Requirements to fly Army Helo's

[airspeed]

Curious, i want to do something exciting and wanted yo know if anyone knew accuratley the vision, age and if you need a bachelors degree to fly in the Active , guard or reserve part of the Army. Also is it a guaranteed flight slot like the do in the USMC?> Thanks. PS- do they give waivers??

 

[Flyer]

[No message]

 

[Anaconda]

Right now the way things are in the Army, I think the only requirement is to have a pulse!

Seriously, though, having spent ten years there, I could talk for hours about this subject, but you might not want to hear it.

Why would you want to fly for the Army when you could fly for the Air Force or Navy?

 

[OviedoBob]

Ananconda is right. I was in the Army for 6 years flying helos. Lots of fun but after having earned my degree at Embry Riddle at Ft Rucker, I left and went to the Navy where I flew fixed wing and stayed there for 17 more years. It was a much better deal.
If you have a degree, go Navy, AF, or USMC.

 

[jurisj]

flying for the Army

I am currently a WO1 on active duty and almost done with flight school. I've really enjoyed flying with the Army thus far, though there are certainly pitfalls associated with it compared to the other services as the other posters have pointed out. I do like it a lot... I like being in the Army and I like the mission of Army aviation. I've got a college degree as well, so switching to another service is an option, but it's not one I plan to exercise any time soon.

As for your questions...

Vision requirements: no worse than 20/50, correctable to 20/20 and astigmatisms within a certain tolerance. Worse than that you need a waiver. I don't know of any flight student that I've seen have glasses or contacts, though.

Age requirements: I've seen people up to 32 years of age in flight school, though I believe you need a waiver if older than 28 and 1/2.

Bachelor's degree: you don't need it if you plan on going the Warrant Officer route as I have. Commissioned officers are required to have a bachelor's degree. If you want to know the difference between Warrants and Commissioned Officers I can go into that as well.

Let me know if there's any other questions I can answer for you. Good luck!

- Juris

 

[Anaconda]

For what it's worth, when I was on active duty I averaged about 150 hours of flight time a year. That's right, about 15 hours of "excitement" a month. The rest of the time was spent doing very non-exciting things, like pulling duty, cleaning weapons, or toilets, folding tents, or counting gas masks...

No offense jurisj, but when I was a young WO1 I loved it too. The novelty quickly wore off however. Most, if not all WO1's I saw arrive at our unit were totally motivated at the start, but quickly burned out after about six months. I sincerely hope you keep the motivation going, I'm sure Army aviation needs more people like that.

The mission is almost a moot point. Peacetime Army has no mission, except maybe special ops and medevac. Other than that, it's prep for JRTC. Missions are much cooler in the other services in my own opinion. The only advantage the Army has is you get to sleep in a tent!!!

While there are MANY differences between warrants and commissioned, here is a big one...PAY!!! After about four years, a warrant makes about A grand less a month, and it doesn't matter if it's Army, Navy, AF, or whatever, so don't bring up how much more responsibility an Army CPT has...why anyone with a B.S. or higher would waste it on being a W.O. I never understood...

Good luck with your choice!

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

To consider:

Definitely consider the Coast Guard!

Consider Guard/Reserve. There are full-time spots in Guard/Reserve. Many even part-time Guard/Reserves fly more than active.

I was active AF and got about 1500 hours in 6.5 years. I often flew 10 hours/month or less. In tankers, at the end, I was down to averaging less than 2 sorties a month. I do think they are flying more now.

Cliff
GB,WI

PS-You can get into a service, and then get tours or switch to another service.

PPS-The AF has helos, and the Coast Guard as fixed-wing also.

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

I have a bachelors degree, and Im 25 years old. I dont care if its fixed wing or rotor which branch is easiest to get into and which branch would you fly the most?

 

[jurisj]

No offense jurisj, but when I was a young WO1 I loved it too. The novelty quickly wore off however. Most, if not all WO1's I saw arrive at our unit were totally motivated at the start, but quickly burned out after about six months. I sincerely hope you keep the motivation going, I'm sure Army aviation needs more people like that.

While there are MANY differences between warrants and commissioned, here is a big one...PAY!!! After about four years, a warrant makes about A grand less a month, and it doesn't matter if it's Army, Navy, AF, or whatever, so don't bring up how much more responsibility an Army CPT has...why anyone with a B.S. or higher would waste it on being a W.O. I never understood...

