Advice for military to civilian transition

[Huggyu2]

And for crying out loud, get your:
- commercial certificate now (via the mil competancy test). If you flew the T-34 recently, make sure you get both the single and multi engine ratings.
- CFI/CFII/MEI. The mil comp fr these should be signed off by the FAA by Feb.
- AGI. Nearly the same written test as the CFI.

I meet a lot of military pilots that never bothered to get their Commercial. Don't be one of them.

 

[taz1518]

Thanks

Fellas',

I just wanted to thank all of you for taking the time to write a post sharing your experience. Based on your advice, I will start to transfer all of my flight hours over from flight records to a civilian log book, start building a resume, and take the ATP Exam. Also, I will make sure my buds at FedEx and Southwest continue to get Christmas Cards. Thanks for suggesting MOA, I am a member but had no idea employers used it as a search engine. Recently I have completed my Master's in Homeland Security which I may use as a back-up for a Federal or State job if the avaition industry continues on this path. It would hurt bad not to be flying but I would need a paycheck! And as some of you have said, if it is looking bad I will stay the hell on Active Duty.

Thanks again! I respect all of your experience and opinions. Taz

 

[fly4unclesam]

Taz,

If transfering you mil time to a civ logbook, consider going electronic. I use Logbook Pro and it works great. The reason I say this is it will make filling out resumes much easier as it will be easy to sort your flight time any way you need to...much more difficult if you only have a paper log.

 

[135Drvr]

Taz,

Once you're hired by a major, which in this current market isn't too likely, you should have no problem jump seating from AVP to PHL. I think USAIR Express runs down there almost hourly.
My advice is to stay in an extra year or two and wait for the sine wave of hiring to start to go back up. PME in residency or a Pentagon tour would be OK except that you'd go non-current. Maybe look into an active duty adviser job with some Guard or Reserve unit. That would be sweet since you'd stay current and could use all of the guys at the unit as references. They could also keep you up to speed on hiring and interview gouge.

Best of Luck
p.s. Have a slice of that good Old Forge pizza for me!

 

[AdlerDriver]

a bit of logbook advice

Taz,
Unless you're really low on your "to do" list, I wouldn't waste time transferring mil time to a civilian log book unless you feel it’s really necessary. Obviously, you need a logbook for any civilian time you already have as well as that you will get during your ATP course, etc. I think keeping mil and civilian times separate is easier and avoids confusion for everyone. JMO
However, I notice your a/c types are both USAF and Navy so you may have some unique issues with mil flight history information. If your situation dictates, maybe a transfer is the right way to go. Whatever you decide, it needs to be accurate and as easy to understand as possible.

If you have an accurate product from the military, just use that. If you’re currently USAF, realize that you can get flight records to make changes and put one line entries to encompass flying you’ve done with other services. Before you separate, ensure your flight records reflect your flying accurately and they really will be more than enough to get you hired. I think interviewers are less likely to question an official USAF flight record than a civilian logbook (manual or electronic), so why not just go with what you have? One thing I found very helpful was a cover sheet explaining whatever conversion and adjustments you made to your military time (assuming the airline you’re applying to allows a conversion).

Speaking of conversions, each airline has their own way of doing that. Fedex allows so much per sortie(.2 I think), while others may have you multiply the total by 1.3 or something similar. Also, realize that many airlines have unique interpretations of PIC time that don’t jive with the basic FAR “sole manipulator of controls” definition. So, your times may need to be “tweeked” from airline to airline as you create resumes or fill in on-line information, etc.

One of the more common airline definitions of PIC is that you had to “sign for the jet” and were the one responsible for its operation. So, that would rule out duel rides in the RAG or FTU with an instructor on board, even if he never touched the controls. He’s the IP and will be viewed as the PIC, ultimately responsible for the aircraft. You need to take those sorties out of your PIC total to be completely accurate. There are plenty of former mil instructors at airlines doing interviews. They are probably very familiar with the general aspects of fighter syllabi and may wonder why you’re showing 100% of your F-15E or Hornet time as PIC if their airline definition of PIC rules out some of it. You may get lucky and have it be a non issue. I had a guy who was all over that stuff at my UAL interview and I was glad I went the conservative route. It’s a lot easier to shave off 5 hours of PIC time than to have tap dance in the interview. You don’t want to be seen as having an “attention to detail” problem or come across as trying to game the system.

Student time is another area that can be open to interpretation by airlines. UAL, for instance, said you could only count PIC time that you accrued after you got your wings. That obviously rules out including any solo time you got as a UPT student in your PIC total.

Include an explanation of those kinds of exclusions on your conversion cover sheet and you’ll most likely avoid any heavy scrutiny of your logbooks and mil flight history information. Good Luck.