Originally Posted by
Aviatormar
Ok, so how does one go about getting into a program? Right now I"m 23 (24 in January), I fly for a regional and just finishing up my last few credits online to get my degree (dumb move, leaving college with 12 credits and 1 semester to go, to fly and have fun on the west coast, idiot idiot idiot!!!). Is there any hope for a reserve slot?
do you want to go full or reserve?
if you want to go full you have to do a couple of things. first call the recruiter and tell them you want to apply for a pilot slot. they will give you the spill about how its hard to come right in and be a pilot, but if you sign up you can get a pilot slot easier once you are in.. so if you fall for that then you are in trouble. if not they will tell you that you need to take the afoqt (airforce officer qualifying test). once you finish that they will set you up for a bat test (its pretty much a computer game, just google it and you will see.) once you have completed both of those you will get a pcsm score (pilot candidate selection method). so they combine your afoqt, bat score together, then add in bonus points for the hours you have now, up to 250, and then they give you your pcsm score. its on a scale from 0-99, 99 being the best. if you look good you will get sent to meps for a physical and if that looks good you get sent for a flight physical. if all that looks good then you just wait for the next board to meet. if you get chosen you are in, if not you automatically get moved to the next board. if you dont get chosen there then you have to reapply.
as far as reserves go it is pretty much the exact same way except for reserves you hav to apply for an open job in a reserve unit. they are very hard to get since a lot of the guys there have buddies waiting to join the unit.
you may ask how do i know all this? well i had a pcsm score of 96 and was ready to be shipped off and ready to go. but all the sudden ( about 8 years ago) they cancelled the class, and the one after that. i thought i was mobile, al bound but after going through the process for a couple years i got frustrated with it and decided to keep flight instructing and move on. i wonder sometimes where i would be if i would have hung in there, but i am pretty happy with my decision. while flight instructing i met my wife, got married, had a kid, and am happy with the way things turned out.. but one can always wonder right?