Guaranteed Pilot Slot?

[NKitch]

Hey there, I'm a sophomore and my major is Economics. I want to find out more about becoming a pilot for the Navy. I heard that you can be guaranteed a pilot slot if you have prior civilian flying experience. How true is this? I would LOVE to sign a paper that says I get to fly in the Navy. I also heard that some Navy pilots end up flying some Air Force's F15E's. How true is this?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[wink]

Has nothing to do with having civilian flying experience. If you qualify then you are quaranteed flight training. In fact, the navy guarantees all their offerings to officer candidates. You, of course, must complete all required training to the Navy's satisfaction. They only promise you the training. A very very small number of Navy pilots and NFOs get interservice orders. An even smaller number probably go to F-15Es. How can you get that excited about flying the Strike Eagle when you could be flying an F-14 or F-18 from the deck of a carrier. When you have decided that you are up to the challenge Naval Aviation presents, see a Navy Officer Recruiter.

 

[NKitch]

Thanks for the quick response! Ok, so they guarantee that if you qualify to become an Officer in the Navy then you can go to flight training, then it's up to you from there... so if you screw up there, then you go to another job... is that how it works?

Of course I would LOVE to fly the F-18 from the deck but I was just curious about the F15s.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[wink]

If you attrite from flight training for other than being a complete idiot or displaying unofficer like qualities, they will usually work with you. Some of the guys on the forum would have more recent info. The Navy can hang on to you and force you into another field. I have never seen that. Either they let you go home with a Reserve committment only (rare, depends on manning) or they will let you choose another field to go into. You have your commission so you stay an officer, just find another line of work. If you have really good grades as a Sophmore then see a recruiter about BDCP. You must apply early for all Navy programs. By that I mean a minimum of one year before graduation. Surf around this site. You will learn about BDCP and how hard it is to get a job if you wait until months before graduation. Good Luck.

 

[bunk22]

Not trying to rain on your parade but remember, you could also be flying CH-46's out of Gaum. IMO, there is nothing wrong with that at all. Just make sure you entering the Navy to fly for the right reasons otherwise it could be a long, difficult haul.

VAW-120 FRS Flight Instructor

 

[wink]

Lets see...shiny gold wings, sunny south pacific beaches, fishing, diving, VFR flying at 50-100 feet, challenging aircraft, hero making rescues, or... Dull lead wings, B-52s out of the frozen northern U.S., straight and level at 36,000 feet for 5+ hours. I'll take frogs out of Guam any day.

 

[bunk22]

Originally posted by wink
Lets see...shiny gold wings, sunny south pacific beaches, fishing, diving, VFR flying at 50-100 feet, challenging aircraft, hero making rescues, or... Dull lead wings, B-52s out of the frozen northern U.S., straight and level at 36,000 feet for 5+ hours. I'll take frogs out of Guam any day.

So would I

VAW-120 FRS Flight Instructor

 

[NKitch]

Basically what i want is to be able to know for sure that, if I pass all the physical tests and whatnot, that I can be guaranteed a pilot slot. I really don't care what I fly, of course I would LOVE a fighter.

 

[Integer]

When you apply for OCS or BDCP, you pick 3 slots and they will reply for which you are accepted, if any. Then you can agree and get a starting date. You are guaranteed the slot they accepted you for and you agreed to when you get to the school and training. However, as with all slots including pilots, there area always a few people who can't make it through training. Only in that case, wink is saying they will try to find another slot. That is what wink meant. From what I hear, the Navy isn't in the business of trying to trick you into getting pilot and then making you fail out of the training to become NFO or whatever else you might also want once you get there. In fact, the Navy is very selective of pilot offers and more than likely expects all pilots and NFOS to get their wings of gold, since they are paying millions to train each person and since they spent a lot of money screening and choosing specific people which they think will actually make it through the program.

And the other thing is that having flight experience doesn't affect you much either way. All pilots and NFOs will get 15 to 25 hours of in-the-air civilian flight experience near the start of OCS!

And the final thing I want to say is that apparently the Navy wants OFFICERS, not specifically pilots or anything else. They want to see that you can be an OFFICER. They aren't an NBA team who drafts the #1 high school player whether they are classy or not, because being a basketball player is the whole point of NBA but is not the whole point of a Pilot in the Navy. A big duty of any Officer is to be an Officer. As I understand, the Navy wants people who want to be Naval Officers first and fly planes as part of their training second. If accepted, you will be expected to be like an Administrator in a huge floating 'school' as the main purpose of them having you, but an ultra expensive 'bus driver' at the same time. Or a mail room 'delivery driver' who delivers 'mail' payloads from the floating 'school' to non-floating 'locations' like Vietnam.. But apparently you get to have a lot of fun driving regularly (I don't know how often.) And that is why, I hear, that previous flying experience doesn't really matter. ~Int

 

[chiplee]

Everyone always says that. That flight time doesn't matter. I wish there were solid statistical figures on the matter. My OSO said it makes no difference. My primary CO on check-in day asked us to raise our hands if we had prior flight time. While our hands were up he told the other guys to look around and he said. "Now don't think these will be the 3 jet guys from this class, we've attrited plenty of guys with 600 hours, and we've sent plenty of them to HTs" He was wrong in our case. We turned out to be the jet guys. The three of us plus 2 other guys that had no prior flight time who worked twice as hard as we did. Ever since then I've leaned more toward telling guys to get as much civilian time as they can. It certainly won't hurt. I'll put it this way. As my peer group changed while I moved through jet training, I started to realize I had alot more friends with civilian ratings. These were guys that joined VT 21 or VT 22 from different primary squadrons. It seems the percentage of guys with at least a private rating went way up. Then after getting winged we all went and did the mil comp private commercial and instrument rating test for $100 and got all the same ratings anyway. Who knows really. Like I said this is all just how it feels/seems and I don't have any real numbers for you, but if you have the means I suggest getting some flight time. Hell if you want to be a pilot you should be all about stick time anyway.

stay motivated

 

[beau]

Just Remember these words......"nothing is ever guaranteed until it happens in the Navy!".....oh yeah and......."Semper Gumbie!"

Finch

GO SOONERS!!!

 

[Integer]

No, no, no. Yes, flight experience will help you when you are training. Even flying simulations. I think everybody agrees on that. But what the guy was asking is if he should pay for courses just to have a higher chance of acceptance. Well, supposedly flight time doesn't help you get in, so I guess the general concensus is not to spend money on civilian training, since if you're accepted you will have civilian training anyway, along with military training, of course. If you think it's worth it to spend money to have a slight advantage over your peers in flight school, then go for it. But from hearsay, I believe it won't affect your application. But do it if you have money to spend of course, as long as you understand it might not necessarily help you get in, let alone "guaranteed spot". ~Int

 

[Mr. Michael John McDaniel]

What about Marines?

If you basically pass all their requirements (good PFT, eyes aren't bad enough, past ASBT) will you surely be given an aviation spot?

Or are they still a little picky?

 

[Spin]

I have to disagree about flight time affecting your chances of being accepted. It makes one very impt thing clear ..... you are comfortable in a cockpit. They know that you aren't going to get in in training and be like ... hey ... I don't like flying and attrite. If you have a crappy package it won't save you but if it comes down to the wire and you have time and another doesn't ... guess whose getting picked.

 

[aggiepilot]

I just started looking at this site...and looking through the posts there seems to be nobody with all the answers.
Wouldn't it make sense from the Navy perspective to think of a student aviator with previous flight time as a better investment? As a civilian flight instructor, though, I would also argue that from my experience people with licenses and ratings and 1000+ hours of flt time does not mean that they belong in the cockpit.