DecodaGrant
New Member
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!
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Remember when you became a pilot?
- Thread starter DecodaGrant
- Start date
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.
DecodaGrant
New Member
Don't know if that waking up was good or... Lol
Reconjoe
Active Member
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.
DecodaGrant
New Member
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.
DecodaGrant
New Member
Reconjoe you seemed to have had it the hardest!
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
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.
DecodaGrant
New Member
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
DecodaGrant
New Member
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.
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.
It's a question that's commonly asked and has been commonly "answered" with no definitive answer.
...or "definitively" answered by the SNAs because, well, they KNOW.