Long time lurker here. Current USAF reservist with 6 years in, hoping to commission as a pilot, no red flags besides little flight experience and a gpa of ~2.9-3.0. I took a discovery flight and an honor flight in a C-130 before the unit transitioned into a refueling wing and is now flying the KC-135. The chief and commander both told me if I wanted to take lessons with them when I'm up on orders that I'm more than welcome to fly with them. I need a few more classes to get a BS in either chemistry or med lab science (currently working in healthcare in both reserves and civilian). Looking to have a career as a pilot with some sideline experience working in a lab since there's a shortage of us currently.

Besides obtaining my PPL, would it be more beneficial to attend a formal part 141 flight school before applying for UPT at my reserve unit? There's a school in my area that offers an associates degree and is partnered w/Liberty University to obtain a BS as well. I could use VA benefits that'll cover 60% flight school costs, in addition to using the annual $4,500 the USAF offers as well. Another plus for this option is in case I'm not selected for UPT I already completed up to a CPL and having a decent amount of flying time before possibly attending UPT.

My other question is how your spouses were treated while going through the pipeline. Where they allowed to go with you during your training? My girlfriend and I recently bought a house and she's a bit hesitant about moving around from OTS and all the different training locations for UPT.

Sorry for the long block of text. Thanks for reading until the end. Looking forward to any responses.

 

When I applied to UPT in a Reserve Unit 17 years ago, an Instrument Rating or Commercial was competitive for a street hire. As an internal hire at least a Private. Things have changed and I know units are begging for qualified applicants, you may want to talk to whoever is in charge of hiring at the ARS to see if they can vector you. If you don't have a degree and need to be in a College Program to take advantage of GI Bill flight benefits, then obviously that might push you that way.

As far as UPT, it's a PCS--so if you're married you'll be able to bring your wife and live in base housing instead of the dorms. After (if you go Reserve/Guard) you'll be PCS'd back to your home unit and you'll be TDY for your remaining training at Altus.

 

Thank you for your response. Gonna bump this and hopefully get anymore feedback.

Flight school is an associates degree. Total cost ~$80k. I'm not sure how the MGIB-SR works aside from covering 60% of charges. 60% of $80k = $32k, plus the $9k I can receive from the USAFR tuition assistance. Could be looking at around $20k - $30k from zero to CPL but I'm not sure EXACTLY what is covered by the VA. If anyone has any experience I'd greatly appreciate it. Finish undergrad and hopefully apply, interview and attend OTS/SERE/SUPT and gain more flight hours. Hopefully by the end of SUPT I could interview for a regional job.


This all sounds well and good but of course I'm hesitant on pulling the trigger due to money and accumulating debt. I could stay in healthcare w/other areas I'm interested in (anesthesia assistant or podiatrist as long term) but those are very expensive and competitive schools (not so much podiatry) and would take around the same time to complete, in addition to not commissioning in the military (in those fields, at least) and losing out on more retirement. I could commission and do something unrelated to healthcare as another option but I have an itch for flying that doesn't seem to be going away. I plan on doing 20+ in the military to get to retirement.

Thank you all.

 

Don’t pay good money and go into debt to get training the USAF is going to provide for free. Pilots are in demand. If your unit wants a PPL for you to be competitive, that’s as far as I’d go. Getting anything more is ridiculous double effort/cost and may actually make your UPT experience more difficult. Lots of civilian time and training is no guarantee of success in UPT and often means having to unlearn things in order to readjust to the USAF way.

 

Get enough time to solo then call it unless you need it for your board, talk to the unit and see what they say. My two cents. Having an aviation degree just limits your options on the outside when the industry goes south or your unit is BRAC’d. Or worse yet. You lose your medical. As for the family aspect. Unless your base is colocated with an AD big base like McGuire or McConnell, your SO will never find a more understanding and supportive group of SO’s like the ones they find at UPT.

 

Unless a PPL is required, a better use of training/exposure to flying would be some basic aircraft handling flights, followed by some basic instrument training, finished up with some basic aerobatic training.

Let the military handle everything else.

 

SO won’t be at OTS at Maxwell, at least until graduation. Then, yes at UPT and transition training. You’ll have a TDY in Intro to Flight before UPT.

GF

 

Probably worth soloing too.

 

I think most units would want a Private certificate, but being in unit might make that “optional”. Always an advantage, though. The UPT entrants from my unit mostly had a private pilot certificate, but I did send a few with only 10-20 hours. Outsiders usually had significant flight experience up to being an Atlas FO.


Gf

 

This.

100x over.