bertramcheeks22

I'm a flight technolgy student at Kent State University and we meet with our instructors every day. We have the largest fleet in Ohio and are the ONLY accredited school in Ohio as well. (That includes Ohio U, Ohio State, Bowling Green, and Cincinnatti) We have been regarded as one of the top 10 aeronautics schools in the country. Sorry for all the bragging...I'm just showing you that ERAU isn't your only option. Unfortunately, my high school guidance counselor in high school was terrible and didn't give me many options...GOOD LUCK!

TankerDriver

I'm going to play devil's advocate on the military subject. There is a misconception that the military is the fastest way to the airlines. Do not, in any way, consider the military a flying career nor a stepping stone to the airlines or you will be miserable for 8-10 years or whatever Uncle Sam says the commitment for Air Force pilots is these days. The Air Force is not a flying career. It is a career as an officer and unfortunately, a lot of the things you will have to do as an officer may be very uninteresting for you. Sorry to break it to you, but as an Air Force pilot, I fly a desk 4-5 days a week answering phones and staring at a computer screen. I may fly once a week on a 5-6 hour training sortie or get the occasional 4-5 day trip, but when I'm not deployed for 2 months at a time where I'm flying every other day, I'm a secretary. There are some of us that only fly once a month to stay current. Who do you think runs the flying squadrons? The pilots do. The job is really not as glamorous as people on the "outside" may think. Yeah, I still get to wear the cool green flight suit, but I might as well put the old blues on because I sit at a desk more than I sit in the cockpit. The first 2 years or so in UPT will probably be the most you will ever fly. That is your time to eat, sleep and poop flying. After you get to your unit, you will be given office duties. You will then experience bureaucracy at its finest. Now, this may totally be airframe specific and I'm sure there are pilots flying other airframes that may fly more (C-17's) or fly less (fighters), but as an officer, you will get a desk job. I can tell you that there is more bullcrap in the military than you could ever imagine. If you're looking for the airline lifestyle, where you commute, fly for 3-4 days and then go back home for 2-3 days, the military is not for you. After you get up in rank (O-4+), the less you will fly. My commander, an O-5, spends his day either in staff meetings or at his desk on the phone. He flies maybe once a month. Again, this may or not be for you.

Now, I can't argue with the fact that you get lots of "free" stuff when you join the military (education and flight training), but the lifestyle and career you will live with may not be worth it. Who the hell wants to go to the USAF Academy for 4 years? I wouldn't, even if they paid me to go there. Talk to people that went there and find out what it's really like before you commit to something like that. I got my BS degree at yes, ERAU and applied to AF Officer Training School about 2 years after I graduated so I paid for my own degree. I went to Riddle back in the day when tuition was $4,000 a semester and an hour of single engine time w/IP was about $100 vs the $12,000 and $150 it is now. Would I go again? Probably not because it's just too expensive now. As far as the education quality goes, I felt it was a pretty good program. It makes me laugh when people badmouth Riddle because they "let someone graduate without a CFI rating". They didn't let anyone do anything. Only YOU are in charge of your education and training and don't expect anyone to hand feed you at any point in this career. There are too many resources out there, ie: Airline Pilot Central, to blame a school for letting you do this or that. You can't go into this career without a plan, a backup plan and a backup plan for your backup plan. You will graduate with 200-250 hours and all the tickets and ratings to be dangerous. You will need to flight instruct and you will somehow need to get yourself 100-200 hours of multi time to get a job with a regional. Don't be one of these people that goes to Riddle or anywhere else for that matter, thinking your going to go to the right seat of an A-320 a week after you graduate because that's just not going to happen (and yes, I knew quite a few who thought that when I was there). If you go the Air Force route, you will spend 10 years doing things you may not necessarily want to do and may come out with 4000-5000 hours of flight time. You will most likely be an O-4 when your commitment is up and you'll be making near $100,000 a year. Now, you're going to go from living the military life, which basically spoon feeds you everything you need (ie, tax free, housing allowance, food allowance, etc...) to "the real world" as a right seater on probation for a major airline making $35,000-40,000 a year, paying ALOT more taxes than you would be in the military. This is why a lot of AF pilots decide they're going to sign for another 5 years and grab the $125,000 pilot bonus. Depending on where you are in your life (wife at home with 1, 2, 3+ kids), taking a $60,000 pay cut may not work for you, so if that's your plan, start saving your nest-egg early so that when you do get out, you're not on the wellfare line. All military benefits will stop if you bail at 10 years.

