Hi All,

New here. Ive been well adept at making my own decisions in life and sticking with them until exhausted for whatever reason or I got sick of them but struggling a bit at this juncture.

I'm 26 years old, live just outside Boston, MA, 4 year degree in meteorology (weather) with some MS work in Atmospheric Sciences. Burnt out on the computer programming and general desk work in grad school and went after a Navy OCS slot. Applied for and got accepted for a Pilot slot, graduated OCS and went off to Pensacola. Navy insisted on yanking my wisdom teeth and ended up with a staph a blood infection that almost killed me, damage to my aortic heart valve that required complete valve replacement and now lifelong anticoagulation meds currently coumadin (gross).

That started a year ago now and obviously the Navy wants nothing to do with me and is kicking me out with only 20% disability as of now. I've recovered well enough, running, lifting weights again, etc so lucky there.

I do have the benefit of the post 9/11 GI Bill which, from my understanding, allows you to attend any Part 141 school and pays up to $10K/yr for ratings up to and I believe even past ATP. Need PPL on your own dime but relative drop in the bucket.

I'm trying to decide whether its worth the time to jump in with both feet and knock out everything I can under the GI bill? Any suggestions? Would you do it or use the benefits for something else?

A little more background, I HATE desk and computer work with a passion, I spent years trying to get away from it. There is no real money in my degree field and while I like it well enough, living wage jobs are few and far between, not dissimilar to aviation. Aviation would still allow me to use my degree (WX) heavily but in direct application to something else I love. I pretty much put all my eggs in the .mil basket and liked everything the .mil life offered, not just the aviation side of things. Kind of lost right now. I have no illusions of really going anywhere useful (read profitable) as a career in aviation but I cant seem to fight the urge to get as much training as I can just do say I did it if nothing else. I can't see using my GI bill benefits for something else that is only going to lead to sitting at a desk.

The other jobs that I have considered that actually pay, have benefits and job security are in public safety (police, fire, etc) but they are not going to take me with the blood thinning medication I have to take. I can get a special issuance medical all the way to 1st class if need be.

I know I'm not likely to pay the bills on anything aviation related that I could do in the near future and I have enough obligations that I really can't afford to live on less than $40K. Even that is low for around here, most of my friends in this area that are my age pull in $60K - $90K and it does not always seem like enough.

Maybe I just need to get my feet wet and start washing planes but from what I can tell there seems to be a deficit of opportunities available in the Boston area when it comes to aviation at least as compared to the rest of the country. I really don't have the financial means to move so I'm stuck in the Boston market for now.

My dream would be to instruct (CFI, CFII, MEI), build some (or alot) of multi time instructing if possible to get hours and network as much as possible. Maybe get in with the right people and beg for some right seat time on anything cool, etc, etc, get ATP, more hours and eventually fly weather research type missions. Its mostly a pipe dream as those positions usually want military, military, military and nobody really gives a crap that you made it to the seat of a T-6II but never went anywhere.

I'm thinking I need to find some non related job that I dont hate and work flight school on the side as much as possible. I dont see using my GI bill for anything else. Worst case scenario I get instructor ratings out of it and can always do that on the side.

Sorry for the rambling, any advice and opinions positive or negative welcomed.

Thanks!!!

 

Damn....that infection thing really happened? That sounds awful. Sorry to hear that. You mentioned you can hold a 1st class medical? That is a good start.

If you have GI Bill benefits, look around at flight schools that accept the GI Bill. I used chapter 1606 and then 1607 GI Bill, but that paid due to my enrollment at a university, not the flight school. In other words my flight school was a GI Bill qualified school. None the less, if you have GI Bill to use, that will be a big help.

Also, there is no money in meteorology? Everyone says there is no money in their industry these days...Not calling you out, I'm just scratching my head.

 

Thanks for the reply!

Yep, infection thing really happened, thats the short story, haha. I can get FAA medicals, a few extra hoops to jump through but not a show stopper, lucky there.

I do, thank God, have the GI Bill benefits as far as I understand. I'm still technically active duty stationed at a ROTC command but will be processing out soon. Commissioned on 28 September of 2012 so I got just over a year AD.

I need to educate myself more on the entire GI Bill Process, not just as it applies to flight school as my knowledge is very basic. I just recently found out I could use it for anything flight related. Furthermore, it seems most people, even in the VA, don't understand the process when it comes to flight stuff and some will try to tell you its a complete no go.

I did use the search tool and found a few private 141 flight schools in my area that do accept GI Bill Benefits which is cool. I need to get off my butt and start talking to them and see how familiar with the process they are.

