Reserve KC-135 question

[chawbein]

Can anyone tell me how many hours one can get per year as a brand new KC-135 copilot? I am trying to figure out how long it will take to upgrade to AC. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JayDub]

I try not to post on the military board, but here goes. I believe this translates to a person of civilian-only experience. If not, flame away. I apologize in advance if you feel I've over stepped my bounds.

Isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Worrying about it won't change the time frame.

Besides that, even I can tell you any answer you get will be a total guess. It will depend on the unit, who they support, not to mention the ever-present possibility a hot spot should flare up into a war. Worse yet, what if there is a sudden cut in funding along the lines of the Clinton years? Waaaaay too many possibilities to factor in.

I hated it when others told me, but it turned out to be true. Hang tight, and do the very best job you can and it'll happen soon enough. In fact, during your first 100 hours of signing for the aircraft, you are a sh*t magnet (at least in my experience of every aircraft I upgraded in). In that time, you'll kind of wish you didn’t have to make all of those danged decisions. Especially if Your right seater is worrying about upgrade before his time, and making the experience a total drag for all concerned. Just enjoy getting paid the same amount (except for differences in rank, of course) as the guy in the left seat (a military anomaly), and learn as much as you can.

I mean this in only the most respectful way. Don't take offense, just buckle down and accomplish the mission at hand; pass the board, pass UPT, and become the best danged right seater that unit ever saw.


Respectfully,

JayDub

 

[TankerPuke]

Can you plan on being a BUM? If so you can expect to upgrade in about 1 1/2 years. If you can't BUM (too many, unit won't support) plan on an upgrade in 2-3 years which translates to about 250 (non-bum) to 500 (bum) hours a year. This it what I have seen with my tanker comrades. Of course, if some $hit head causes us to get activated again you will upgrade MUCH sooner

PUKE

 

[chawbein]

Thanks for the information. I've got months before my package even goes before the reserve board. I'm not necessarily putting the cart before the horse, I'm just exceedingly bored at work and have LOTS of time to be curious about any number of things.

 

[Cruise157]

Like JayDub said, it depends on a lot of things as far as how long it will take to upgrade. FACT: PACAF requires 1000 hours total time (including stud hours) and AMC requires 800 before sending you off to Altus. Not sure about USAFE or reserve/guard.

Now, how you get the required hours is a big deal. If you're in a unit where you deploy for 90 days at a time and you rack up hours but not experience, chances are your unit will not send you until your training flight thinks you're ready, regardless of hours. Same for if war breaks out and you end up racking up your hours in a matter of months - they're not going to send you.

As an average copilot in an active duty unit, I'll fly anywhere from 15 to 60 hours a month. More if the unit is short of personnel or if I deploy, less if I'm busy doing other stuff.

Bottom line, expect it to take 1.5 to 2 years after you finish MQT to be "ready" to upgrade.

 

[TonyC]

I try not to post on the military board, but here goes. I believe this translates to a person of civilian-only experience. If not, flame away. I apologize in advance if you feel I've over stepped my bounds.

Isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Worrying about it won't change the time frame.

Besides that, even I can tell you any answer you get will be a total guess. ...

Gee, JayDub. Haven't you ever wondered about anything?

Like how many airplanes your company will be buying in the next 5 years...

Or like what new crew bases might open up next year...

Or like what new cities you might be serving next month...

Or like what FA's might be on your flight next week...

Haven't you ever wondered????


That's all this kid is doing, wondering out loud. Sure, he's not a A320 Captain like yourself, with no worries in the world. He's just got an exciting future ahead, a life to be lived, a treasure chest of memories to fill up. Why should he be left with the memory of a sour puss airline Captain telling him to, basically, just shut up and fly - - you'll upgrade when you upgrade!

I wonder how your stock did yesterday... (mine went down)

 

[Skyrunner]

Can anyone tell me how many hours one can get per year as a brand new KC-135 copilot? I am trying to figure out how long it will take to upgrade to AC. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not a 135 bubba, but I think I can offer some advice on how to upgrade quickly.

1. Try to limit your "other time". I think the regs states that you are limited to 100 hours of other time towards upgrading. Maybe it has changed. I haven't checked lately. If you have a choice between two flights, pick the one that logs the least other time.

2. Be the "YES pilot" in regards to the scheduler. If you are consistently saying yes to all things asked of you, the schedulers get into a habit of going to you first for missions.

3. Try to be the best, safest and most reliable copilot in the squadron. You'll find it amazing how many guys/gals will want to fly with you.

Take care and hope this helps,

SR

 

[chawbein]

Good information, good advice, points well taken. Thanks again!

 

[JayDub]

Gee, JayDub. Haven't you ever wondered about anything?

Like how many airplanes your company will be buying in the next 5 years...

Or like what new crew bases might open up next year...

Or like what new cities you might be serving next month...

Or like what FA's might be on your flight next week...

Haven't you ever wondered????


That's all this kid is doing, wondering out loud. Sure, he's not a A320 Captain like yourself, with no worries in the world. He's just got an exciting future ahead, a life to be lived, a treasure chest of memories to fill up. Why should he be left with the memory of a sour puss airline Captain telling him to, basically, just shut up and fly - - you'll upgrade when you upgrade!

I wonder how your stock did yesterday... (mine went down)

Tony C,

When I tell you this, you probably won't believe me, but what the heck. I have no idea how many aircraft JetBlue has right now, but I know it's more than 53. I know we have 100 orders and 100 options for each airframe (maybe more on the Airbus).

Whatever you hear will be our next crew base is wrong. A lot is going to change in that time. Same story with new cities, etc. I remember being in initial and reading the press release about LGB. Just about everybody, including instructors, were just floored! Believe it or not I just show up and do what they tell me to do, when I am supposed to do it. I could care less what might happen around the corner; all I am going to do is give myself heart problems. There's enough to do in the here and now (now, if I can just find my copy of the latest revision of limitations to study ).

The context in which I took his comments is different than you, I guess. I took what he wrote kind of like to say "ok, I've got my slot, I don't want to be some icky co-pilot, when do I make AC?" Now maybe I read too much into it, I don't know. But I pretty much felt he was asking the question in the same vein as the countless number of folks on the general board that say "I don't want to instruct, how can I get into a jet now with my 263 hours of 'hard' time?"

It just doesn't work like that, and worrying about it won't change it. Ask any of the guys on the panel at FedEx right now how worrying about when the next class will run (to finally get them off the panel) has improved their QOL. Again, it'll happen when it happens. At least they don't have the same worries as the guys at UsAirways right now, wondering if furloughs will go back 17 years instead of 16. Now that is something to be concerned with.

If you are speaking of "my" stock as JetBlue, then it looks like yesterday JBLU came up a little to 22.52.

Stock Quotes

If you meant the majority of my holdings, at least yesterday I didn't lose any more. This has been a bummer month. Of course, having 1000 shares of DAL at 9.40 ain't gonna help.

BTW, do I really sound old??? I am 33.

Respectfully,


JayDub

 

[chawbein]

JayDub -

It's all good dude. My post seemed a little spacy anyways....

I'm so amped about the incredible turn my life is about to take that I can hardly keep myself from reading all the gouge out there about the Tweet, Texan, T-1, and KC-135 again. I've read just about every UPT journal out there at least once. I just want to serve and fly. Right seat, left seat, cot in the back; I'll enjoy every minute of it (probably not literally) and be proud that I have such an incredible opportunity.