How to Know If You Really Want to Fly?

[fairlyintrigued]

Hi all,

I've been all over this site for months, and thank you all for the great information. I have spoken to both Navy and Air Force recruiters, and they have told me that based on my resume and GPA, I would be a very competitive candidate for either SNA or Pilot, assuming I score well on the ASTB/AFOQT. I am currently putting my packages together, but I keep getting stuck on one point - how do I know that I really want to be a pilot, and how do I know if I will be able to do it?

I've flown in a Piper a couple times, I thought it was awesome. However, I definitely got some butterflies in my stomach, and definitely had some nerves. I am worried about being able to control that during UPT/API, and about whether flying really is something that I would enjoy. In theory, it sounds amazing - the travel, the excitement, doing something incredibly important and meaningful - but I guess I'm just not sure that I would really be good at it.

How did you all know that being a NA/Pilot was right for you, and did any of you feel the same way? My worst fear would be giving up my current situation and taking someone else's spot, only to realize I can't do it and wash out. All comments are appreciated, thanks!

 

[nugget81]

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt, 1910.

Don't worry about failing. Just go forth and conquer.

 

[ChuckMK23]

It's fun, glamorous, pay doesn't suck, and you will attract a higher caliber of candidates from the dating pool. Do you need anther reason?

 

[Uncle Fester]

Fear of failing is the absolute worst reason not to try. I don't know what your "current situation" is, but unless it's towel boy at a pool in Cannes, I find it hard to believe it's nothing so awesome you couldn't come back to it if this Navy thing doesn't work out.

 

[SynixMan]

A couple of thoughts:

-I was stuck in a soul suck cubicle job after graduating and had exactly 0.0 hours of flight time before going to OCS and flight school, and I wasn't in the minority there amongst my peers with respect to flight time. The Navy has been teaching rocks to fly for a long time.
-I thought the Cessna 172 in IFS was a POS deathtrap and hating flying it, didn't really enjoy Primary, and didn't start enjoying flying until I got into Helo Advanced training. I got the same "butterflies" in Primary, they settle out for most folks. Pretty normal.
-If you're a 3L now, are you going to have student loans you can afford to pay off on O-1/O-2 pay?
-Keep in mind the age limitations for commissioning. You won't get an age waiver as a non-prior enlisted.
-If you go in, give it an honest shot, don't like it, and quit, so what? You don't owe the Navy shit until you get your wings, and you're just a number to them. You'll most likely already finished law school, go take the bar, and go back to that, or something else, with a cool story to tell. Or you lat over to JAG if that's your thing.
-Naval Aviation is a super unique and amazing culture that you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere. The bar to entry is high, you'll be surrounded by a lot of amazingly people, given complex problems to solve inside the context of the military's hierarchy and rules.
-You'll probably never have this chance again (to be a military pilot). You could probably always go back to being a lawyer.

I wouldn't get too wrapped up about "taking someone else's spot". You, and then are either good enough to get in or not. If you do get in, show up to play, because everyone starts at zero.

 

[fairlyintrigued]

A couple of thoughts:

-I was stuck in a soul suck cubicle job after graduating and had exactly 0.0 hours of flight time before going to OCS and flight school, and I wasn't in the minority there amongst my peers with respect to flight time. The Navy has been teaching rocks to fly for a long time.
-I thought the Cessna 172 in IFS was a POS deathtrap and hating flying it, didn't really enjoy Primary, and didn't start enjoying flying until I got into Helo Advanced training. I got the same "butterflies" in Primary, they settle out for most folks. Pretty normal.
-If you're a 3L now, are you going to have student loans you can afford to pay off on O-1/O-2 pay?
-Keep in mind the age limitations for commissioning. You won't get an age waiver as a non-prior enlisted.
-If you go in, give it an honest shot, don't like it, and quit, so what? You don't owe the Navy shit until you get your wings, and you're just a number to them. You'll most likely already finished law school, go take the bar, and go back to that, or something else, with a cool story to tell. Or you lat over to JAG if that's your thing.
-Naval Aviation is a super unique and amazing culture that you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere. The bar to entry is high, you'll be surrounded by a lot of amazingly people, given complex problems to solve inside the context of the military's hierarchy and rules.
-You'll probably never have this chance again (to be a military pilot). You could probably always go back to being a lawyer.

I wouldn't get too wrapped up about "taking someone else's spot". You, and then are either good enough to get in or not. If you do get in, show up to play, because everyone starts at zero.

