Does a private pilots liscense = competitive?

[ToddRicketts]

I am an AT3 and have been in for about two and a half years. My biggest interest my whole life has always been anything that has to do with airplanes. Im the kind of person that can just look at just about any aircraft and tell you what it is. I started flying while in high school I took advantage of a program my school was offering to the senior class. It was basically a chance to do high school for half the day then college cousres the second half of each day. I saw aviation flight was on the list for the local communtiy college and finshed ground school the first semester of my senior year, by the spring around graduation time I had my private pilot liscence in a c-172/R. Then after graduating I went to that community college and did about a semester and a half. i finished my instrument rating and complex endoresment. I started hanging around the wrong crowd. I was arrested for a dui around the fall of 2006. My flying was over. Since then I have learned and fixed the mistakes ive made. I notified the FAA and have a current liscence and medical. I live for flying and working in the line division and being around aircraft I cant fly, but know just about everything maintaner wise about is tough. I want to put together a STA-21 package to sove this problem. Would the dui completly destroy my chances or woud the 200 hours of flight time help? Thanks. AT3.

 

[Swanee]

I am an AT3 and have been in for about two and a half years. My biggest interest my whole life has always been anything that has to do with airplanes. Im the kind of person that can just look at just about any aircraft and tell you what it is. I started flying while in high school I took advantage of a program my school was offering to the senior class. It was basically a chance to do high school for half the day then college cousres the second half of each day. I saw aviation flight was on the list for the local communtiy college and finshed ground school the first semester of my senior year, by the spring around graduation time I had my private pilot liscence in a c-172/R. Then after graduating I went to that community college and did about a semester and a half. i finished my instrument rating and complex endoresment. I started hanging around the wrong crowd. I was arrested for a dui around the fall of 2006. My flying was over. Since then I have learned and fixed the mistakes ive made. I notified the FAA and have a current liscence and medical. I live for flying and working in the line division and being around aircraft I cant fly, but know just about everything maintaner wise about is tough. I want to put together a STA-21 package to sove this problem. Would the dui completly destroy my chances or woud the 200 hours of flight time help? Thanks. AT3.

Your PPL isn't going to offset your DUI... You're talking apples to oranges. Submitting letters of recommendation and other things that show that you have learned from your mistake may offset the decisions you made in the past. I had my drug waiver approved.

As far as how competitive your PPL makes you: There are a lot of people who need IFS because they don't have one, and they got in the program just fine. It's one line on a list of what you have to offer, it's probably in the plus side, but at the same time you're going to need more to prove that you deserve a shot.

 

[Moc1Sig]

To save a bunch of long winded responses, NO.

As far as the dui, LORs and characters will be greatest help.

Edit: little backing for my statement, I had instrument and PPL; I was a non select for boards when guys with no flight time were selected. PPL means you can be taught, not that you will be a better Navy pilot.

 

[FlyMikeFly]

Everyone gets to the same level eventually, even if some start with tons of civilian ratings. It may be less painful for them starting out, but the military flight environment is in many ways much different and more challenging than flying civils. There are some accelerated tracks through instruments in primary, but even if you were a high time civilian pilot, you will be exposed to types of flying in the military that are completely foreign and you find yourself feeling like it's the first time you've even flown an aircraft (ie. bombing, ACM/BFM (dogfighting), TACFORM, 2-plane/ 4-plane formation, night formation, NVGs, radar, the list goes on). Personal experience, I started with about 100hrs of cilivian time on my private license. Talking with friends who had no prior time, it was just a little more comfortable an adjustment for me, I was already confident on the radios, had an easy time with course rules and VFR navigation. Just some minor benefits. If you have a lot of civilian ratings, I'm sure your comfort level will be even greater starting out and will even carry you a little further into training, but there will be that point where you're equal in skill and ability with your peers, just a matter of when it happens. By the time you're winged, there's no difference no matter what your prior time.

As for the DUI, good luck with that one. Can't help you there.

 

[zippy]

I am an AT3 and have been in for about two and a half years. My biggest interest my whole life has always been anything that has to do with airplanes. Im the kind of person that can just look at just about any aircraft and tell you what it is. I started flying while in high school I took advantage of a program my school was offering to the senior class. It was basically a chance to do high school for half the day then college cousres the second half of each day. I saw aviation flight was on the list for the local communtiy college and finshed ground school the first semester of my senior year, by the spring around graduation time I had my private pilot liscence in a c-172/R. Then after graduating I went to that community college and did about a semester and a half. i finished my instrument rating and complex endoresment. I started hanging around the wrong crowd. I was arrested for a dui around the fall of 2006. My flying was over. Since then I have learned and fixed the mistakes ive made. I notified the FAA and have a current liscence and medical. I live for flying and working in the line division and being around aircraft I cant fly, but know just about everything maintaner wise about is tough. I want to put together a STA-21 package to sove this problem. Would the dui completly destroy my chances or woud the 200 hours of flight time help? Thanks. AT3.

