Maximum Age For New Pilot Hire In Military
 

Hi,

What is the max age the military will accept someone for pilot training? Would it matter if you are an officer etc or purely when accepted to training?
I see their website says Waiver up to age 35.....but then you hear rumors exceptions can be made

I have a PPL and professional degree.

Age cutoff is for the day you start pilot training, not your hire date. A 36 year old non prior service guy just finished OTS and is about to start UPT for the AF reserve. Think he may have just turned 37. That’s exceedingly rare though. You’ll find more info on the forums at baseops.net than this site though.

Hey thanks man!

There are always waivers, like the post above mentioned, but recently there was a change in the Air Force Policy. It used to be that you had to start UPT by age 30 but now it’s 33, keep in mind that the process can be slow and lengthy, it’s not necessarily apply and start at UPT the next month, so budget accordingly.

The age limits change, right now it's pretty generous at 33 (Navy/USMC may still be lower?).

I'd plan on starting the process at least two years prior to the age cutoff, otherwise you could easily get delayed and miss the cutoff.

Don't plan on an age waiver, if you find yourself in the position of needing one, sure go ahead and try for it, but if you you're young enough, get started before the timeline gets tight. Waivers are a crapshoot, cannot be relied on.

Especially waivers for “excessive refractive error.”

Ask me how I know....

:rolleyes:

Navy is commissioned by 27 with a waiver up to 29 with prior service.