C12mintz

Thanks in advance for any potential help!

I recently washed out of ENJJPT training for flying deficiency in the Formation phase of T-6 training. I had 97 military hours and approx. 18 logged civilian hours from flight screening in Pueblo. I've also had 51 simulator hours, but not sure how/if those count.

While I'm working on reclassification, I'd really like to get my PPL, but I've had a hard time getting good info. I know that students who complete UPT (roughly 230 hours) get a PPL, instrument rating, and a commercial license.

A local flight instructor told me I'd need to spend roughly 6 hours learning the 172, then I could take a written exam and do an FAA Checkride. Another guy told me there might be a way for my 3 (successful) Air Force check rides to count. I took a contact, advanced contact, and instrument check ride in UPT.

I'm in a sort of rare position here, does anyone have any ideas? Who would I reach out to?

Thanks again for all of your help!

galaxy flyer

The hours will count, if they meet the requirements of Part 61. The checkrides won't. You should not need much more than the 6-10 hours the local CFI mentioned. You will have to show the cross country time req'ts which you probably don't have. Also the written and an instructor recommendation.

I've known two guys in your position, neither had great civilian careers, but that might be more a result of their times.

GF

satpak77

Just curious but I thought it was "expected" that mil pilot applicants already had their PPL in hand

rickair7777

No. In the past a few would have a PPL or even an IR, but many or even most showed up "cold turkey".

Nowadays most military applicants get a handful of military-sponsored civilian ASEL hours as part of the screening process...maybe up to solo at the most.

rickair7777

To the OP...

You get nothing in the way of ratings or checkrides. The hours count as aeronautical experience towards the PPL and other ratings so you might as well log them all. Total time, night, solo, IMC, LDGs all count.

What probably does not count is dual-received...in order for dual-received to count in your situation...

1) Instructor was a FAA CFI (or CFII for instrument training).
2) He documented the training and signed your logbook (or equivalent documentation)

So you probably will need most of the required dual training towards the PPL (minus whatever you got in screening).

The simulator time gets logged as simulator (and simulated IMC if applicable). If it was a full-motion sim with visuals, that goes under the simulator column. If it was FTD (ie non-motion or non-visual), I would log that under a separate FTD column.

Re. a civilian career...you would probably do just fine at that if you wanted to. Airline pilots don't do forms or acro, so that sort of stuff is not a huge predictor for civilian success. The fact that you screened for military training and made it as far as you did is a good sign...many (most?) RJ pilots wouldn't have even got that far

Airlines will likely not hold the military washout against you if you have a successful civilian training history (ie don't bust any checkrides, and make sure your GA examiners are fair and consistent)

C12mintz

Thanks for all the quick replies!

I'm wondering how UPT grads get all those licenses then... Must be some sort of FAA deal where they agreed to count a few of the checkrides and accept simulator time as solo XC. Looking at the FAA reqs that's the only thing I don't have.

In regards to career, I have no interest in commercial flying. Nothing against it, it's a fantastic opportunity, just never been my interest. I enjoy the idea of flying and figured it'd be a great way to serve my country, but obviously didn't have the coordination/SA required to fly at the tactical formation and/or (they projected) T-38 level. I did get a formation solo- awesome stuff! :-) Anyways my point is that I'm looking to get the PPL just to keep my recreational doors open.

In regards to hours- at ENJJPT it's intl program, most of the intl students have 50-100 hrs, Americans are mixed- some had 150-250 hours (all Guard/Reserve). Most of the Active a Duty ranged from zero prior to (18 hr) screening (me) to around 50. However a few were glider pilots with 200+ hrs so that helps. As others have stated the hours are a HUGE adv early on if you set the ego aside, by the time you get to T-38s, roughly 110 hours in, it's mostly equalized.

Twin Wasp

There is a special rule (literally, 61.73 Military pilots ... :Special rules) that says if you're a qualified military pilot and you pass a FAA written test for military pilots you can get a commercial certificate and if you have passed a military instrument check ride you can get the instrument rating.

JamesNoBrakes

Well yeah, but it starts out with:

blastoff

In accordance with the quoted reg above, USAF pilots take a written test for mil-civilian conversion at a testing center and then take their flight records folder to the FSDO (FSDO's local to a UPT base have the process streamlined) and get their Commercial with Single & Multi engine ratings, along with a BeechJet (BE400/MU300) type rating for T-1 drivers.

rickair7777

BLUF: since the dude never qualified as a military pilot none of the FARs relevant to military pilots apply to him.