Warrant Officer pay?

[KiloBase]

flight time

I know guys who have been flying for the army for 8 years who barely have 1,000-1,500 hours. I even saw a W4 at Rucker the other week and didn't have his SR wings. I wasn't too impressed with him when I saw him. I know of a lot of guys who have gotten waivers for not getting their minimums (generally 120 hours a year) That is unsat.

 

[d.morris]

why?

why doesn't a lot of the pilots get hours? I realize theres other things to do, but geez.

 

[Anaconda]

but I did have a 60 friend who flew 669 hours in 14 months as the CG's pilot in Korea.

are you by any chance referring to bully?

 

[Pistlpetet]

AJ,
That is affirmative. You ever run into Pat over there at Comair? We went to Flight school together. Hopefully I will score an interview with Comair in Jan.

Morris,
It is not the fact that most all guys don't want to fly. It is a matter of a few things all which have to do with the saying "do more with less". You are right about 200 being a good year for the average guy. Most of the time it has to do with your units operations tempo, how many flight hours your unit gets, how fairly they spread the hours among their pilots, and most of all Maintenance. No where in a Commanders report card do they care just how proficient his pilots are. So since it all about numbers, a commander gets his report card graded on the % maintenance readiness of his aircraft fleet. If that percentage gets below a certain level, he will stop all flying to save his precious report card, which keeps people off his back. There are a lot of other factors but the sad truth is that most guys are just barely scraping by to meet the pathetic mins. Hard to stay proficient, comfortable, or combat ready, meeting the mins.

 

[d.morris]

Pete

Can you tell me what a typical day is like for a Warrant Officer? I mean is it a 9-5 type job or is there time for other things while on active duty? You are an apache pilot right, so is your job training constantly combat oriented or is there other stuff too. I like to thing of the apaches as tanks with rotor blades. HeHe.

 

[Pistlpetet]

Typical Day

Definately not a 9-5 job, being that in most assignments everything is fluid and changing constantly. You might fly at night for a few days, and then need to be at work during the day. You might be deployed where you are kinda on the job 24hrs a day, or if you are a medevac guy you have a totally different schedule. IPs at flight school normally work about half the day. A lot of stuff has changed for the worse ie. having to do PT five times a week in places.

WORST CASE Typical Day in a line unit (in a place where Juris is at)

- 0630 Show up to PT. Do something for an Hour.
- 0730 - 0900: Go home to eat and change
- 0900 - 1130: Hang out shooting the $hit, act like you are doing something, take care of your additional duties, attend mandatory briefs like "Consideration of Others", Cleaning field gear, load conexs, check email, maybe mission planning, maybe flying. All the while shooting the $hit and drinking coffee.
- 1130 - 1300: LUNCH
- 1300 - 1700: Same as the 0900-1130 block

BEST CASE Probably my current job.

- No PT ever...do it on your own.
- 0900 Don't fly if you dont want to..go home after lunch. If you do, figure out where you want to fly to go have lunch.
- 1000 - 1600 Fly with your friends most any place you want, Down the beach looking for naked women etc. Eat lunch for a $1 where you buy fuel. Log 4-5 hours a day, or as much as your butt can handle.
- Bear in mind that for this freedom, once a month I have to work 14 days straight for 9 hours a day, flying 2-6 hours a day.
- It is about the best deal going I think for a pilot in the Army today.


The Norm is Juris' situation

 

[Checks]

Morris,

I got out of the Apache transistion with 195hours. Six years of active duty in Germany and the 101st added another 850hours.

850/6=141hours year average.

I wasnt a seagull.

 

[d.morris]

Well

I guess it does depend on assignment and position. Hell some of you guys have it pretty good. I guess you can see how a program like that can be eye catching for a young impatient teenager like myself or migpilot. I just don't really feel like spending 3 more years sitting on our asses flying Cessna’s and maybe a duchess every once in a while. I want to get in the sh#t, start something with my life. I already know what your going to say, but it sounds just too good. Yes college is fun and at times exciting, but not near as what the army has to offer.

 

[Anaconda]

my advice is, and always has been, stay in school and get your degree first. do not make a move like jumping to the army just so you can fly, and then regretting it down the road. once you have that degree in hand, the options available to you open up immensely...

believe it or not, there is more to life than "flying"...

 

[d.morris]

approved

I'm not talking mess here or trying to start sh*t again, but I talked with me first Sergeant today. He said we are still a go with the program and everything is in line. He also is very involved with army aviation receiving his degree from ERAU. I'm taking my afast test in Houston since that’s where I will be for Christmas. I'm sorry for starting off on the wrong foot and hopefully get a chance to meet you guys in the army someday. Morris