Considering Army Aviation.

[Mungusaurus]

I am 27 years old and have been flying Beech 1900s for a regional airline in New England and am starting to get frustrated with the type of flying and the company. I am considering the Warrant Officer Aviation program in the Army. I have an ATP and a type in the 1900. Any suggestions, pointers, etc. please respond.
THanx, Mung.

 

[tcoll777]

Look into flying for the Army National Guard. It's almost the same benifits as active duty (flight pay, insurance, free tuition, etc..), but you get to go home at night.

 

[pilotyip]

do a search under miltary

This subject has been gone over a bunch of times, remember you do not join the Army or military service to fly, you join to serve your country to fulfill the needs of the president by flying. You will not fly that much in the Military unless you go to a conflict, Althought Army WO's do stay in the cockpit more than any other service, and there is tons of office duties and family seperation. In 11 years of Navy Active duty I got 2500 hours of pilot time and was gone from home for nearly 4 years. Saw my son for about 11 months between his birth which I almost missed and his third birthday.

 

[ToBeKC135Pilot]

I would agree with the previous post...i looked at all routes before settling on Air Guard, but the Army Guard looked much better than Army active. Do you have a college degree? if so look at going in commissioned...they cant guarantee you a flying slot, but I do know they are (at least in Illinois) hurting for commissioned pilots. however, you wont fly as much and will have more command duties. Pay is a bit better, but it depends on what you want! Just wanted to inform you that if you wanted more opp. then look at commissioning.

Good luck dude. Keep us updated!

 

[JJG]

By joining the Army you will receive better pay, benefits and retirement. You will also learn how to fly helicopters. Flight school will not be a breeze for you since Army helicopter flying and airline flying are nothing alike. You will have no more chance of flying fixed wing in the Army than any other Army pilot, so don't set your sights on that Dash-7 or RC-12. My opinion is apply, see if you get selected. If you do get selected, you don't have to accept, but go through the process. The airlines are still on a down turn so what better way to wait it out than by earning more money and benefits and increasing your skills and experieince. If after seven years of Army flying you don't like it you can always leave active duty and go to a guard unit. It will be a thousand times easier to get a position in the guard if you were a previous active duty pilot. If you decide to look into the Guard flying, I heard New Hampshire (UH-60) needed pilots a few years back. Don't know if it is true now but something to look into.

 

[scotts]

Mung,

Check your PM's

 

[Mungusaurus]

ASVAB

Scored a 93 on my ASVAB now all i have to do is lose about 20 or 30 pounds before my physical. Anyone out there who knows any way to lose a lot of bodyfat relatively quickly please PM me, and no sarcastic remarks about being a fat ba$tard please. I realise the airline lifestyle is not condusive to a healthy body; beer, vending machine food, Mickey D's, more beer etc.
Thanx for all your input guys and gals, Mung.

 

[stadik_kling]

Simple - keep track of the calories you consume vs. the calories you use. The base metabolic rate (calories you burn not including exercise) for a 30-year-old, 200-pound male is 2000 calories per day. If you burn 500 more calories a day then you consume, you will loose 1 pound a week.

You should begin exercising daily. Running 30 minutes will burn about 400 calories (assuming you weigh 200 pounds). As an added bonus, your base metabolic rate will increase as a side effect of the aerobic exercise.

Keep track of the calories, that way you are not guessing!!!

 

[BeechScrub]

I know exactly how you feel, Mungosaurus. I fly for a regional as well and it really sucks trying to stay healthy on the road. When I first started looking into the military, I was a fatboy!! Over the summer I dropped about 60 lbs. by running 3 miles about 5 days a week and lifting weights 3-4 days a week. Granted, I also had to sit reserve for the airline all summer to accomplish this. The key is to get into a routine. Make some serious changes in your habits, keet at them with willpower, and after a few months it will be routine. I also made serious changes in my diet. The diet that worked best for me was created by a guy named Jay Robb. He's a former body builder turned clinical nutritionist. His website is www.jayrobb.com. His book, The Fat Burning Diet, describes his diet in detail. The diet will burn fat quickly. I was losing about 2-4 lbs. per week. You can get the book from his website, it's an easy read.

As far as keeping healthy while flying for an airline, eat a lot of salads, use the exercise room in the hotels, and stay away from the beer and Micky D's.

 

[Ret03]

I just went over 20 years of flying for the army. The last 2 years have been flying stiff wing. I've been a warrant the entire time and have just over 6000 hours. Army helicopter flying is not like what you are use to. I must say I miss flying helicopters. It's a rush flying low and fast and getting to smell gunpowder in your cockpit after engaging "something". However, flying airplanes opened up more options for me after retiring. You serve for the good of the country. You can find yourself in some far off land, living in a tent for a year. Learning to hover a helicopter will be your most difficult. You should already have air sense and understand WX, charts, atc etc. Remember in flight school you can fly next to an 18 year old kid with zero military or flight experience, yourself and the 28 year old veteran drill sergeant who can shine a mean pair of boots and shoot the whiskers off an ant at 100 yards, but asks, "how many cylinders in that turbine engine?" The life style is totally foreign to civilians. Civilian wifes ask mine how she can cope when I go away for a week, 6 months or a year at a time. You get 30 days vacation on day one (sometimes hard to get it when you want it). When I'm sick, or need to come in late to take the kids to school or drop the car off at the shop, I'm not questioned. At the same time when I come in at 5AM to go shoot my pistol and have to work till 7PM, I don't question it. It all balances out in the end. In the end ask yourself if you are ready for a total lifestyle change? Are you willing to volunteer to go be on the two way life fire range where the pop up targets are shooting back? You'll get sent off to far away places for long periods. You'll have memories, both good and bad to last a lifetime. You'll make friendships to last a life time. I've enjoyed all I have done. I have a barometer of the bad times that lets me guage everything else that comes along in life. You'll get all kinds of advice. You make the decision based on what you think will make YOU happy. Good Luck!!

 

[helowarrior]

Army Aviation

Hi Mung,
I am currently posting this reply from Iraq. Someone mentioned the Guard as a fairly safe way of getting your flight time and being home at night.I am a reservist deployed for over a year in the Middle East. we have lots of Army Guard units here as well, under the same time commitments. I am currently a CW4 with over 24 years of service. I have rarely been sorry that I went Army after stints in The Marines and Air Guard. The Army Reserve has helped when I was furloughed from my first Regional job and I am gaining seniority on my current airline job while I make over 80k a year. I do miss my family though! Just beware that Rumsfield plans to utilize the Reserves and Guard alot in the next few years. You must be prepared to sacrifice as well as benefit from the military. I have seen the carnage and flown the bodies.....Good Luck, Helowarrior