[QUOTE]
Originally Posted by
FloridaGator
So I set out sending resumes, transcripts, and copies of my AFOQT to Every single Air National Guard Unit in the country. Yes sure I looked into Active duty....but I never desired to be in South Korea as a 10 year indentured servant. Especially if there was a better option.
I might have understood you, but please don't refer to being Active Duty as being an "indentured servant" It is degrading to those of us who have chosen to serve our country on Active Duty.
Do you know anyone who has been through both programs? There aren't many of us.
I, like you, went thorugh a program while in college and got most of my ratings (all but instructors ratings) so you and have can speak on either side of the fence I would say. I've never flown P121 or been through a P121 training program or a FSI course; and I can't say that I am looking forward to it.
The instructors are typically FAIPS. So depending on the day.... I might fly with a Lt Colonel who could teach me some things. But mostly, I had more flight time, experience and airmanship than my first assignment instructor. Talk about afraid? They were afraid to leave Oklahoma. A cross-country is terrifying! Unfamiliar airports. A civillian controller system. What is ramp control?
Things might be different in the AF, but when you say they were "typically FAIPs" then that makes it sound like you are saying a majority of your IPs wwre FAIPs. That is not the case in the USN/USMC programs. Those opportunities come and go and even when they are around you don't see too many of them. I'm hoping that you were able to learn a few things from the senior CAPTs and MAJs you flew with too in UPT. What you say about FAIPs operating outside of the base is one of the problems I agree with. Your instructor might be someone who's entire flight training experience is having just gone through the same training that you are going through. I would much rather have a fleet experienced person teaching me more than the local course rules. In the civilian world - that is one reason I didn't want to get my CFI/II right away. I did not feel I knoew enough to be teaching someone else how to fly! I have learned since that it is the 90% course of action, but it just wasn't for me.
In university programs.... you are typically instructed by a CFI who has been a pilot for 4 years or more. All the training took place in college, and now they have 500 hours or more and they are flying 8 hours a day ... so 1000 hours is not a long way off. These guys new their stuff and could teach it really well. Incidentally....all the ones I knew are at Major airlines. Most from UPT arent pilots anymore.
My instructors in college were people a year or two older than me and were brand new CFIs. Most people that I have known that got out of the millitary as IPs (whether it be Primary, Advance or FRS) are Major airline pilots (at least until recently and now they are furloughed
)
Please understand me. There is a virtual tie between FAR 141 University trained pilots and Air Force Training in Undergraduate Pilot Training.
This might be true in the AF, but certainly not true of the USN/USMC newly winged aviators. They have a much broader perspective of training doing many more things; but then again it is my understanding (at least in the past) that the AF training up to wings doesn't include many of areas of training that USN/USMC training encompasses. If someone could break down the different phases of training and what is accomplished in each I would appreciate it.
Where there isnt much debate is which service produces the best pilots. The only time the navy ever gives the airforce even a hint of a challenge is when the carrier is ramping up for deployment. Other than that brief moment in time, the Air Force lives up to its name and thanks to a huge alotment of sorties.... is without question the best service branch in aviation. IF you want to storm a beach....the marines are for you. If you want to row a boat...the navy. If you want to fly the best airplanes in a tactical environment... the AirFoce and reserve components are IT.
Oh to be so sure
This could be its' own post!
USMCFLYR