Originally Posted by
rickair7777
I would recommend that to any aspiring pilot who can qualify...you want an air national guard unit that flies fixed wing airplanes (anything fighters, tankers, transports...just not helos).
I would recommend this career path:
1) 4-year college (good grades, and technical major if possible)
2) Pilot ratings while in college, if possible (Inst, Comm, CFI, CFII, MEI)
3) Work as CFI
4) Get hired into regional, finish consolidation (6 months or bless)
5) Apply to Guard unit
6) Attend USAF OCS and flight training (2 years)
7) Return to regional (you now have the seniority to be a captain)
8) Get 1000+ hours airline captain time
9) Apply to major airlines...with 121 captain time AND the military background you will be very competetive.
You could join the guard earlier so you don't have to pay for all those civilian ratings, but ideally you want to accrue airline seniority while you are away at military training.
What he said! If you could get a seniority number before you went to training that would the way to go. I know many guys who have worked that angle and pretty much walked right into a captain spot (after gaining some more experience the in the jet first). But still...to miss out on those first three-four years or crap pay, would be nice. If I were to go to a regional after all my training I will be taking about a 25,000 cut in base pay, close to 40,000 if you include flight pay, BAH and BAS. Whereas if you had a higher seniority number and could get into a captain spot quicker the cut in pay wouldn't be as painful.