According to the STA-21 instruction you need to have had at least 3 years between your DUI (or any NJP) prior to applying so provided you are outside of that window you can still apply for STA-21. You certainly should mention your aviation background in your personal statement and maybe in the draft of the COs recommendation you write.

Your DUI may come up during your internal and external boards. Be prepared to provide answers to tough questions about it. Other things that will be looked at are you college courses- how you did re grades, and if you are currently taking them (IMO you should be if you are applying for STA-21); evals, quals and other activities you participate in outside of work.

If you haven't already, get the new STA-21 instruction and start the application process (SATs, transcript requests etc). You should be the expert in all of the requirements for the program and be able to tell your command what you need from them.

 

[BACONATOR]

No.

 

[GO_AV8_DevilDog]

Only if you can spell "License".

 

[FlyMikeFly]

No.

Yes.

 

[ToddRicketts]

license.

 

[BACONATOR]

Yes.

No. Explain your logic.

 

[ryan1234]

license.

It's actually a certificate, not a license ... common misconception (even on the App for Commission)

Good luck dude!

 

[FlyMikeFly]

No. Explain your logic.

No. Read my previous thread.

 

[BACONATOR]

No. Read my previous thread.

I've checked threads started by you... 2 pages worth of threads, none of which I could find talking about PPL advantage. My short experiences have shown me that a private pilot's license with instrument rating will improve your performance during flight school. Much more than that, and you'll be re-training bad civilian habits. As for COMPETITIVENESS, prior flight experience has virtually NO effect on your application. That is mostly an air force thing. So if you want to post a link referencing what you're talking about, great. Until then, I contend that having ratings will have VERY little impact on a candidate's competitiveness.

 

[Moc1Sig]

It's actually a certificate, not a license ... common misconception (even on the App for Commission)

Good luck dude!

Sportys begs to differ

 

[sundevil_av8r]

I've checked threads started by you... 2 pages worth of threads, none of which I could find talking about PPL advantage. My short experiences have shown me that a private pilot's license with instrument rating will improve your performance during flight school. Much more than that, and you'll be re-training bad civilian habits. As for COMPETITIVENESS, prior flight experience has virtually NO effect on your application. That is mostly an air force thing. So if you want to post a link referencing what you're talking about, great. Until then, I contend that having ratings will have VERY little impact on a candidate's competitiveness.

I'm tired of hearing the re-training bad civilian habits BS. The following refers to Primary... The Navy tells you EXACTLY how they want you to do things and there are acronyms for EVERYTHING. The differences are minor. I don't remember a single time in primary where I thought, "oh my god, this is completely different from everything I learned." In fact, most of the time the little differences made more sense and were an easier way of doing things. If you are too much of a retard to study and learn the way they want you to do things then that has nothing to do with your training. It has to do with you.

With respect to prior flight time... a PPL alone is not much more training that IFS. All things being EQUAL on an application the private certificate could give you a leg up over another guy. Instrument rating (being one of the hardest things to learn in primary) would help even more. Some of these instances where Joe Blow didn't have flight time and he got selected over me can probably be chocked up to other things on the application (GPA, test scores, etc.). The bottom line is any amount of experience will help you when it comes to primary. Why do you think they instituted IFS? However, just because you have prior flight time doesn't mean you can blow off studying. You still have to know your shit. The majority of your grades come from how you perform in the aircraft, and if you are more comfortable flying because of that experience AND you know your procedures you should do just fine.

"I have flown in just about everything, with all kinds of pilots in all parts of the world — British, French, Pakistani, Iranian, Japanese, Chinese — and there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between any of them except for one unchanging, certain fact: the best, most skillful pilot has the most experience."

— Chuck Yeager


Prior flight time is an all encompassing term that groups everyone into one pool. However, there are differences in pilots and there are differences in schools. There is the guy who went to Uncle Bob's flight school and got absolute dog crap training yet still got his PPL. Then there are people that went to reputable schools, and got great training. There are good and bad pilots at both. From what I have seen the guys who were trained to be professional civilian pilots, the guys who went through and completed a regimented training syllabus, tend to do very well in training. Of course, there are always a few outliers. So... if you sucked during your civilian training, then you will probably suck in Navy flight training as well.

To the OP: I don't believe the prior flight time would offset your DUI. As someone else said, LOR's would probably help you more in that department. But the prior flight time WON'T hurt you. Do everything you can to put together a strong package and hopefully things will work out for you. Good luck.