Hello, I am 17 years old and I am looking into going into the marines to fly the F35, harrier, e6 prowler, or hornet. I really want to become a fighter pilot more than anything. What are the chances of me getting selected to fly helicopters instead of fighters in the marines? I know the process and how it depends on your performance in flight school, luck, and being in the right time and place in history. I plan to get a private pilot license, instrument rating, and major in aerospace engineering. So will all of these help me be the top 1 percent of my flight school class? I know I'm too young to be thinking about this now, but the military picks what to fly for you, instead of vice versa and I'm just worried I won't get a fighter. What makes flight school so hard and competitive? What do they learn that makes it so difficult(explain in detail please)? I know the Air Force is the best possible way to get fighters, but I recently looked on the marine Platoon Leader's Class program. I heard they guarantee flight slots. I once considered the Air Force and Naval Academy, but I didn't have a sport to get in, plus, a flight slot is less guaranteed. So I'm kind of in a dilemma. So are e chances of getting picked to fly helicopters in the marines high? Thanks.
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Chances of flying helicopters in the marines?
- Thread starter Mar96
- Start date
You are waaaaaaaayyyy too far away from service/platform selection to be concerned with this stuff now.
The most important thing is your desire to FLY (whatever any branch of the military assigns you). Period.
Next pick a branch of the armed services that you think best suits your personality and what you want to get out of the experience. Each branch has a unique culture and tradition. Ask people who have served in different branches what they liked and disliked about it. Also consider what might happen if you don't get fighters or don't even make it through flight school. What jobs might you get? Might you be separated from the military entirely?
Once you are in primary, which is about step 500 for you right now, THEN you can start worrying about what it takes to get jets.
Until then, keep you nose clean, study hard and start looking into the different branches. Control what you can control.
The most important thing is your desire to FLY (whatever any branch of the military assigns you). Period.
Next pick a branch of the armed services that you think best suits your personality and what you want to get out of the experience. Each branch has a unique culture and tradition. Ask people who have served in different branches what they liked and disliked about it. Also consider what might happen if you don't get fighters or don't even make it through flight school. What jobs might you get? Might you be separated from the military entirely?
Once you are in primary, which is about step 500 for you right now, THEN you can start worrying about what it takes to get jets.
Until then, keep you nose clean, study hard and start looking into the different branches. Control what you can control.
42%
Also 42%...
We've all been there where the only thing we could imagine flying was helicopters, I mean jets. Kick ass at life, don't get into trouble, do lots of research into all of the branches and jobs. Don't let your fear of all things rotary hold you back from pursuing the best job in the world. At this point you know next to nothing about aviation so you don't even know what you're going to want to fly when you finish primary. Don't be a desk jockey one day because you were too worried about flying something other than a stealth fighter. Do you think thousands of Navy and Marine pilots flying helicopters wished they were flying something else? If you made it through primary and didn't get jets, would you regret it? Having a specific platform as a goal is fine, it serves as excellent motivation for when you're really far away from your goal. But look at the big picture. If you become a Naval Aviator you will be getting paid some decent bucks to do incredibly cool shit with multi-million dollar aircraft and lead Sailors/Marines in the most powerful military this Earth has ever seen.
Your chances are significantly increased by wearing those glasses.
User1993
Member
I'm just a wanna be at the moment. But all these guys are right. Don't trip about possibly not getting selected to fly jets. Most people think that helicopter pilots are guys who had shit grades in flight school. This is all just a speculation of mine. But wouldn't it be kind of fucked up to have all the top guys flying jets and the bottom guys flying helicopters? I feel like they gotta spread the talent. They need some top students flying jets, and some top students flying helo's. Even the guy at the bottom of the class is still hot shit in my opinion. Anyways, I'm just about to start college. I'm not even concerned with my chances of getting to fly a jet. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to get a SNA contract and how I'm going to get commissioned. And also which branch I'm most likely to get those two thing from. I definitely have my preference of what I'd like to fly (an F-35 if they're up for selection when I'm around) but I'll be happy as hell to fly a kc-130 or a ch-53e. The only fear I have is not being able to make it to flight school. At the end of the day I feel like every pilot learns to love what ever aircraft they end up flying.
That's good to hear!
I was THAT GUY coming out of VT-2.
And I was just damn glad to be there!
