Aviation Insights

Back again. This week, something different. So far we’ve covered the broad topics of learning to fly, the military path, the civilian path and a couple blogs on interviewing. I’ve attempted to attach a “meat and potatoes” slide show to this blog covering the progression through military pilot training. I say attempted because my computer skills are limited. The only computers I really care about are the ones in the cockpit! But, my friends at Atomica Creative who are assisting me with an other project, have been a great deal of help with the technical stuff or I wouldn’t posting this blog.

The slide show link is at the end. You can go there now if you like, but I  hope you read this short blog for some more interesting content on military flying. There are approximate time frames and content for each phase along with the aircraft you can expect to fly during each phase. I am aware of some changes underway in the program. This is the latest info I have.

Remember the 3 commissioning sources from Learn to Fly- Military Path? They were a military academy, an ROTC program, or an officer training school program (OTS/OCS). I assisted an aspiring pilot from his senior year in high school to where he is now, in the middle of Air Force Pilot Training. He did all the work, I listened, answered questions, and provided a directional nudge on occasion when I felt it was necessary.  One of the directional nudges was to enroll in an ROTC program instead of pursuing a commission through OTS. The reason was simple. The number of officers produced through OTS/OCS changes yearly. For the last several years, and I expect it to remain this way, the numbers have been minimal compared to ROTC and military academies making his chances very slim in my opinion. However, he was only interested in getting his commission via OTS, which he eventually did. So, I helped where I could, which wasn’t very much. There were plenty of ups and downs as well as stiff competition. After speaking with him just yesterday, I would like to pass on some information about the competition for anyone desiring to pursue a commission through OTS, with UPT as the ultimate goal.  First, he was the only person in his UPT class commissioned through OTS. That speaks volumes by itself. There is more though. He worked to fly through his college career (sound familiar) and accumulated around 300 hrs of flying time. Sounds pretty good, right?! Wrong! The other officer candidates in his class at OTS had flying time anywhere between 900 to 2,000 hours. Considering UPT has an age limit of 26 and half years old when you start, anyone with 2,000 hrs has done pretty well to accumulate that in the civilian flying world before age 26. Why would someone with that much flying time and experience choose to join the military? See Learn to Fly – Civilian Path for some possible answers.The point is the competition is very stiff for a very limited number of OTS slots. This young man was as committed and determined to live his dream of flying for the Air Force as anyone I’ve met over the years. He had to be, to be successful. As I mentioned in previous blogs, the application process for military flying is in and of itself a screening process. It is long, involved and requires a great deal of patience and persistence. He understood it well and was very persistant to say the least. It paid off though. When speaking to him yesterday, I could tell he was one happy aviator.

So, when considering the military path for learning to fly, understand the obstacles. You must first decide which commissioning source to pursue. Review this carefully before deciding. Make sure you understand each of the three options thoroughly. Consider making a list of positives and negatives for each and place them in columns on a sheet of paper. Then review them side by side. May sound goofy, but, it will provide some clarity. Look at the number of commissioned officers annually, how long each source will take to complete and where you will be when you begin/end each source. Will you be beginning college or finished with college? And what will do if at the end of your commisioning, you, for some reason, are no longer pilot qualified?  It can, and does happen. What will you do then? ! Sounds and is harsh, but you must consider it as a possibility, if only for a second.

Before you review the link to the slide show, I have to make some disclaimers. I put it together using the latest public access information I could find. I am aware some of it has already changed and can guarantee it will change by the time one of our readers gets to flight school. So, don’t hold my feet to the fire if something isn’t quite right. Let me know through comments. Also, the information leans a bit towards what pilot training in the Air Force will look like. There are differences between Air Force and Navy flying schools, but, this should give you a good idea of what to expect. I don’t have much on rotary wing (helicopter) flying training other than to say the Army and the Navy have a lot of it.

Next week, more detail on civilian flying with a couple links to aviation schools and aviation job channels. Here is the link to the slide show. http://www.slideshare.net/aastrong/upt-brief/ . Enjoy! I look forward to your comments.