Transitioning to Fighters In Guard/Reserve
 

I have heard of a few occasions where rated guys who flew non-fighter aircraft, have been able to transition to fighters? How does that happen?

Bottom line, they have to have a need, the means to pay for it, and really, really like you.

I know in the navy and coast guard, RW pilots do sometimes switch over to FW, but it's usually something like UH-60 to P8 in the navy or H-60 to C-130 in the coast guard. I know two guys who've done the latter. Are you RW or FW right now and are you already in the AF?

Yeah there’s a guy that goes around saying it could be done, because he’s done it.

Id link the comment from the baselps fourms, but
he ended up deleting his comment when it came out that his roommate was a US senator, and a whole bunch of unrealistic qualifications that would make the transition impossible for 99.9 percent of people.

Possible, even on AD during Viet nam, when it was a one-track UPT, probably difficult to impossible now.

Not sure if this was directed at my comment, and if it wasn't, then I'm just going to respond generally. It's not so uncommon in the CG to transition from RW to FW that it's that one guy who does it. Does it happen frequently? No. Does it happen more than once in a generation? Yes. The two individuals I know who did it were both in the late 2000's; I flew with one of them and the other was in primary with me as a SNA. After primary, he went to advanced rotary and then flew 60's for a few years before going back and completing advanced multi-engine on the T44 as an O3, and was transitioning to the herc when I got out of the CG. He was able to do this because at the time, the CG had an imbalance between RW and FW pilots and had too many RW and not enough FW, so it took JO's who wanted to transition to FW. This happens from time to time and isn't extraordinary or one of a kind. Definitely happens less in the Navy than it did in the CG, but if this poster is an Army helo guy who wants to go air guard fighters, I think it's definitely possible though he'd have to repeat at least part of UPT, especially since army flight training is so helo oriented from the beginning.

Helo to fighters would be very hard, I'd guess a bridge too far.

Army helo to fighters would be even harder... Army does not do the FW UPT phase that USAF and sea service helo pilots get.

Last I was involved with transitioning Army helo pilots, it was full course UPT. It’s been that way for donkey’s years. If you do that, anything’s possible.

I had an army helo dude transition straight into tankers with no UPT fixed wing training. However, he had been Beechcraft’s BE-400 factory test pilot, so the T-1 course would have been a bit pointless. To go fighters, you have to get through IFF, which requires being checked out in T-38s. For the guys I know who cross flowed from heavies, they already had 38 time and we’re only given a couple rides to get back up to speed on the 38. That’s a tough row to hoe if you’ve never flown one before.

Yeah, I assumed if he was Army RW he'd have to repeat UPT. If he's an Army CW3 with a few years of rated 60 time and he gets out completely and applies for a job in an air guard unit, I assume it would be totally possible for him to get picked up, go to UPT as an O1 or O1E depending on his background, and then fly fighters. I think if he's young enough and has good FITREP/OER's and a proven record of getting through previous military training as a rated aviator and finds an air guard unit that likes him and he's willing to potentially start over (depending on his background), as you said, the sky is the limit. The CG gets a few army CWO's every year who come over and direct commission. Some of them stay RW, some go FW and basically start over depending on the needs of the service and their preference. Yes, I know a herc isn't an F15, but it's definitely do-able.