Originally Posted by
Spike from flyi
It's all parochial crap. Air Force and Navy guys feel threatened by the skill it takes to fly a helicopter, so they like to discriminate in favor of their butt buddies; makes them feel better. I've got 3,500 hours flying the B777 Freighter around the world, and those dudes would be happy to count that time, even though half of it was sound asleep on my back, and the rest mostly looking out the window. They give no credit to the hundreds of hours I spent in helicopters at tree top level under night vision goggles. If you can't hover, you're queer. BTW, this profession sucks. Go find something more stable, like becoming a carnie. Maybe you'll get to work the Tilt-A-Whirl.
Got some anger issues, do you?
I'm not seeing a mass exodus of airline pilots so it can't be that bad. It's not a perfect job but it's a pretty dang good one, IMO. Majority of ex-mil pilots end up in the airline world and stay. That says something.
Some airlines do count chopper time. I know of several rotor heads where I work. Btw the last time I checked, majority of the top sticks during track selection don't choose helicopters. On the other hand, everyone I know who chose/were sent to fly choppers all made it through the program and are/were flying operationally so "hovering" isn't an issue.
To the OP, do what is good for you and your family. I never finished my masters but wish I had. I was a young O-1 at the time and that was my golden opportunity. If you are committed to separating and don't want to climb the management ladder, a MBA is pretty much useless in this line of work.