Originally Posted by
pandaairlines
Unfortunately I may be possibly washing out of Primary flight school for the Navy. I have with ~70 fixed wing hours behind a T6B Texan II & was 94% complete with the syllabus. I failed my intrument checkride twice for two entirely different reasons. The first on was for a bad Point to point & the second one was for not having the best SA (I was out of the cockpit for >30 days for whatever it's worth). In total I had 3 pink sheets in primary includig these checkrides. I realized my mistake both times, learned from them and still very much want to continue in Naval Aviation. At this point two things can happen, I’ll either be retained (if the Commodore decides to do this), or attrited and redes to an entirely different designation altogether. My CO and other instructors said to me that my knowledge was great, procedural application was good and that I have very good attitude/character. Unfortunately, whatever happens now is beyond control of anyone.
Regardless I will owe at least 4 years to the Navy since I had a 2 year Naval scholarship during college. Which is great because I still wish to serve at any capacity and have a career. If there are any former military pilots, especially if you were in a similar situation as I am, what are some steps I can take now to work towards flying for the Regionals I do get attrited? Does attrition from a military flight school effectively kill any chance of becoming a career aviator?
I did check to see other threads about UPT washouts, however those are all dated (roughly 10 years old) and just wanted to see if the situation is any different from then. I know we have the GI bill so that can definitely assist with getting some more fixed wing hours (ie PPL, Instrument certificate, etc..).
I do not wish to give up my dream of flying, whether I get to (hopefully) stay in Naval Aviation or decide to go Private/Civilian route. Thank you all for reading this and any/all advice is appreciated!
Greater than 30 days outside of the cockpit? Unless the rules changed you should have received a mandatory warmup for over 14 days and an optional warmup following your mandatory warmup if you did poorly prior to the final check. Was there a delay scheduling your FPC with your skipper that caused you to sit without warmups for over 30 days?
No, your aviation career isn't over. Regionals don't usually hold military checkride failures against applicants because they understand "it's different". Figure out is going on with your naval aviation career before you develop a plan to proceed, but generally it will involve you getting hours and ratings. You may be able to use your GI bill at a place like infinity flight group. Join RTAG if you haven't. They're a pretty good resource for vets making the transition to civilian aviation.