Which Branch Allows Its Officers to Fly the Most?

[cfam]

Not necessarily, but flying opportunities are definitely reduced once you hit O-6. Carrier COs/XOs and typewing commodores/their deputies fly, and there are other O-6 flying billets out there (weapons school, VX-9, other test commands, etc). The amount of flight time is definitely less overall though.

For your second question, it’s pretty simple: they want to command an aircraft carrier.

Additionally, if they decide to stick around after that tour and had a successful carrier co tour, they have a decent chance of becoming an admiral. When you get to that point in your career, the flying isn’t the main reason for continuing.

 

[ea6bflyr]

If you check all services, most stop flying after promoting to O-6. Flying opportunities are reduced the higher you go in rank.

 

[wallythenycat]

So, I guess if you want to fly most of the time, you get out after O-3 or so and fly for the airlines?

 

[cfam]

So, I guess if you want to fly most of the time, you get out after O-3 or so and fly for the airlines?

Ummm, no. Plenty of flying opportunities available as an O-4 and O-5.

 

[Brett327]

So, I guess if you want to fly most of the time, you get out after O-3 or so and fly for the airlines?

There's more to life, and a military career, than maximizing time in the cockpit.

 

[RobLyman]

Army warrants, definitely!

I flew as much or more as a warrant than I did in the Navy through O-3. I never flew as an O-4. As for longevity, I flew my last flight as a CW4 just 10 months shy of my 60th birthday. In that month (January 2023) I conducted two MTP evaluations and an instrument evaluation. I was producing Xs just two weeks prior to my retirement.

There is more to a career than maximizing flight time, but only flight time can be considered 100% enjoyable by most military pilots. In other words, flying is the part of a military pilot's career that can universally be accepted as enjoyable and rewarding...with very few exceptions. In MY opinion, only about 50% (at best) of the other stuff could be considered rewarding. Some of it was down-right distasteful, stressful, or otherwise degrading to my quality of life. Kicking out some of my detachment soldiers for refusing a vaccine that later turned out to NOT be a vaccine was possibly the low point in my career. A lot of other things, mostly in the last 3-5 years, tie for second lowest.

But YES, you will fly more as a warrant than a regular commissioned officer, especially as your career gets longer in the tooth.

 

[Uncle Fester]

@wallythenycat You're not going to get a direct answer because there are too many variables. Navy aviation officers rotate between flying squadron tours and non-squadron tours that may or may not involve flying, depending on what the job is. Flight time can be feast-or-famine depending on budgets and whatever's going on in the world, among other things. Very broadly speaking, all commissioned officer pilots in all the services move between flying jobs and non-flying jobs over the course of a career; the ratio varies wildly between and even within the services and depends a great deal on the individual's desires, luck, and timing. Army Warrant pilots stay in the cockpit more because Army Aviation is structured differently; their aviation line officers are unit commanders and staff while the Warrants are the 'expert' pilots. Insomuch as anybody in the Armed Forces "just flies," it's them.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Army warrants, definitely!

I flew as much or more as a warrant than I did in the Navy through O-3. I never flew as an O-4. As for longevity, I flew my last flight as a CW4 just 10 months shy of my 60th birthday. In that month (January 2023) I conducted two MTP evaluations and an instrument evaluation. I was producing Xs just two weeks prior to my retirement.

There is more to a career than maximizing flight time, but only flight time can be considered 100% enjoyable by most military pilots. In other words, flying is the part of a military pilot's career that can universally be accepted as enjoyable and rewarding...with very few exceptions. In MY opinion, only about 50% (at best) of the other stuff could be considered rewarding. Some of it was down-right distasteful, stressful, or otherwise degrading to my quality of life. Kicking out some of my detachment soldiers for refusing a vaccine that later turned out to NOT be a vaccine was possibly the low point in my career. A lot of other things, mostly in the last 3-5 years, tie for second lowest.

