What to do until retirement?
 

Active Duty Rotor guy with 7 years left to retirement, and a whopping 55 SEL fixed wing time. As I drudge along until retirement, what is the best thing to do for fixed wing time while still active duty? Of course, I'm going to fly here and there to get more ratings, but any specific route to take to be more marketable to the Airlines when the time comes?

Easy, get fixed-wing assigned. Do you have the scarlet letter A sewn to your nomex??

Good Luck!
G

Get out now, go guard or reserve (preferably fixed wing), do an RTP and start at a regional. On your current path you will be at a major in 10-15 years and will have missed this hiring wave and will lose probably millions over the career compared to bailing and going to a regional then major in 4-5 years from now during peak retirements. You’ll more than make up for an active duty retirement in pay, certainly in QOL.

I have always been a proponent of the military retirement, but in this case, at this moment in time I would agree, time to punch.

Caveat: there is risk in airlines, some of it unpredictable. But barring health issues, airlines is almost certain to pay far better than mil + AD retirement.

Are you USAF? If not, just be aware you most likely will need to go to AF UPT with only rotor time to get fixed-wing qualified for an ANG/AFRC unit.Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

I forgot to mention the holding factor in bailing from active duty, I have a service obligation that takes me to 15.5 years of active service (2022). Because of that, I assumed it would be best to try and get ratings and fixed wing time on my own while I’m still in. Additionally, I fly for the Army where they decided that applying for a fixed wing transition is no longer allowed since they are only selecting candidates straight out of flight school. They started that about 6 months after my class...awesome. I’ve also considered jumping ship once that service obligation is up, but it’s so close to retirement, would it be worth leaving active duty at that point? Thanks for the replies.

Can’t get a fixed wing transition anymore now that the Army started the “fixed wing for life” crap.

Pretty sure he’s an army guy since he has 55 airplane hours. I don’t think anyone is advocating for him to go to any Air Force component. There are plenty of army guard and reserve units, including ones that have airplanes, which is what I was suggesting, in addition to going to a regional asap.

Don’t think FW for life applies in the guard and reserve world.

HRC may waive your adso if you get hired by a guard/reserve unit, but not likely in this environment with this shortage, depending on your airframe and manning. But I’d try anyway.