Hey SynixMan,

Thanks so much for the response. It definitely makes me feel more confident in my application. To answer your question, I do have some student loans (~40k). Thankfully, I have a BigLaw job starting in the fall, and I know it will take at least 9-12 months to put my package together and ship out. As such, I should be able to pay off everything before I go to OCS. I know my age is coming up, so I'm doing my best to work the process right now.

 

[HAL Pilot]

You go out and try it.

What the fuck did we ever do before the internet? How did we ever make any life decisions without first getting them validated by every swing dick we've never met?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

You go out and try it.

What the fuck did we ever do before the internet? How did we ever make any life decisions without first getting them validated by every swing dick we've never met?

We sought out people in person and met with them face to face to ask them for advice, then when things worked out we would seek out the person that gave us the advice and shake their hand and say "thank you".

We don't do enough of that anymore.

 

[danpass]

Take an aerobatics flight, just the basic stuff.

I was pretty bored with the 172, much more fun with DA40 (because of the much more awesome view), and took an aerobatics flight for fun.

Loved it, especially the tail slide.

I took the aerobatics flight with only 12 hours in my logbook.

 

[zippy]

About 14 years ago I had similar questions. I got to fly one flight at the government agency I was interning at, but wasn't sure I'd like flying so I called a friend of a friend who was a retired tomcat guy and training command CO and expressed my hesitancy and asked questions. Basically his message was "okay kid don't waste your time if you're having second thoughts you won't make it." After weighing my options I decided I wanted to try it out anyways and ignored the old guys advice.

Well 2300 hours, a masters degree, 5 aircraft, a ship, 4 deployments, 4 new towns and 12 countries later- landed a 6 figure job that will allow me to fly my 6th aircraft, see a newish part of the world and allow me to further myself in the careerfield that I enjoy.

Other guys left aviaton after their first tour and that's okay too.

You can always be a lawyer (and I can let you talk to a buddy who left OCS and went back as a JAG). Give aviation a shot.

 

[DocT]

Yeah man don't sweat the 'is this for me' type stuff. If you think you'll like it go for it. If you don't you'll spend the rest of your life asking 'what if'. It won't be easy, but if it were everybody would do it.

I can guarantee this if you do it: you'll learn things about yourself most people never do, you go places you never dreamed of going and you'll see shit you never thought could happen. All of that will be in the company of the best friends you'll ever have.

It's a fucking ride.

Oh, and you'll be the legal O at your first squadron.

 

[nittany03]

Yeah man don't sweat the 'is this for me' type stuff. If you think you'll like it go for it. If you don't you'll spend the rest of your life asking 'what if'. It won't be easy, but if it were everybody would do it.

Nailed it.

I can guarantee this if you do it: you'll learn things about yourself most people never do, you go places you never dreamed of going and you'll see shit you never thought could happen.

Check. Check. Check.

All of that will be in the company of the best friends you'll ever have.

As long as you end up in a good squadron. That said, bad squadrons at their worst are a hair away from being good ones, and the good ones at their best are a hair away from complete suckitude. Change out a few people arriving/leaving, and the whole dynamic can change. And WILL change with a new CO.

There's an old joke in Naval Aviation that a ready room is like a family. CO is Dad. XO is Mom. Department Heads are older siblings. JOs are younger siblings. But it's not a family necessarily in the sense that everyone is all lovey-dovey, best bros forever. It's a family in the sense that you're stuck with each other, and for better or worse you get to know each other better than any co-workers in the civilian side. You can make lifelong friends. You can also be on month three of cruise and have some stupid childish bullshit blow up into major drama, sometimes for days, because everyone knows just how to push everyone else's buttons and YOU CAN'T GET AWAY. Those are the maddening times where the flying is the only drug that saves your sanity. When it comes to deployments, Dickens was spot on. "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." The job in some ways is like dating a psycho. The highs are higher and the lows are lower than anything in civvie street. And that has to be lived to be truly understood.

It's a fucking ride.

Oh hell yes, it is.

Oh, and you'll be the legal O at your first squadron.

You poor bastard.

 

[Rockriver]

Go to your local airport and get two or three flights with a real flight instructor, not a friend. Regular initial flight stuff, not aerobatics (maybe afterwards). You will either fall in love with it or you won't. Flying is not an acquired taste. If you like it, ask yourself how good you want to be at it. If you find you have a fire in your belly to be the best, and will accept the negatives, obstacles, and chance of failure with daring to be great, then pursue it with gusto. But be aware that not everyone is cut out for it, and that's not a terrible thing. We all have our own individual callings. Lastly, as has mentioned earlier, you don't want to turn 60, look back, and wonder what it might have been like.