Flying the F-35

[izzlenizzle]

Greetings,

I'm a current college student looking to commission as a pilot in the Marines/Navy in a strike platform. I understand that that at least 60% of the Marines fly helos. With the new F-35 program in the works, what are the chances of getting a slot to fly this platform if I commission in 2015-2016? Also, how competitive is it to get into a fix-wing pipeline during primary flight training? Do most students want to fly helos (I guess that depends), but generally speaking, what else can be done to insure fix wing during training?

Also, what IF someone where to end of with helos... How difficult would it be to take a tour as a t-34 IP? Is a transfer into a fix wing airframe common? (as you can see I don't want to fly helos.) Please pardon my ignorance.

izZz

 

[Sonog]

Don't forget that there's also tilt rotor in the Marines. This will give you a good idea of what the Marine Corps flys by squadron: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_United_States_Marine_Corps_aircraft_squadrons. There's a similar link for Navy. Percentage wise there's probably more jets in the Navy right now than the Marine Corps if you want to play the odds.

If you want jets, thats cool, but don't go into aviation thinking you'd rather die than fly helos. As a newly minted helo pilot, I have yet to meet a helo pilot that wishes he was flying something else and a lot of us signed up with the hopes of flying jets one day.

Also, the T-34's days are limited. Anyone in Corpus confirm that 28 finally has a set transition date to the T-6?

 

[BleedGreen]

Don't forget that there's also tilt rotor in the Marines. This will give you a good idea of what the Marine Corps flys by squadron: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_United_States_Marine_Corps_aircraft_squadrons. There's a similar link for Navy. Percentage wise there's probably more jets in the Navy right now than the Marine Corps if you want to play the odds.

If you want jets, thats cool, but don't go into aviation thinking you'd rather die than fly helos. As a newly minted helo pilot, I have yet to meet a helo pilot that wishes he was flying something else and a lot of us signed up with the hopes of flying jets one day.

Also, the T-34's days are limited. Anyone in Corpus confirm that 28 finally has a set transition date to the T-6?

The word around here is VT-28's last T-34 class up date will be in Aug.

 

[wlawr005]

Well...I don't really know where to begin, so here goes.

Nobody can give you a quantitative answer to the "what are my chances" question, but a qualitative one would emphasize three things...needs of the Navy/Marines, your grades, and finally, your personal preferences. The first one far outweighs the last two.

Next, assuming you DO commission, make it through TBS, do well in API, excel in Primary, select jets, do well in Intermediate, make it through Advanced, qualify at the boat, and FINALLY make it to selection day...you will still be subject to the three qualifying factors listed above.

Finally, assuming all the above is true...you're probably looking at around 2018 or 2019...and nobody here is a fortune teller, so the best answer you're going to get is...MAYBE?

Marine strike guys DO teach Primary, but the T-34 will be replaced by the T-6 by then.

I can't speak for the Marine Corps, but occasionally helo guys in the Navy switch to a Strike platform. By occasionally I mean 1-2 a year if that many.

 

[Beans]

Also, what IF someone where to end of with helos... How difficult would it be to take a tour as a t-34 IP? Is a transfer into a fix wing airframe common? (as you can see I don't want to fly helos.) Please pardon my ignorance.

izZz

Apology accepted, but I bet you do want to fly helos. Once you try it you'll see what I'm talking about. Look at this post in a few years and let us know how it turns out. Maybe this will become a thread about actually flying the F-35.

 

[danpass]

Have you flown both by chance?

I've flown fixed wing and I've ridden in a private helo. Both are awesome; for me simply because I was flying and it wasn't commercial lol. They each have their charm.

At a USMC dinner I once attended there was a helo pilot who I chatted with. The comment that stood out to me was: "We fly a lot more often than the fixed wing guys, I love it." Reference to the Harrier? Ref to the F-18? I don't know, we were called to attention right after that.

It might be worth doing a Discovery flight on your time and dime in each platform.

 

[LFCFan]

Greetings,

I'm a current college student looking to commission as a pilot in the Marines/Navy in a strike platform. I understand that that at least 60% of the Marines fly helos. With the new F-35 program in the works, what are the chances of getting a slot to fly this platform if I commission in 2015-2016? Also, how competitive is it to get into a fix-wing pipeline during primary flight training? Do most students want to fly helos (I guess that depends), but generally speaking, what else can be done to insure fix wing during training?

Also, what IF someone where to end of with helos... How difficult would it be to take a tour as a t-34 IP? Is a transfer into a fix wing airframe common? (as you can see I don't want to fly helos.) Please pardon my ignorance.

izZz

The best thing you can do to ensure that you get some kind of fixed wing aircraft is to join the air force. Not kidding, their helo slots are few and far between, and from what I'm told go to people who actually want them. However, if you don't get fighters you will end up in tankers or cargo aircraft. Which is more appealing to you, helos or heavies?

