quote:
Gator, I know you said it is difficult to do, but if you pulled jet grades, or prop grades in primary and there just weren't slots and you get helo, is there a good chance of being able to move to props or jets? or being able to move to t34 IP? and if you are an IP for a term what are the odds of moving to jet, or prop pipeline from there? I know ALL of this is hypothetical and ANYTHING could happen, but if you were to give me your best guess?
Well, what I meant to say was that it's hard to get something like C-26's. They're a bit rarer than say, a tour at the RAG or back at flight school. That said, let's hope all that other stuff isn't TOO difficult! That's the beauty of being a helo pilot...you have some many options (in theory anyway), since you are an "unrestricted" naval aviator. There's a guy here who wants to go jets after his first tour. I heard him say that you only needed something like a 45 NSS to get it out of the fleet. I know Jack had something about how there was a helo pilot flying jets as an IP in advanced (which would be pretty cool), and I've heard stories (John W. would know better than I) that there are helo guys as IP's in the Prop advanced dealy. Again, as Jack had mentioned in another thread, there's a big drought of jet slots because everyone stayed in, which doesn't really screw up the numbers of current pilots, but screws w/ the forcasted numbers (if that makes sense).
Disclaimer: I'm still another 2 + years from having to worry about this, so my research is limited to gouge and heresay. I know guys who have checked the staynavy.com website, and found slots, only to be told by the detailer that they don't exist (can you say politiking), but I haven't fully looked at what's really out there this minute.
I sure hope there's plenty of T-34 slots down the road. I'd love to go do that. Time will tell.
amn.....if only I could somehow figure out a way to stretch myself out to 5'11 on weekends.