Adlerdriver

Not sure what axe you have to grind, but I see plenty of guys over there who understand the value of ANG pilots with a diverse path into a fighter cockpit. Lots of support for new guys trying to go the "guard baby" route.

Never said there was anything wrong with that. Draw me a realistic line between our current 250 hour friend and 1500 hours, an RJ job, indoc, IOE followed by mil leave in the next 20 months. Impossible? Maybe not, but I'd like to hear the plan.
Also, there's the underlying assumption in this discussion that success through UPT and the rest of training is assured. I had a 3000 hour commercial pilot wash out of my class. Prior time sometimes helps in the early stage of training, but I think it's rare to have it matter in the least once into the T-38 phase.

In my opinion, asking a new wingman or maybe fresh 2-ship flight lead to go part time is a failure on the unit's part. We never did that at my unit and always ensured our new arrivals from FTU had years of full time orders. The one guy who pushed to go part time early was never more than a place keeper in a formation. He upgraded to 2-ship FL after a struggle and stagnated there until he left. There's a reason most guard units would rather hire a 2 or 3 tour senior O-3 or O-4 with 1000-1500 hours of fighter time.

I hope our OP can make all his plans work. I hope the flow through thing works they way everyone says it will. Otherwise seniority at a regional carrier is still just seniority at a regional. Still start from scratch when you get to where everyone really wants to be.

Hank Burley

Correct me if I am wrong, but he cannot get a regional job without an ATP and he can’t get an ATP without 1500 hours as a not yet military trained pilot.

rickair7777

He has 250. Can do CFI and/or other GA work. In the right location with some hustle you can log 80-100 hours/month (BTDT). So that's 12-18 months with some hustle and luck (ie no GA slowdown due to economy/coronavirus).

If he has a at least 20 months until UPT, he could still grab a seniority number at a regional even if he doesn't finish training.

I recommend that folks do not bang out on discretionary long-term orders in their first airline year JUST for pay and schedule convenience. That's NOT what the system is intended for and reflects poorly on the rest of us. But in a case like this, I'd say go for it... he needs to get his 121 career started and really has no choice as to when he goes to UPT. Between a rock and a hard place, and I would suggest that he not let his civilian career suffer due to his military service... that IS in keeping with the intent and spirit of the law.

crewdawg

No ax to grind at all, I post over there as well. It's just any time someone asks a similar question, the most typical response is what is eluded to in your first post in this thread and it's tiring. I'm probably one of the understanding posters you mentioned lol.

Banner towers and aerial survey guys fly A LOT of hours/month. If we went through an aviation program the mins are only 1000 or a restricted ATP. Easily done in that time frame.

This is also part of the issue I take with some of the typical responses. I waled into ENJJPT thinking there is no way I wasn't going to make it. In fact, that is exactly the attitude I was told to have by my IPs at Sheppard. Why would you go into something like that thinking otherwise? Does one have to caveat every single post they make with "IF" they make it through? Personally, I'll take he guy that doesn't have doubt and won't let anything stand between him and reaching his goal. It just makes me laugh when people bring that up...and it happens every time. In my class 21 started and 20 finished. Every one of us that went fighters made it.

I don't disagree that we want to keep the guys longer if we can, I'm just saying that was the attitude of leadership at the time. They wanted to know that you had a plan in case there were no orders to go around. We don't do 2-FLUGs and every one of our guys is 4-FLUGed by the end of their seasoning, so that's not usually an issue. We encourage them to stay longer, but if they want to go back to their civilian careers, there is nothing wrong with that. We hired them to be part-timers. Between the two sets of orders and using up all their AFTPs/UTAs per FY, it's not hard to have them full time for 2-2.5 years, how are they not 4-FLUG'd by then?

Adlerdriver

You completely missed it. I'm not telling the guy to think that way. I'm just saying expect to work hard. Maybe they needed pilots more when you went through. My class went from 30 to 20 and it wasn't unheard of for a class to lose 50%. I wouldn't be surprised if UPT is kinder and gentler now and a higher percentage will graduate considering the pilot shortage. But, even so, in my opinion going in thinking prior time is going to make any difference is usually a mistake. If it does, great. But I don't know this guy. No clue what he's heard. I think it's worthwhile to let a new guy looking at UPT know what to expect. That's all. I'm sorry if you find that tiring. You want to help him line up his civilian job after he's finished UPT, IFF, FTU, MQT and hopefully years of full time fighter flying. I'm just offering some additional advice on the tasks that he's going to encounter a bit sooner than that.
As far as getting an ATP and a pre-UPT civilian job landed that he can take mil leave from... I'll be very impressed if he can make that happen with the time available. I hope it works out for him. Maybe he'll let us know.

I would hope they are a 4-FL. That's still just a single AD tour and what I would consider the bare minimum for a guy to go part time.

HuggyU2

No.
.......

senecacaptain

I may be in error (probably am...) but Skywest Pathways reportedly is designed for military dudes and offers a seniority number as soon as you get "accepted" into the program.

I believe....not sure

rickair7777

Impossible at Union airlines.

Possible but unlikely at non Union skywest, seniority is sacrosanct and pulling a stunt like that would cause a poop storm.

I'd ask on the skywest forums to be sure.

LostFlyer1

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to thank everyone for contributing. This discussion has been really informative, and I have taken the time to read everyone’s post several times over.

So for timeframe, I am sitting at 250 hours but should have my CFI in a couple of weeks.

Pre-pandemic, I was looking to get a CFI job, building 100 hours a month, and getting to Peidmomt airlines prior to going to UPT based on this discussion. Once I get back from MQT I planned on working for Piedmont for a year before flowing into American (assuming my unit did not have full time orders available).

It currently looks like OTS is 1 year away, and then UPT 10-12 months after that. I am assuming I’ll be on part time orders in between. I am hoping I can still find a good CFI job in the meantime to get 1500hours to try to get my 121 career going before I leave. That would be a perfect case “dream” scenario.

But it looks less likely with the pandemic thing going on, but I am not complaining by any means. I am still thankful and blessed I was able to get a military flying job. Worse case scenario (which is still great) I will just start at a regional once I get back from MQT if I can’t go full time with the unit.

You guys have given me great advice, and I can not thank you all enough!

rickair7777

Keep pressing, GA/CFI work will likely still be available even if airlines furlough. That's the smart time to break into our very long-term industry... when others are taking the short view. Retirements are not affected one way or the other.