I did not feel like you were calling me out, don't worry about it. The meteorology market, much like aviation, is comprised mostly of low level jobs paying peanuts and a relative few at the top making the big $$$. Like aviation, people are often surprised to hear the pay can be so low but its true. The only difference is there are far LESS jobs at the bottom than one would find in aviation. Bottom barrel/bottom pay aviation jobs seem a dime a dozen. In the WX world, people fight over jobs that pay $19K. Research style jobs can pay ALOT more but require at least an MS and I burned most bridges on that jumping ship for the Navy , PhD preferred. Furthermore, its not so much meteorology at that point as it is applied computer science/IT. I find that stuff mind numbing and can't think of anything I'd less rather do than pure desk/computer work hence the aviation bug.

I guess its a general sign of the times in many fields, too many people with degrees and not enough jobs.

 

Isn't there that NOAA Officer commission program?

NOAA Corps

Pretty sure I looked through this a little bit at one time, supposedly this is the path to flying for them as well. I'd think a meteorology degree would go far with them? Says they use the same standards as the coast guard, but that any potential disqualifying conditions are evaluated on case-by-case basis (I somehow doubt they meet the physical standards of the Armed forces).

 

They generally use military standards, but since NOAA pilots probably won't deploy for a ground tour in AFG, they might be willing to overlook something that doesn't impact your daily function but might be risky to be away from medical care for an extended period (ie anti-coagulants could be bad news on a battlefield).

But major heart surgery is unfortunately not a good thing for aviation medical certification. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Also...if you're pursuing civilian aviation make sure you can hold an FAA first class medical. It will be VERY desirable to hold an FAA 1C without any sort of "special issuance" restrictions. Given your medical condition, I would also research what your long-term prognosis is. If you might be dealing with complications later in life it might not be wise to commit to an aviation career.

Sorry to hear military medicine screwed things up for you.

 

Get in touch with the flight schools themselves. They likely know how the payment process works. Also, if you aren't feeling about your GI Bill status take a peek at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and call somebody to explain your current benefits. I have in the past and they were very helpful. Keep us posted.

 

Yep, NOAA Corps is not a bad deal but you will do 2 years on a ship no matter what before you even get a look at the pilot pipeline. I believe there is an age cutoff too and after 2 years on ship, Id be running up against or over it. Thats if they would even take me with the medical history.

Interesting you both mention USCG. The points you make were pretty much the points the Navy Med Board made about me, they said nothing about my condition physically precludes me from performing as a Naval Aviator and I could readily complete all associated tasks however anti-coagulation and monitoring of said situation presents an undue risk to the mil and I in a deployed environment. That does not mean USCG would want to touch me with a 10' pole either considering they have people that are like I was a year ago, never a medical issue in their entire lives.

About a week ago, I had a conversation with a Navy LT in my command who is a C-2 pilot and he strongly recommended I look into the Coast Guard as well. I'd get to go right back to the same training pipeline I left, haha.

I guess I will take a serious look at Coast Guard Medical Regs and maybe make some phone calls. I'm not expecting a favorable answer but I've now been told by more than 1 person to at least give it a shot.

 

I saw the site yesterday and it mentioned being able to put in 20 years by age 65 being the only "age cutoff". Also, yeah, you'd do "time" on a ship, but getting started as an officer is always a good thing and it doesn't matter where you go, you gotta "pay yer duez", so 2 yrs as an officer on a ship or 7 years as a regional FO?

 

Here's a WX job. Go to the DynCorp web site and search key word. You may want to consider doing something like this for a year OCONUS, save some money, start the VA paperwork before doing the flight training.




LG4 Weather Observer / Forecaster-1305813
Security Clearance: Secret
Description


Job Summary

The Weather Observer/Forecaster performs weather operations for aviation activities, integrating current and forecasted atmospheric and space weather conditions into operations and planning.

 

I echo smugglersblues comments above. (BTW, sweet photo. Looks like the bird hangared next to my alma mater at HSM-41)

Additionally, if ANYWHERE in the Navy will still take you, try going Meteorology/Oceanography officer corps. That's a guaranteed, WELL PAYING, job for the next 10 years and a 92% advancement rate to O-4 and eventually retirement if you prove you aren't an idiot. If you stay in your current field (IT), there's practically a 100% advancement rate to O-6 and a 30 year career. All of these will afford you to fly...

That being said, I am a Naval Aviator who has used the GI Bill to pay for additional flight training, and they will literally pay for EVERYTHING up to the yearly amount (currently $10,900), except for books and all private pilots license costs. That includes initial ratings, type ratings, add on ratings, instructor certificates, testing costs, etc.