Foreign Fighter Pilot flying in US Military

[JungleJett]

A friend of mine is a former MiG-21 driver for an Eastern Bloc country. He has not flown fighters for about 8 years and is 42 years old. Is there a chance he could get into the US military and fly at that age but with his background?

Be nice to have a guy like that around..you know..former enemy and all.

 

[stonewall]

A friend of mine is a former MiG-21 driver for an Eastern Bloc country. He has not flown fighters for about 8 years and is 42 years old. Is there a chance he could get into the US military and fly at that age but with his background?

Be nice to have a guy like that around..you know..former enemy and all.

No. We'd be happy to talk to him, though....

 

['72Gremlin]

A friend of mine is a former MiG-21 driver for an Eastern Bloc country. He has not flown fighters for about 8 years and is 42 years old. Is there a chance he could get into the US military and fly at that age but with his background?

Be nice to have a guy like that around..you know..former enemy and all.

I don't think we have any more MiGs in the Air Force inventory. Maybe Navy?

Seriously, his chances? Zippo. He's too old.

 

[Spooky 1]

Kuddos for your friend, but we have pilots in the Air Force that have flown every Eastern block MIG that has seen active duty service. I know a guy, an American that was an exhange pilot, and a flight examiner/instructor in the MIG 29 while in the Luftwaffe. I think we have are bases covered in that arena at least. US Air Force pilots that had time in the MIG21 were a dime a dozen at one time.

 

[BushwickBill]

I met an aerobatics instructor that was a former Romainian Mig driver. Just a thought. Loads of private companys out there that teach "upset recovery" and do L39 training - that sort of stuff.

 

[KC-10 Driver]

Not a chance for him to get a commission and fly in the military -- age is the real problem.

However, if he is smart, can sell himself well and is articulate, perhaps he could get some sort of contracting job with the DoD. Teaching tactics, or something like that.

Just a thought.

 

[pkober]

A recent "Airman" magazine has an article about a former East Bloc, maybe Hungary, MiG 21 pilot now in USAF UPT.

Good for him.

 

[Fury220]

Kuddos for your friend, but we have pilots in the Air Force that have flown every Eastern block MIG that has seen active duty service. I know a guy, an American that was an exhange pilot, and a flight examiner/instructor in the MIG 29 while in the Luftwaffe. I think we have are bases covered in that arena at least. US Air Force pilots that had time in the MIG21 were a dime a dozen at one time.

I'd think that "dime a dozen" is taking it just a *bit* too far, but we get the idea.


The contracting idea is probably the best option, especially if he's multilingual.

 

[JimNtexas]

Tell him to apply for a job at Phoenix Air in Cartersville, Georgia. That's our Georgia, not the other one.

 

[JimNtexas]

A recent article in "Airman" magazine has an article about a former East Bloc, maybe Hungary, MiG 21 pilot now in USAF UPT.

Good for him.

I got curious about that, and looked up the article about this fellow ( http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0505/shot.shtml ).

The really weird thing is that he is going through UPT for the second time! If this article is correct he went to American UPT once for the Hungarian Air Force, married an American girl and went back to Hungary. Latter he becomes a US citizen via a tour in our Army and now is back at UPT for the second time as an American. Very interesting story.