But YES, you will fly more as a warrant than a regular commissioned officer, especially as your career gets longer in the tooth.
View attachment 39725

How much should a WO in the Army fly? I am asking as I just attended a career event at JBLM, lucky me was right next to Boeing which means I basically watched people go to them. There were about a half dozen WO's exploring opportunities, all leaving after 6 years and when they were asked about flight hours all had under 600 which seemed to surprise the Boeing guy.

 

[Griz882]

How much should a WO in the Army fly? I am asking as I just attended a career event at JBLM, lucky me was right next to Boeing which means I basically watched people go to them. There were about a half dozen WO's exploring opportunities, all leaving after 6 years and when they were asked about flight hours all had under 600 which seemed to surprise the Boeing guy.

Like all the services, flight time can be restricted by cash available. The army has flight minimums for each platform with -60’s somewhere around 60 hr per year, -47’s 90 and Apache’s just over 100. So, in six years, a guy could end up wit just under 600 hours. It used to be that you flew more if assigned to a CAB, less if at base duties…but this info may be dated.

 

[RobLyman]

As of a year ago, 60 pilots in a FAC 1 position were required to fly 48 hours every 6 months, or 96 a year. FAC 2/3 is 60 hours annually. Incidentally, that applies to National Guard and Reserve units as well. As a FAC 1 I flew 1040 hours in the first 6 years I was in the guard, 477 in the first 3 years and over 600 in the second 3 years. Later, as a FAC 2, I flew mostly FAC 1 minimums until I was assigned as a company/DET commander as a warrant. Then, nearly all of my flight time consisted of giving check rides and test flights.

 

[Waveoff]

Becoming an aviator in any service is hard enough. In a completely biased opinion, flying has to the best in the Air Force or Navy when it comes to schedules, timing, and locations. And of those two, I would think Navy has the highest ratio of aviators to non-aviators, especially for NROTC pathways. I would imagine if your goal is to fly for as long as possible (and for cheap), get a non-helo platform in the USN or USAF, do your time to build hours, and then transfer to the airlines and/or the ANG/reserves.

Or, I could be completely wrong because NFO.

 

[Hotdogs]

Definitely NOT the USMC

That's not the reason. USMC just doesn't fly as much. Don't have the money, the hours, up airplanes...

How much should a WO in the Army fly? I am asking as I just attended a career event at JBLM, lucky me was right next to Boeing which means I basically watched people go to them. There were about a half dozen WO's exploring opportunities, all leaving after 6 years and when they were asked about flight hours all had under 600 which seemed to surprise the Boeing guy.

Because I didn’t get a response before, and to put a realistic lease on Marine aviation, some USMC experiences here are dated or jaded by community issues. I flew ~1200 TT in 4 years as a 2 pump legacy Cobra dude. 3 pump dudes were easily breaking 1400-1500 hours in 5 years or so during peak OEF. HML and VMM dudes were exceeding that due to manpower issues. The opposite of that is happening to young VMM bubbas now, because of overproduction (We suck at production management). At the time, VMFA was hurting because of MX.

As mentioned above, timing and platform are everything. I haven’t checked the MAW hotboards in a minute, but last I checked the vast majority of guys are exceeding 900+ during their first tour.

 

[wallythenycat]

There's more to life, and a military career, than maximizing time in the cockpit.

Like what, Brett?

 

[wallythenycat]

So, I guess one can go the route of the three pilots featured in the article below and become test pilots until they are 60 or so?

However, I would imagine that one need a STEM degree to do so, and even then it would be hard to get hired by NASA? And, is it only NASA that hires civilian test pilots?

NASA debuts supersonic jet called ‘son of Concorde’ — capable of flying from NYC to London in 3 1/2 hours

Nasa said the X-59 “will help change the way we travel, bringing us closer together in much less time.”

nypost.com

James L. Less - NASA

James L. Less is a research pilot and aerospace engineer at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. He is a project pilot for the X-59

www.nasa.gov

David Nils Larson - NASA

David Nils Larson is a research test pilot at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. He is NASA’s lead pilot for the X-59 aircraft,

www.nasa.gov

 

[JTS11]

Really sublime trolling on here Wally. It's really impressive. I looked back on your catalog, and it's <chef's kiss>