I'm actually looking into getting out of active duty and into a guard unit so I can get a commercial flying job so I can fly airplanes more, desks less and be exposed to much less BS, but that's just me.

TipTip35

OK, this post has been dead for a couple weeks but I wanted to give it one more breath in response to the previous post. TankerDriver is absolutely right that the the AF brings you in to be an officer first. As you make your way up the ranks you flying starts to drop off. HOWEVER, I still maintain that its one of...if not the best ways to getting quality training for airlines. Where else can you be PIC of a 2-4 engine 500,000 GW aircraft flying worldwide missions after only 2-3 years of flying. You can actually be PIC (aircraft commander) in less time than that depending on your airframe. Personally, I had enough hours (PIC included) to get hired at most MAJOR airlines after my first 3.5 yrs of flying. Although flying does slow down and there are additional office duties by the time your commitment is up you will have more than enough time to be competitive for a major airline...and who can argue against the equipment that you'll be flying. In fact I know a lot of people who are qualified before their commitment is up and are getting out early to go to the airlines (of course that always depends on the needs of the air force if they let you go early).

As for Academy or ERAU or anything else I pretty much agree with Freefall. I went to the Academy and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. No its not a party school and there are a lot more restrictions but if you look beyond the 4 years that you are actually in school the Academy is hard to beat. In fact I've seen a few airline applications where they specifically ask if you are a service academy graduate so obviously it means something to them. In the end they care mostly about hours and the type aircraft. However, if something happened and I couldnt fly I'd be very happy that my USAFA degree is what I could go into my interview with. Of course there are many other really good schools that carry some weight too but if you're trying to tie in a flying career then I'd probably put USAFA at the top. As for your major I'd say do something not related to aviation (communications, business, etc). The last thing you want is for the airline industry to completely tank and then all your eggs are in one basket. Airlines dont care much about your major. They primarily care about hours in the right aircraft....(and who you know in their company :-) )

hotshot

I'm at ERAU now, and it's a good school but VERY expensive. By the time I graduate I'll probably be over 100,000 in debt. Only go to Riddle if you can afford it.

HercDriver130

Here is what I know. I was a AFROTC Scholarship student. Graduated with NO college debt. UPT....Survival School....C-130 Initial Co-pilot School.... Flying the line... two years...BACK to Little rock for Aircraft Commander upgrade. Age.....26.... Job...flying a C-130 worldwide, low level, taking 75 tons of aircraft onto 3,000 dirt strips.... Landed on Highways in Western Iraq during the FIRST gulf war.... Cost Priceless!!! Training... phenomenal.

Point.... if you have a desire to serve and to Fly go a military route.... nothing is guaranteed.... in my day we had over 50% washout rates in UPT... but the training was first class....and even with only 200 hours or so coming out of UPT nothing was intimidating.

N6724G

The Air Force Academy is NOT an aviation college. You dont go to the academy to learn to fly. You go to the academy to learn to be a military officer. I have two mentees of mone that currently attend the academy. I tried to tell them the same thing. Now they are disappointed that they dont "fly as much as they thought they were going to.

The purpose of the academy is to produce Air Force Officers in many different career fields. maintence, security forces, air traffic management, and flight, and many othgers.

But your main purpose is academics and leadership. Not flying.

ravenr1

Just to let you guys know that the AF is great if you get a cargo ACFT to build hours. I have heard that if you are in a fighter ACFT you may not get a lot of hours. I talked to Raptor Pilot at Langley Air show and he said some fighter pilots get less than 10 hours a month. I don't know how true it is. Same for Army. There are some heli pilots that don't fly more than 5-10 hours a month. They told me all their flying time comes from Iraq and Afghan. Thanks but no thanks. Just some info.

Slice

Thanks for not serving...I don't want a time builder on my wing.

rickair7777

A little clarification...

Airlines understand that fighter pilots don't fly much, but the time they do get is very busy, with very little magazine reading in cruise flight. Airlines generally apply an informal 3-1 conversion factor when comparing fighter pilots to transport and civilian pilots. You still need to meet the minimums... but the minimums are designed so that most military pilots will meet them when their initial obligation is complete.

jsfBoat

Also some of the community colleges will get you a single engine commercial/instrument for not much money, and then transfer out to a 4 year. This is what I'm doing (Mercer County Community College), transfering to either Colorado State, or Texas A&M. They dont have aviation programs, but I'm going into zoology for my back up. that may be important considering as well.Some guys I know at ERAU say that had they NOT earned their associates first before transfering, they would not have gone to ERAU for the full 4 years. Many schools have AF ROTC, so you can get a back up degree, and earn a commission.