Army Fixed Wing?

[PA-44Typed]

Is it possible to go into the army guard and go straight to fixed wing or do you have to fly helicopters first? I know that the Warrant Officer program has been discussed here, but I am more interested in an officer position. Thanks again

 

[HueyPilot]

Army FW

You'll probably hear a million different versions on this subject, since the status of the Army's FW aviators has varied greatly in the past. Only those who are current FW aviators have the up-to-date info for sure, but for your sake I'll put in my .02 cents...realize that I was an Army aviator in 1999, and I flew RW assets. So my view is probably dated.

"Back in the day", commissioned officers could become FW pilots...there weren't alot of them, but there were some, and it was possible to attain that goal. But that was also in the day of commissioned instructor pilots as well...those days are long gone. You may find a few old heads who are IPs and former FW pilots, but things evolved over time.

When I was an Army aviator, pretty much only warrant officers flew FW. There were a tiny handful of brand-new WO1s who got a FW slot out of helicopter flight school....about 2-3 a year. For the rest of us, you pretty much had to be flying a legacy aircraft (ie, an airframe with no future...UH-1, AH-1, OH-58A/C), or have a significant amount of RW time under your belt (about 6 years or so). The legacy guys could switch to FW because they didn't have a home community (ie UH-60, AH-64, CH-47, etc) to belong to. Everyone else had to stand in line.

If you aren't aware of this yet, commissioned officers are only good for a few things in Army Aviation....commanders and battalion/brigade staff. That's it. And since most FW units started getting CW5/CW4 folks as commanders, that pretty much sealed the fate of the commissioned FW pilot.

Nowadays, I hear there are no longer any FW slots out of IERW (helicopter flight school). There are very few legacy airframes out there. So you can count on going to a flying community and having to stand in line for your FW slot. And you might never get there. FW slots are typically viewed as a "reward" for those guys who were excellent performers. And few of them stay FW after they get the qual...they will go fly FW for a while then get sucked back into helicopters at some point, unless they get out of the Army or retire and become a DAC (Dept. of the Army Civilian....civilian FW pilots).

Bottom line...don't go the commissioned route if you ever want to fly a C-12 or a UC-35. And don't expect an easy route into the cockpit of one even if you go warrant.

 

[Snakum]

commissioned officers are only good for a few things in Army Aviation

They were good for even less in the Infantry.



Minh

 

[Birdstrike]

What He Said

Concur with above and you have to go to helicopter flight school first. If you want to fly military airplanes, you're looking at the wrong service. If you want to fly military airplanes as a commissioned officer in the Army, you're really looking at the wrong service. The opportunities are just severely limited. The Army is about helicopters and warrant officers fly the vast majority of them. The Army fixed-wing community is small and tight, even though most of it is in the Guard and Reserve. Have you considered the Air Guard or Reserve?

 

[PA-44Typed]

Thanks

Thanks for the input; I am looking into the air guard and air force reserve as well. I just wanted to look into every option. The bottom line is that I want to serve my country fist, and if I can do that by flying airplanes instead of helicopters than that is what I want to do. Thanks again for all the input.

 

[HueyPilot]

Addendum

Let me add this:

I was a rotary-winger from 1996 to 1999. From that point on, I flew airplanes in some form or another. This is the way I view it...

Flying airplanes for the Air Force is a sure path to flying commercially in some capacity. But it's very business-like. Things are very standardized (like the airlines), and it can be a very taxing job to stay on top of all the USAF regs and rules. Flying Army helicopters was akin to flying for a huge aviation frat that focused on having fun and doing things along the lines of the least resistance.

Flying helicopters was the most rewarding thing I've done in aviation yet. It beats out flying inverted in a Tweet and flying to Las Vegas in a C-21. You may never get lined up for a sweet-deal job at United, but you'll make friends that last a lifetime and fly incredible machines doing incredible missions that either win wars or save lives.

Until I joined the USAF, all I ever wanted to do was fly helicopters, and work towards an EMS civilian job. Pay is half of a fixed-winger, but the job is 3 times more richer. If you wanna join the Army, fly helicopters and serve the grunts on the ground, go for it! Don't let anyone talk to you otherwise....if I had flown a little more in the ARNG, I would have stayed. But 60 hours a year doesn't grow good pilots....I hope the Army eventually gets better in that regard (I hear they are doing better...averaging around 150 a year for those stationed state-side...more if you're deployed).

Take care and enjoy flying.

 

[Astra Guy]

Huey Pilot,

I couldn't agree more with what you said. The fixed wing only types have no idea what they have missed. Being an old Huey pilot myself and flying what I do now I have come to believe that the rotary wing side builds some of the best hands on guys in the business. The focus required to flying into and out of LZs can't be matched on the fixed wing side. Fixed wing stuff is easy.

It was great fun and just sad that the civilian helo guys can't make a decent living comparatively.