quote:Third, it will take you as long to get flight time in a P-3 as it would in a single seat. Pilot in command time is all you care about because that is what the airlines care about. You have to spend some time as copilot before you can become aircraft commander but in jets, day one you are PIC.
That is the truth. I won't see PIC time till the last year of my tour at my squadron, all depends on 1) how fast you qualify 2) meet your hour rqrmts for PPC/PIC 3) and whether or not there are more ppl around out ranking you who can sign for the plane. I guess the figure I have heard is roughly ~1500 hours out of your first tour, don't really know how accurate that is. That is one of the reasons so many pilots go to training (VT) squadrons for that extra PIC time. I know that is next to impossible to find a slot in VT31 or 35.
quote:When you sign your contract now, you re commiting yourself to wings + 8 years. That will put most of you at +10 years in service. The military did that to prevent you from leaving.
I'm just splitting hairs here, but for Props you have a 7 year commitment from Winging, Jets have 8 and for Helos you have 6.
What does this mean to me? Well, probably that I am going to get screwed by Bupers (gee, go figure). Let's do the math.
FRS 7 months
First Squadron Tour 3 years
Follow on tour (instructor VT, VP, whatever) 2.5 years
Whoops, John is 11 months short on his commitment, guess he is going to the BOAT for a disassociated sea tour, woohoo. Personally, I had enough time on a sub that I really don't want to be haze grey and underway, but guess that is in the cards for me. Even if I can extend on my first and second tours, probably won't make up the difference anyways. Not like it really matters, I have 10 years till retirement anyways, so the Navy will still have 3 more years on me after my commitment is up.
I personally am not in all that much of a rush to go the airlines, contrary to my decision to go P3s. I just don't think I would enjoy driving the bus from point A to point B, and explaing to the bean counters why I wasted $6000 worth of fuel here, or was late there, blah blah blah. Frankly, I would be more interested in doing something like Frumby, and other IPs I have met have done. Kept flying, and training students. A couple of LCDRs I flew with in Advanced all stated that they enjoyed flying with us more than at the airlines.
Also, deep down, if I have the chance, I want a shot at command. Plus, if you throw in the 737 as the follow on to the P3, heck, that is just icing on the cake! Just ramblings from a former bubblehead, that still has yet to get to his Fleet squadron and get a clue! Maybe I will switch my tune after my first deployment with a P3 squadron... ah the joy of per diem..