Woft

[psysicx]

How hard is it to get picked to fly jets in the army?And the reason for my posting was,when I did a search everyone said choose a different service.But the info was outdated so I was looking for new opnions.

 

[armyjets]

The Army just doesn't have that many jets so it (as is everything in the Army) is luck and timing. That may change though as there are jet aircraft that are being looked at to replace some of the turbo-props. The citation (UC-35) was supposed to replace the king air's (C-12) but after taking delivery on about 25 they decided to cancel the remainder of the order due to limited range and cargo capability. Eventually the C-12's will be replaced. I did hear rumor that the Military Intelligence (surveillance) king airs (RC-12's) are to be replaced by EMB-145's and in fact think the contract has been awarded. You could probably read more about that on APTAP but I know there were some server problems there a while back and a lot of the archived posts were deleted. Remember that ALL Army pilots are first and foremost helicopter pilots, I hope this helps.

 

[psysicx]

Thanks for the post.That what I really liked about the Army.Your just a pilot plus flying helos would be awesome.Also that explains why there were so few previous posts on APTAP.

 

[Dr Pokenhiemer]

It's more like this: You're just a soldier but you get to fly some too. Regardless of what your specialty is, you are a soldier first. This means that you help dig fighting positions around your perimeter, help put your tents up, etc. Most pilots are Warrant Officers. Most of them also have additional duties such as: Arms Room Officer, NBC (Nuke, Chem, Bio) Officer, Safety Officer, and so forth. Don't think that if you're not flying you don't have anything else to do!

 

[Pistlpetet]

58D or Blue flight suit guy...whatever you go by these days. I am only hostile to punks like you..lol.

I will be in Bangkok next weekend, so I am sure there will be some Thai girl that will knock the dust out of me.

Enjoy the Bayou


Physicx,

Most Army Active Duty Warrant officers only get the chance to fly FW after many years of good service in RW units. It is the literal carrot at the end of the long stick.

 

[benny]

Hello I am an army pilot flying uh-60 blackhawks. For me WOFT program was something good in the sence that I knew I wanted to fly and the army paid for the training, and I don't have a 4 year degree require by some other flying programs in different branches. I owe the army 6 years after completion of training. I have 12 years active army service and I am thinking of getting out about 2.5 yrs. I want a better quality of life, the Army lacks of that very much. Other than that it is a great program but if you want to fly jets I will tell you it is almost impossible. And yes you do have additional duties I have work as an armorer. night vision goggles maintainer, drug and alcohol abuse prevention officer, NBC officer, claims officer and few insignificant others. Another good thing is you have job security.

 

[SloDoDriver]

If you want to get in to just fly fixed-wing forget it..If you want a Helo Comm-Inst and don't mind earning it dodging SA-14s then join up. Emery Riddle its not....the Army has been beddy beddy good to me........Old CW4

 

[boulder19]

I'm in IERW currently and it is a really good program. These guys aren't joking about being a soldier first though. There is a lot of stuff that you must put up with in being a soldier but to me it is worth it. They let me fly! I hadn't really thought about flying rotary wing before I applied but I wasn't competitive enough for the other branches. The standards are a little bit lower these days to get into WOFT because of the shortage of pilots. That is not to say that the training is not up to speed though. There are people applying every month that get denied a slot. You must work very hard once getting here. Now that I am flying helicopters I don't see flying fixed wing as the ultimate goal anymore.

 

[Anaconda]

Back then ('94-'97), you had to have atleast 2000 hours PLUS a four-year degree with a GPA of 3.8 or higher to be competetive. Standards may be different these days.

in my 10 years as an army aviatior (including the time frame you mentioned) i never once met a graduate of ierw that had even a fraction of the 2000 hrs you mentioned. maybe 200 hrs off the street, but 2000? i think not. and plenty of guys got picked up with nothing more than a hs diploma.