the outcome I’m referring to is a job with a major
carrier or corporate flight department. So, which path will you take, or did you take?
In the next blog, I’ll cover in more detail the military choices and commitments as well as the civilian possibilities.