Air Force Pilots

[DaveGriffin]

If you want to be a pilot and fly for a living, don't join the military. Period. For the first year and a half or so, you will eat, sleep and poop flight training. After that, you will be an officer, doing the things officers do, which for the most part is supervision and push'n pencils. Who do you think runs the flying squadrons/ops group? The pilots. When I'm not deployed, I spend 5 days a week from 7:30am-500pm behind a desk doing admin duties, unless I'm lucky enough to get on a local training mission or a trip (even more rare). I've flown 3 times in the last 6 weeks and that's average. I'm even a fairly new copilot who should be flying a lot. Unfortunately, the only time we fly a lot is when we're deployed for 60+ days at a time (about every other day - 100+ hours a month) and in the tanker, deployment rates are averaging about 180+ days a year, not including the taskings we get when we're home. Being a military pilot may not be what you think it is. I know it's not what I thought it'd be. Unfortunately, it's about 25% flying and 75% bureaucracy. Fortunately, you're asking the right questions before hand. Get as much info as you can before making this decision. I wish I had. Don't let TV commercials and recruiters that don't know their arse from their elbos about being a pilot in the AF talk you into anything.

Why are AF Tankers always the biggest crybabies? Here's a guy with a great deal and he still thinks up reasons to b*tch and moan.

 

[RampFreeze]

Deleted - I just saw the Webmaster post on wrong date/time stamp....

 

[WillowRunVortex]

Being a miltary pilot with 2000hrs in your logbook, is still better then being a civilian pilot with 5000hrs in your logbook.

Not true these days with the advent of the crj.

A 21 yr old straight out of college goes into the crj which has state of the art electronics and avionics.

A 5000 hr regional Captain is probably 25 years old with 3000 hrs of PIC jet experience in state of the art passenger equipment.

 

[TankerDriver]

If you want to be a pilot and fly for a living, don't join the military. Period. For the first year and a half or so, you will eat, sleep and poop flight training. After that, you will be an officer, doing the things officers do, which for the most part is supervision and push'n pencils. Who do you think runs the flying squadrons/ops group? The pilots. When I'm not deployed, I spend 5 days a week from 7:30am-500pm behind a desk doing admin duties, unless I'm lucky enough to get on a local training mission or a trip (even more rare). I've flown 3 times in the last 6 weeks and that's average. I'm even a fairly new copilot who should be flying a lot. Unfortunately, the only time we fly a lot is when we're deployed for 60+ days at a time (about every other day - 100+ hours a month) and in the tanker, deployment rates are averaging about 180+ days a year, not including the taskings we get when we're home. Being a military pilot may not be what you think it is. I know it's not what I thought it'd be. Unfortunately, it's about 25% flying and 75% bureaucracy. Fortunately, you're asking the right questions before hand. Get as much info as you can before making this decision. I wish I had. Don't let TV commercials and recruiters that don't know their arse from their elbos about being a pilot in the AF talk you into anything.

 

[RampFreeze]

Yet, when I declined the pilot bonus and turned in my papers to get out I was treated like a criminal. Never understood that.

michael707767 - I've seen exactly what you describe while on active duty and I've also seen the opposite, it all depends on who the leadership is above the separating person at the moment. One of the things that blew me away in my career was when I saw a two-star give a guy the hard sell about leaving active duty. He really grilled him hard and told him how he thought he was making a big mistake. At the end of his discussion with the guy getting out he finally said, "Have I changed your mind?" The guy said, “No Sir, I still think I’m going to separate.” The two-star then said, "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Let me leave you with last thing. Thank-you for serving our country. You are a hero. Anyone who raises his or her hand and takes an oath to defend their country, even if for only 1 day on active duty, is a hero. You are in a vast minority of Americans. I hope you go back to civilian life and always look back fondly on your days in the Air Force. Take what you learned here and make your home town a better place. Godspeed." I just about fell off of my chair. While he didn’t convince that guy to stay in, he did give a lot of us hope that the AF leadership isn’t entirely out of touch with reality.

 

[Hercdude02]

3 words

Air National Guard.....the best kept secret going!!!

 

[frog_flyer]

whats the average anr guy logs monthly?

im sure its different by airframe, so break it down like that if you have the stats

 

[Hercdude02]

You're right is does depend on the a/c, but for me a good year is 300-400 hours. Also depends on what our schedule is like....flying around the flag pole or flying in the desert. QOL is the best part, hours come second.

 

[Pistlpetet]

If you want to be a pilot and fly for a living, don't join the military. Period. For the first year and a half or so, you will eat, sleep and poop flight training. After that, you will be an officer, doing the things officers do, which for the most part is supervision and push'n pencils. Who do you think runs the flying squadrons/ops group? The pilots. When I'm not deployed, I spend 5 days a week from 7:30am-500pm behind a desk doing admin duties, unless I'm lucky enough to get on a local training mission or a trip (even more rare). I've flown 3 times in the last 6 weeks and that's average. I'm even a fairly new copilot who should be flying a lot. Unfortunately, the only time we fly a lot is when we're deployed for 60+ days at a time (about every other day - 100+ hours a month) and in the tanker, deployment rates are averaging about 180+ days a year, not including the taskings we get when we're home. Being a military pilot may not be what you think it is. I know it's not what I thought it'd be. Unfortunately, it's about 25% flying and 75% bureaucracy. Fortunately, you're asking the right questions before hand. Get as much info as you can before making this decision. I wish I had. Don't let TV commercials and recruiters that don't know their arse from their elbos about being a pilot in the AF talk you into anything.

You sound pretty disgruntled, and I am sure it is all relative, but I think the AF has done pretty good for you, and you should be thankful. Everyone would like to fly more, but at least you are flying a big Jet, and have gotten training far more worthy then any of your ERAU campadres.

Being a miltary pilot with 2000hrs in your logbook, is still better then being a civilian pilot with 5000hrs in your logbook. You are well ahead of a lot of people, and there are people that would trade slots with you if they could. Spend a few years in the Army, that will make you appreciate the AF, flying a desk or not.

 

[K-Mart]

Why are AF Tankers always the biggest crybabies? Here's a guy with a great deal and he still thinks up reasons to b*tch and moan.

Well put Dave!