Well, Anaconda, I have a ton of respect for your experience, but I'm one of those strange people that isn't motivated by money. Don't get me wrong, I like to get paid, but I actually left a high paying software development job in Washington, DC in order to come into the Army to fly helicopters. I gross less than half of my old take home pay.

So why did I come over? I always wanted to serve. I always wanted to wear the uniform. I always wanted to fly. For the first time in my young 27 year old life, I am loving what I do every day and not looking for the next best thing (of course, I'm still looking for my final advanced aircraft assignment and my first post, but that's besides the point). And now, after 9-11, I'm even more proud of doing what I do.

I love being in the Army and I love flying helicopters. Being a Warrant just made sense to me, and I don't regret it at all. Am I going to stay a Warrant for the whole time I serve? Am I going to retire from the military? I don't know, since I've only been in a TRADOC environment so far, but for now this is the right place for me.

Cheers,

- Juris

 

[Anaconda]

I would be the first to say it isn't all about money. I was making a reasonably comfortable living as a 10-year warrant and gave it all up on the chance to fly for a regional airline. Like you, I make about 1/2 what I did in my previous job. However, now I know what it's like to finally enjoy the freedom I served for 10 years to protect.

I respect the path you chose and I sincerely hope there are many more like you. I know the Army needs people like that. I came in Jan 91 so I know all about what it's like to serve during a time of national crisis. It was an incredible feeling to take part in something history-making. However, after all of the parties and the parades were over the feeling quickly subsided. We went back to being the under-appreciated, under-trained, under-equipped, and under-paid force that were a mark of the 90's. It will be interesting to see if the current administration can bring about a positive change.

I feel it's my duty to pass along as much info as I can to people that may be seeking to go down the path I took. I apologize if it comes across as one-sided due to the bad taste left in my mouth. Everyone is entitled to hear that facts from both sides of the fence, not just what the recruiter may be trying to sell them.

FYI, the army instituted a stop-loss for pilots on my type of aircraft recently. Appparently this is a typical knee-jerk reaction to the abysimal retention rates they have had. Perhaps if they compensated them in level with their peers and treated them better it wouldn't have come to that.

I wish you the best and hope you always come home to fly the next mission. Don't let "the man" bring you down!

 

[ms6073]

Jurisj,

Sounds like you have everything under control! Any insight on what airframe you are going into yet? I might suggest that if you want a really challenging, high tempo unit, when you finish advanced training, take a look at what it takes to assess for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment! As a warrant with this unit you will first learn how to do more things with a helo than you ever thought possible, and then get to travel to far off places on a routine basis, not too mention that you will definitely be flying a lot more than just 15-hours a month!

 

[jurisj]

ms6073-

For airframe I'd like to get UH-60's. They're just the most versatile... I could go to air assault units, medevac, utility, VIP, etc. Eventually, of course, 160th is a possibility.

I've got friends in my flight school class that used to be 160th and they've pretty much convinced me and most of my classmates that that's where we should be. Right now our class is full of guys that want 60's and 47's so that eventually we can assess for 160th. I'm not positive, but I think you need quite a few hours. I know they're short on MH-47 drivers so I think they're letting people assess with 500 hours in that airframe, but not sure.

Anyhow, thanks for the tip! Cheers,

- Juris

 

[Anaconda]

you hit the nail on the head about hawks...i flew just about every mission possible during my tenure. the variety is definitely a bonus. for me, the greatest satisfaction, personally and professionally, came from flying medevac. i also enjoyed vip missions.

i would second the comments about the 160th. that would be a fulfilling mission to fly, and they have lots of toys. it will probably only get better given the amount of positive press they have been getting from afghanistan, etc.

good luck in your career...seriously!

 

[Anaconda]

oh yeah, i forgot. unless the requirements have changed in the past year, it shouldn't matter what airframe you fly to assess for the 160th. you will get the tng regardless of your current airframe. i knew of several guys that had loads of experience in the blackhawk only to end up flying the oh-6 or ch-47

 

[jurisj]

Anaconda-

I remember reading a PERSCOM message that pretty much said, "If you fly the AH-64, forget about trying to assess for 160th because we're already too short on Apache drivers." So, if that's still in effect, that would be the only airframe restriction. I'll post the updated info if I can find it for everyone's reference.

Cheers,

- Juris