USMCFLYR

One way to look at that is that it is a lot of CYCLES. Depending on community you are talking about - it could have very little transit time or time watching the autopilot fly (monitoring). Very hands on and more multi-tasking than other forms of flying. Others - not so much.

A recent example I used in a previous thread was the difference in experience and flying accomplished in the first 250 hrs (for example) between a student pilot from my previous training environment and your ERAU student with 250 hrs.

And before it does devolve into a military -vs- civilian argument - - this same disaprity in the number of hours is evident even among military flying communities too.

KungFuLarry22

USMCFLYR,

Well said Marine! I don't mean to start a battle either, but I wanted to add some encouragement to a brother in arms leaving the service. I don't mean to take anything away from someone who grew up civilian. I have been very impressed with those that I have flown with thus far. Its just that for every hour that a military guy or gal logs there is a lot of blood sweat and tears put into that hour. Extensive planning, briefing, and we do this in between working fourteen other non flying billets. Its hard to come out of the service with this type of work experience and face a difficult job market. Its unfortunate that we (the flying public) can't find a better way to break out and define quality flight time vice just the number of hours a pilot has in his/her logbook. This goes for civilian or military pilots. A tailwheel endorsement, seaplane rating, and or glider rating would also be great indicators of how varied a pilots experience is. Just my opinion...good luck out there Movinon. Please PM me with any questions.

Larry

movinon

Gents-
I can't thank you enough for your advice and encouragement. To paraphrase USMCFLYR, I have had a lot of cycles, and there isn't any 'bonus' in my total time to reflect that vs. cruise on autopilot; same for all the ground duties. That being said, I don't knock anyone that went the civilian route in the least. I will humbly explain the kind of flying I have done to any prospective flight department and hope that it carries some weight. I have plenty to learn when it comes to other segments of aviation and I will be an eager student.

In the meantime, I have been hired by an awesome Reserve unit and can't wait to get some more experience with them. I will be hopefully racking up hours in no time if all goes well, the creeks don't rise, and the government gets back to work. I am still going to knock on some doors in a few weeks and begin the process of getting to know the flight departments. Who knows what will shake out.

Thanks again for the advice and good words. Semper Fi, Aim High, but most of all, fly safe.