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.

 

You can still pursue a civilian pilot career, with minimal ramifications.

I won't say zero ramifications because a civilian pilot with very good whole-person credentials and a decent training record does seem to be at an advantage compared to a military attrite.

But you'd be no worse off than a civilain with a couple busts and there are plenty of those in the airlines, including top-tier.

A lot of it comes down to how you address that kind of history at the interview. But when times are lean, you'll have a harder time even getting an interview relative to someone with a perfect training record. Just something to be aware of.

 

I was an F18 RAG IP, when I was on a board that helped decide whether struggling students were retained, a huge factor was attitude and work ethic. Did the student make excuses for their bad performance, or did they accept their mistakes and do their best to learn. Have they been putting in extra effort and seeking help to try and make it though?

Sounds like you have a decent attitude. Keep it up, don’t assume you’ll get attrited. Even if you do, learn as best you can from it and take responsibility for it if asked in future interviews.

Best of luck to you!

 

I flew with a pilot at SWA who told me that he washed out of Navy Flight School while in the jet pipeline. He finished his time in the Marines as an A-6 NFO. After he got out of the Marines he got his flight time flying Corporate. My college roommate also washed out of the jet pipeline and became an F-14 NFO. He ended up doing 29 years in the Navy. Basically while washing out of military flight training is not good it isn't the end of everything.

 

The Navy might not hold you to your commitment should they remove you from flight training. You may be given a option. If you pursue the civilian route the key to making the military failure a non event is a outstanding training record going forward.
I am a bit confused on the 30 days off prior to the checkride. You should have received two warmups. The bad point to point is interesting also as few people do a good one. Normally that would not bust a checkride.

 

If you go the civi route plan on at least a minimum of two years full time civilian flying to become competive. In a part 61 school commonly called mom & pops the minimum hours for a commercial cert. is 250, then you can start looking for a job instructing or whatever you can scrounge up. The regionals have slowed way down on the hiring of new F/O's so it has naturally become more selective. Pray the Navy gives you another go.

 

I'm not a current or former military pilot, but I've spent a long time flying professionally. Here's a couple of other points to consider:

First, do everything you can to try to stay in the program. The Navy gets to decide whether you continue your training or not, but don't make it easy on them by giving up. As a professional pilot in the civilian world, you will spend many weeks of your life training in simulators and airplanes. The simulator (or airplane) doesn't stop flying just because you screwed up. Deal with the problem to the best of your ability, then move on.

In the event that your military flight training just doesn't work out, keep in mind that many military bases have their own low-cost flying clubs. Our local military flying club has eight aircraft and several excellent instructors. Granted, a Cessna 172 may not be as exciting as anything you're likely to fly for the Navy, but it might help you accumulate training and experience for your civilian flying career. Also, many airports (at least in the U.S.) have FBO's and flight schools where you can train part time. In other words, you can continue to serve in the military, and may be able to do some training on the side. If you can "graduate" from the Navy with an honorable dischage and a civilian Commercial certificate, then you'll already be ahead of the game.

 

Thank you all for your responses so far! I will keep trying to push through this and try to stay in Naval Aviation!

I'm sorry for not specifying my whole stoy: My time out of the cockpit was 40 days total due to Admin seperation (ie TRB board & meeting with the Commodore) after my first instrument checkride fail. The "first" TRB never happened because I was never even supposed to be slated for a board or a meeting with the Commodore. Essentially, I was told that I was suppose to simply have a FPC of the event, & that my squadron did not follow protocol appropriately. They returned me back and my squadron gave me 2 warm up sims & 2 warm up flights. Which was all good and dandy and I don't mean to make an excuse here but simply put, I do not see how that was enough time for me to get back to a Checkride standard after being so far gone from flying. Ultimately, I was taken out of the syllabus when I was never even supposed to be removed only to go back, have a very brief warm up period and go straight into the checkride/FPC. Unfortunately, I did fail the FPC (second instrument checkride attempt). My approaches were all good, along with my basic airwork, & holding. I was surprised at how decent I flew despite being out for so long. However my SA was slow throughout the flight and my comm's were not nearly as great as they used to be and I did bust my point to point mostly also because of my SA not being as fast as it once was. This made my IP doubt that I'd be successful in formations phase if he passed me on and decided to unsat me ultimately. I hate to say this but it feels like they gave up on me. I gave it all of my effort and still am continuing to do so regardless of how I may feel. Even when I was in the waiting period for the "first" TRB I was not even supposed to have, I still went to the sims, chair flew with friends and did everything in my power to stay current on knowledge despite the unknown of if I'll be here or not. Even now as I repeat that process to officially go to my actual first TRB and first meeting with the Commodore, I am still practicing and availing all my resources to ensure success if I am reinstated back in the program.

I still believe I have what it takes to be here. I still am motivated and disciplined. I have accepted and acknowledged any and all mistakes I've made in primary and have always continued to learn & grow. But I can't help but think of plan B in case this oes go South. I certainly don't wish for it to go this way and am actively trying to make sure that I am doing al that is in my control and more. However, it feels like a lot is simply up to fate at this point in terms of continuation.

 

This __\oo/__