flight time better for getting jets?

[jaerose]

Okay, maybe this is a silly question, but I'm going to ask anyways. For those of you who are already through, or in the intermediate and advanced pipelines, did the people who got jets from your classes generally have prior flight experience? Is it necessary and a reliable way to predict success, or is it irrelevant due to the Navy way of doing things? Just wondering because I've got some time to kill and was thinking of getting some lessons. Thanks.

JR

 

[moestud]

From what I saw, those with minimal hours prior to getting into flight school did not have a huge advantage as to who got jets, vice who did not. But 6 months ago, there were hardly any navy jet slots (i hear that has changed). Those guys that did have 70+ nss's were the ones who flew for continental or who had enough civilian hours to instruct (or were just plain brilliant), but even of the two guys that flew for the airlines, one got jets, the other got E-6's. Its all about timing, so my theory on it is it certainly can't hurt, just keep in mind that training in the navy and training in the civilian world are very different, so be adaptable.
Also, you will probably get to do IFS when you get to API and that will give you some flight hours, just enough to solo, but it helps.
I chose not to spend my money on lessons, which I don't regret. Yes the learning curve is a bit steeper for those with no flight time, but it all evens out in the long run.
Hope that helps....

 

[Jeff]

My 2 cents: Get as much prior time as you can before you start, IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT. The Navy is perfectly willing to train you from scratch but it will be a leg up in primary if you have some time. Overall guys with the prior time do a little better that those without. However it is very possible to finish primary with a 60 or 70+ NSS and never have flown before. I went through primary and did very pretty well with no prior time. But,If I were to go back and do it all over again I would get my PPL and my Instrument Ticket before I got to primary. Getting a PPL and then logging 200 hrs in a 172 flying VFR isnt going to be a huge advantage. But I think a PPL is huge leg up in Fams and and inst. ticket is a huge leg up in RIs. Good luck...

 

[wink]

I'd say the last two posts are pretty accurate. Having flight time simply gives you some breathing room. When other guys are first experienceing the sensation of flying a guy that knows how to keep the wings level and is confident on the radio can concentrate on other things like the nav and specific flight maneuvers. Eventually it does even out. Not much in civilian training can prepare you for gunnery or the bomb pattern, let alone going to the boat. In a fleet squadron there appeared to be zero correlation between prior experience and none.

 

[jrklr]

Definitely agree with everyone so far. I recently talked to a jet selectee, all he had was about 20 hours from IFS, he finished 2nd in his class and got 1 of the 7 spots. I would recommend getting your PPL before primary as well. I've only met jet pilots that said they had experience before primary, and they definitely recommend getting some hours first, but its still very much possible to go in with nothing and get what you want.

 

[airwinger]

If i were to start over again,I'd take college loans, max out my credit cards and live on nothing but romain noodles to get flight time!!
Now there are certain things you can't control. You may or may not be a natural at flying, that you cannot change, but beyond that, I would get at least an instrument license. That crap about "you'll get bad habits" is sheer nonsense. If you're the type that cannot adapt, you'll fail out of flight school prior time or non. It's instructive that my on-wing said that his latest stud at 200+ hours will probably do as well as his last onwing that had 200+ hours. That guy got a 74NSS

 

[Jaxs170]

I would agree with moe on this. If I knew last year this time what I know now I would have at least tripled the number of private flight hours I did prior to API, as well as getting my instrument license and some time in complex/high performance planes. All the guys in my squadron who had a few hundred flight hours coming in did/are doing extrememly well, and with selection as competitive as it is now you need every advantage you can get.

 

[HornetDrvr]

I'll throw my own opinion in there for what its worth. I tend to agree more with Moe. At any rate I had absolutely zero flight time before starting flight school and things worked out alright for me. Flight training in the Navy, especially during Primary, is 90% procedures and 10% monkey skills. Obviously when you get to more advanced stages of training the ability to fly, think and execute at the same time become more important. However, that stage of training doesn't come until everything has evened out anyway between the prior flight time types and the non-prior flight time types.

My theory is that if you have that much spare cash lying around then it won't hurt to log a few hours. By the same token if you are roaring around in your new Ensign Mobile and the money just isn't there because you had a tab last night at the O'club then don't waste what you have left. The IPs recognize the priors from the non-priors and they will grade accordingly. Got 1000 hours already with an instrument ticket? Expect to be leaned on harder during FAMS than the likes of someone like myself who hadn't a clue. That's alright if you suck at staying straight and level on your first couple of flights but if you can rattle off every procedure verbatim that you need to know then you are doing just fine.

Bottom line is take lessons for the pure joy of flying if you can afford them but don't think it makes you a shoe-in for that jet slot. If you can't, don't sweat it, motivation and just plain old studying can more than make up for it. An informal pole at my squadron showed that most of them in fact did NOT have prior flight time. Food for thought.

 

[Banjo33]

More recently though with everyone coming through the pipeline with at least IFS, a little extra will help (not to mention the instructors will expect a little more from you than they did in past). Maybe not in the long run, but at least through FAM's. Ditto with any instrument experience you can get. If anything, having that prior time will boost your confidence. You can concentrate more on applying those procedures that you spend so much time memorizing, rather than concentrating on straight and level flight or maintaining altitude/airspeed when in a turn. As mentioned above, it won't make you a "shoe-in" for that jet slot, but it may make your stay at Whiting Field/Corpus Christi/Vance a little more enjoyable.