 

[Fallonflyr]

Helos? Jets? They all wear the same wings of gold...That should be your goal, the wings that is. Most humans do not have the honor or privilege to wear them.

 

[boostadikt]

With the new F-35 program in the works, what are the chances of getting a slot to fly this platform if I commission in 2015-2016?

My best guess is about 42%
Source: http://bit.ly/1qLQxLw

 

[nittany03]

Seriously, though. There's nothing wrong with having a preference for jets. I did, too. But you should be so lucky as to fly helos for the Navy or Marines, or anything that requires wings. You can't appreciate how challenging not only flight school is, but a fleet tour in anything grey, until you've done it.

 

[mad dog]

...Do most students want to fly helos...

I did!

Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!

Honestly, I didn't originally want to fly helos...I wanted props (Hercs or Orions, baby!)...BUT...I didn't have much of a choice since I'm pretty skilled at being below average (average on one of those rare good days)...AND was almost booted from VT-2 for not being able to keep up with the Tormentor...SO...I was pretty flipping glad to just be there and was willing to fly anything...blimps, balloons, kites, etc.

mad dog: "I got helos?"

VT-2: "Yep."

mad dog: "So I get to stay in the Navy! Sounds good! How does that hover thing work?"

VT-2: "Go talk to HT-8 about that hover thing."

mad dog: "OTAY!"

I wouldn't say most students want to fly helos...but I was surprised at the number of students that did want to fly helos from the get-go...it was quite a few.

Helos are cool...it's a different kind of flying...it's so "torquey"!

 

[BusyBee604]

...SO...I was pretty flipping glad to just be there and was willing to fly anything...blimps, balloons, kites, etc.

Hah, funny you mentioned that... I've been around so long I actually had a NAVCAD Preflight classmate Roland H., who requested, and got Airships, was winged as a "Poopy Bag" Pilot in 1958. I met him again at NAS Moffett in '59, where he was stationed in ZP-?, which was the last ZP Squadron left at that time. Spent an interesting evening learning about BlimpOps!

Seems like they ran their lengthy patrols on the flight deck much like the bridge of a ship at sea. Pilots stood rotating "watches" like an OOD, with a rudder helmsman for heading, engine order telegraph(s) for speed, and an elevator helmsman for altitude. Interesting operation, but not for me (I was an ENS flying the beautiful FJ-4 Fury at the time). Unfortunately for Rollie, his squadron stood down the next year, the end of the Navy LTA era!

Edit: Guessin' if they were still around today, we'd call them "Winged SWOs"?

BzB

 

[WEGL12]

The word around here is VT-28's last T-34 class up date will be in Aug.

Class up on 28 August and we were told we should be either the last class in the T-34 or possibly the first T-6 class in VT-28.

 

[nittany03]

Seems like they ran their lengthy patrols on the flight deck much like the bridge of a ship at sea. Pilots stood rotating "watches" like an OOD, with a helmsman for heading, engine order telegraph for speed, and an elevator helmsman for altitude.

/insert ECMO 1, ECMO 2, and ECMO 3 joke here

 

[AllYourBass]

I did!

Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!

Honestly, I didn't originally want to fly helos...I wanted props (Hercs or Orions, baby!)...BUT...I didn't have much of a choice since I'm pretty skilled at being below average (average on one of those rare good days)...AND was almost booted from VT-2 for not being able to keep up with the Tormentor...SO...I was pretty flipping glad to just be there and was willing to fly anything...blimps, balloons, kites, etc.

mad dog: "I got helos?"

VT-2: "Yep."

mad dog: "So I get to stay in the Navy! Sounds good! How does that hover thing work?"

VT-2: "Go talk to HT-8 about that hover thing."

mad dog: "OTAY!"

I wouldn't say most students want to fly helos...but I was surprised at the number of students that did want to fly helos from the get-go...it was quite a few.

Helos are cool...it's a different kind of flying...it's so "torquey"!

It's pretty funny how many of us came to Whiting Field wanting to fly something pointy and ended up drooling over helos by the time selection hit. I've still got a way to go—and my latest selection mood swing is a deathmatch between Maritime and Helos—but I've been watching more and more of the people I came here with select helos after putting it first. I can only recall three or four people who wanted helos when we mused about it during hallway cleaning at OCS

It must be the parking situation. Maybe it's like radioactivity. Parking too close to wopwopwopwop starts to do something to your brain. I wonder if the NAS Corpus Christi people are converting too...