RTP right after Rucker?
 

I've filtered through a lot of threads and can't quite find what I'm looking for so I apologize in advance if this has been covered. I'm a Army National Guard soldier heading to Rucker this summer for WOFT. My plan when I return back to my unit is to start fixed wing training to qualify for the R-ATP. When looking up RTP programs it seems like most have a 500+ TT hour requirement. Does anyone else here have any experience/advise for looking into RTPs right after flight school considering I'll have roughly 180-200 hours of rotor time only?

If I were you I’d focus on army flight school if I were you. You still have 1.5-2 years before you’re back to your unit. When you get back to your unit I’d worry about your RL progression. Maybe once you’re up to speed there and RL1 (another 6 months or so) I’d look into fixed wing add ons. But I doubt you’ll get any help from RTP programs until you have more time.

Do you have a private license yet? I found that my 25 or so hours of Cessna lessons I took on my own prior to going to Rucker helped me a lot there. Then my PPL fixed wing add on after army flight school was 1 flight of maneuvers and a few cross countries and a checkride. Additionally, all my buddies who started in helicopters then transitioned to airplanes later seemed to have a lot more trouble (especially at the airline level) than those with some FW experience prior to Rucker. That is anecdotal, but I keep hearing a lot of stories from regional check airman buddies about how bad many of the RTP guys are. My theory is it has something to do with laws of primacy and all that but I don’t know.

Not sure what your financial situation is or what job you’ll have back at your unit, but buying a cheap plane may be the best way to build time initially. I had a cheap plane I flew while in the army, and getting my Inst/comm add ons (before RTPs were a thing) was very easy after having a couple hundred hours in my plane. If you can get your own add on ratings thru comm single/multi and then become a CFI you can stop paying for time and start getting paid to fly fw.

To get an AMEL r-ATP, you still need 250 airplane PIC hours. Your pre-PPL solo hours count, but none of your dual received does until you get a PPL. So I’d recommend getting your PPL, building time as you can (maybe throw in an instrument add on as well...it’s easy), then as you get closer to rATP time get a commercial/multi, possibly thru an RTP program depending on what’s out there at the time (things will be different then than they are today). Or getting your CFI as soon as you can once you’re back from Rucker.

If building FW time on your own is out of the question, you’ll prob have to wait a few years until you have more helo/total time before an RTP will help you out.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

I've taken two discovery flights at different flight schools but no, I'm nowhere near getting a PPL and I'm getting married next month before I leave so I think getting my PPL before I head down there may be out of the questions lol. So I've heard that while you're there at Rucker there's a local flight school that will do your fixed wing PPL add-on on the weekends. Is that doable? Or should main focus be worrying about my Army flight training and worry about fixed wing when I get home? And the whole purchasing a small 150, tomahawk type plane is one of the options I've looked at the hardest and may end up making the most sense to build the time quicker to get to the 500 versus waiting to build the RW time since from what I'm hearing with my unit is that after you go through RL progression it's getting awfully difficult to get on the flight schedule for AFTPs since we're getting pretty oversaturated with pilots (I'm clearly helping the situation lol) and so it's pretty difficult to get flight time outside of drill weekends

Don’t take flight lessons while a student there. I don’t think you are even allowed to while you’re in flight school (that’s how it was when I went thru years ago anyway). Could do a few lessons before you start in theory but at that point I would just focus on flight school.

If you do end up flying FW at Rucker, double bridges sucks. Don’t give them a cent. One of my buddies at Rucker is an Apache IP who has a plane and teaches on his time off. He’s hired a CFI or 2 to help him out bc he was stretched too thin. He’s the guy many were using to get ratings while there. Cheapest time/instruction around. Can’t vouch for his other CFIs, but I’ve flown in all sorts of stuff with that guy-he’s sharp. I also don’t know when he’s PCSing...he’s been there a while now. I heard another flight school was setting up shop in Ozark that was going to do add ons/RTP stuff. No idea if that panned out.

Note that you can’t do an add on until after you get your FAA RW commercial/inst, which you’ll get after you get wings and take the mil comp test. The add ons just lower hour requirements and removes a small number of the checkride requirements. So any flying you do between now and then is really just to help with a flying foundation. Makes the firehose a little more manageable. If you don’t plan on doing any for that reason, I’d just wait until you’re done with your RL progression, then hit the FW hard.

I have a pilot in my unit who completed flight school and was hired by GoJets with just flight school. They're paying for all her ratings and time building.

And you won't come back with 180-200 hours - it'll be about 130.

As others said, do not do FW training during flight school. Not only will you not have time, it's not permitted.

It used to be allowed 2009-2011 time frame. When did they change that?

Do Not Wait...

Fly every fixed wing hour you can at Rucker. (not permissible... keep it on the downlow) If this means self funding a fixed wing private pilot rating; Do So. (There are down days and training bubbles at Rucker. Varies by class/person/airframe. Plus you are getting full time pay, housing, insurance while there) ARNG side of the house, after Rucker; RL progress with ARNG and fly fixed wing, concurrently. Put that AFPT money to work. Put yourself on the Army flight schedule everyday you can (get as many hours as you can for free/ getting paid); days you are not on the Army flight schedule, fly fixed wing on the side. Fly both RW and FW on the same day, if you can. Get 750TT (with required 250 hours FW PIC) and start at a regional (or better airline). ASAP!!! Once a regional; get 1,000 FAA Part 121 SIC flight hours so you can upgrade to Captain; take the very first upgrade available at your airline. Apply at all major, LCC, and Large cargo airlines; update every two weeks. (Be good to the ARNG; particularly before you get to the airlines. Do not waste too much time there after getting on at the airlines however. Schedule flying ARNG on airline days OFF only (do not drop airline flying; keep getting FW airline TSIC and TPIC hours.) Focus on ARNG FLYING-duties!)

Are you already an officer, or are you going through WOCS as well? If going through that too, you'll have anywhere from 18-24 months of training at Rucker, depending on airframe and training bubbles.

It is a full time job. When you're not in class, you're on the flight line. When you're not at either, you're studying. My person study habit was Sunday afternoon till I went home on Friday, studying anywhere from 1-3 hours every evening. Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon was mine to do as I wish. Then back to studying.

Focus on Rucker. There's very little fluff that you can forget about. Do not fall behind because you're shooting for goals years away and mess up what is right in front of you. Do not show up at your unit weak in academics, it'll hurt your progression and they'll rightfully progress and give more hours to those that know their stuff. And always be ready for a no-notice 5&9.

It's still allowed. The "prohibited high risk" activities sheet no longer exists. I went through 08-09 when they wouldn't let us be adults. Now, it's, hey...its your butt and your career if you get hurt. Choose wisely.