Remember when you became a pilot?

I was just hoping to hear some stories about how you become a pilot (nfo too) and how you felt, how you got there, the biggest challenges and how it turned out for you. It be nice to get a couple interesting stories!

Once you get in the system it's almost easy...I applied for USNA and NROTC, chose NROTC. I went college, got good grades, and did wat was expected of midshipmen. I applied for a flight slot, got it, and the went to flight school. In flight school i think the two hardest things were fixed wing contacts and rotary wing contacts. I struggled with early fams in the t-34 and i couldn't hover to save my life in the HTs. But I kept showing up with a smile on my face and with my briefing items. Soon enough: Wings! The road was long, I applied for NROTC I'm guessing early in my senior year way back in 97. I graduated college in 02, grad school in 03, reported to flight school in late 03 and got winged in early 06. The whole process took almost 8 years if you discount grad school time. In comparison it took me just as long to go from happily single to happily married with two kids. It's a long term goal; but the navy feeds you the elephant in bites you can handle.

No...I don't. I got winged, and the next morning I woke up on my living room floor with my grandma, mom, and dad looking at me asking if I was ready to go out to breakfast.

Don't know if that waking up was good or... Lol

He woke up with gold wings on his chest. The rest is details.

On the civilian side I remember my 8am to 5pm (yes, 9 hours) check ride 2 days before Christmas. The examiner was old and lonely and really thought it be great to start off with an hour of discussing the history of flight and then another half hour about how her kids don't call anymore. Around 1pm I was starving (because hey, I thought I'd be done by then) and she eats this feast she packed for herself infront of me while I pre-flighted. On top of that she almost suggested we incomplete and try again after the new year when we started loosing daylight. I never drank harder in my life following that ordeal.

And that's what matters! It's nice to know pags that if I try I can become a pilot, everyone always talks about how it's ridiculously hard and rare to become a pilot and that you gotta have luck.

Reconjoe you seemed to have had it the hardest!

180 out from my Commercial Helo checkride.

Met grumpy old VN era Marine Huey pilot at airport. When he saw we were taking a Bell 205 (Civ Huey) he became ungrumpy and proceeded to say how that "flying beast" saved his ass. Many times.

Preflighted aircraft while discussing aero, Settling with Power, Mast Bump (not bumping)

Started up, air taxi with a couple cut guns, suprise auto on climbout to touchdown, go up and do some PTS manevers, some low level running around with key pointers on where to look for towers, guy wires, etc.. Then back to the airport. Simulated stuck pedals.

Done. Did all the paperwork, told me I did fine, and to meet him at the VFW at 5pm for a debrief. More discussion on how not to get myself killed flying. Talked about what to do if you lost power over tall trees. Talked with a couple other pilots who were VN era vets, more pointers.

The discussion of what to do if you lose engines over trees in a helo saved my life about 5 months later. Happened to me, primary reduction in the same 205 I took my ride in shit itself and I had to auto into a pine forest. Whole crew (me, another pilot, mechanic hitching ride) all got out fine. Helo was even fixed up eventually.

If looking to become an aviator, would having flight time now be of any help?

see what he did there guys... he softened you all up with nostalgia and then blasted you with the prior flight time question

Was just curious! Didn't mean to offend, just curious is all, eager child!

I didn't have prior flight time, struggled in primary, but in helo land it all started coming together. By roughly the halfway point, the TH-57C had become my bitch, and it's been a matter of time and X's to finish. I'm down to 2 more flights to complete the pre-winging training.

Couple of my buddies had prior fixed wing time, and it did them little to no good starting out in helos. It may help a bit with the instrument type stuff, but helos in the military generally only fly enough instrument time to stay current.

So to answer your question: if you want/get helos, probably won't do you that much good. OTOH, if you want jets or multi-engine... That extra bump for Primary could be the difference you need in grades to get the platform you want. YMMV.

" but helos in the military generally only fly enough instrument time to stay current."....

You are basing this on what? I also doubt the ~57 is your biatch at this point. I have over 1K hrs instructing, and it still baffles and amazes me at this point. Keep your humbleness centered, or it will be a long stint in the fleet. Not trying to be harsh, just offering some words of advice (in my humble opinion) that may assist you in your flying adventures.

It's a question that's commonly asked and has been commonly "answered" with no definitive answer.

And there's the rub. Unless you at CNATRA or the raining commands and have the data that shows performance all we can provide is individual anecdotes. And we know that the plural of anecdote is not data (h/t villanelle and Bert).

Only guys here in Primary that have had a distinct advantage are the guys with instrument tickets and a couple hundred hours flight time. Mostly guys with ATPs that did the regional thing for awhile. A PPL or an instrument rating with little experience don't make that much of a difference. Just my opinion.

math, science, athletics. maybe some student leadership stuff.

Per OP's request: I completed my final SNA flight, a bombing/strafe check at the Padre Island Range, in the trusty F9F-8 "Cougar" out of NAAS Chase Field, TX. Winging/Commissiong for NAVCADs was normally every other Friday, but the next Friday was the 4th of July '58, so we had ours on the 3rd.

Unfortunately, my parents couldn't come all the way from CT, so a fellow N/Cs Mom Finnerty agreed to pin me, and that went well. Our 'gang of 5' since API, had decided on a celebratory weekend in Corpus (~60 miles), as the Blues then in F-11 Tigers, were putting on a 4th holiday weekend airshow. Showing up Sat. in our brand new SDKs w/ shiny new 'golden crotch keys','vthe Blues were nearly upstaged by a solo event just prior to their performance. An A4D-1 was demo'ing the new Skyhawk specwep 'idiot loop' maneuver, releasing his 2,000# simulated weapon just prior to topping out of the loop inverted. The show was conducted offshore so as not to endanger the crowd.

The pilot suddenly rolled upright, the canopy flew off, and boom out come the seat/Pilot! Chute opens normally & we follow his descent to splashdown. The Corpus SAR helo quickly plucks him out uninjured, and after a minimum delay, the Blues put on a stellar show in their Tigers (my first sight ever of a an F-11 or BA show)! Subsequently, we found out the A-4 engine quit at weapon release, he turned toward the gulf & jumped. The humorous thing is that 'civvies' in the crowd were oohing & aahing about how realistic that A-4 demo was... like "Wow, they destroyed a real airplane just to show us an ejection, far out"!

After the weekend, the 'gang of 5' departed for their respective fleet squadrons, me to VF-94 FJ-4s, 1 to VF(AW)-3 F4D-1s, 1 to VF-124 F8U-1s & 2 to VAH-123 A3B-1 Whales. The 5 of us remain close today via e-mail!

That was the intro to my beloved "Scooter", with which I'd be closely associated & enjoy/endure unbelieveable 'adventures' over my remaining 16 years in Naval Aviation!
[TTACH]11059][/ATTACH] [ATTACH11061[/ATTACH]
BzB

Great story! Crazy for people to think the government would really dump a plane to show an ejection!