so you want to be a military pilot?
03-11-2010, 01:25 PM
#31
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2007
Position: FO
Posts: 266
Originally Posted by XHooker
So true. I tell people it was a lot more like "The Office" than "Top Gun."
Military flying has its own built in sh!t screen. Lots of people want to do it, but the ones willing to make sacrifices and take practical steps to making it reality turn out to have most of what the job requires.
The job sells itself, but it is smart to ask the type of questions the OP has just to know what you're buying into.
So many people get wrapped around the axel about communities and platforms. In the end, go where you think you'll have fun. If you don't get what you asked for, you'll end up growing some pride for that community anyway.
03-11-2010, 03:20 PM
#32
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Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Retired Naval Aviator
Posts: 377
Originally Posted by USMCFLYR
I can't imagine getting that much time in CQ/FCLP. I don't have my logbooks in front of me right now but I know that would be a lot of 0.5s going round and round.
I finished my first 3.5 fleet tour (including two WestPac deployments) with 900 hrs in type and that is including RAG hrs. My first deployment I got 150 hrs and my second 120 hrs. I was a land based 'A' guy though and I know that the 'C' model boat guys and the Aviano based 'D' guys got less sorties usually, but many more hours. The 'Ds' in Aviano flew more on one mission than I might in a week!
USMCFLYR
I finished my first 3.5 fleet tour (including two WestPac deployments) with 900 hrs in type and that is including RAG hrs. My first deployment I got 150 hrs and my second 120 hrs. I was a land based 'A' guy though and I know that the 'C' model boat guys and the Aviano based 'D' guys got less sorties usually, but many more hours. The 'Ds' in Aviano flew more on one mission than I might in a week!
USMCFLYR
03-11-2010, 03:25 PM
#33
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: FAA 'Flight Check'
Posts: 13,837
Originally Posted by bunk22
Ahh, think of it from a prop guys perspective with an aircraft commander who signs for the aircraft. He does his two night periods (.5 each) then moves to the right seat as 5 other pilots do their two periods apiece. We even had 2p's sign for the aircraft. We also had the transit from North Island to El Centro, .5 each way. Easy to rack of 4+ hours for one FCLP period and we did two a day. Sign for both and you have 8-10 hours a day. That's how plenty of FCLP's added flight time.
No more 4.0 FCLPs for you mister!!USMCFLYR
03-11-2010, 03:28 PM
#34
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: FAA 'Flight Check'
Posts: 13,837
Originally Posted by XHooker
Isn't the FRS a little late for that talk? Kind of like asking someone if they really want to skydive after they've jumped out of the plane.
After seeing how many people have come up with NUMEROUS ways to avoid deployment during the GWOT I'd stay there probably isn't a time to late.
USMCFLYR
03-11-2010, 03:30 PM
#35
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Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Retired Naval Aviator
Posts: 377
Originally Posted by Kingbird87
Fuzz, I appreciate your comments and concerns, and your question about killing is valid in point, but seriously limited in scope. Most military pilots/aircrew will not be present at the "tip of the spear", and the mechanics of "killing" are not present in their warfighting skills. I flew Rescue, Electronic Warfare, and Airlift for 23 years and never busted a cap in combat. But I did see every enemy as less valuable, less human, than myself and my countrymen, only because I had an oath and obligation to uphold, and I knew the people on "our side". Alvin York was a religious conscientious objector in thought, in reality he was something entirely different.
03-11-2010, 04:58 PM
#36
With The Resistance
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Burning the Agitprop of the Apparat
Posts: 6,191
Originally Posted by CaptFuzz
My advice, from my own personal experience, would be to be cautious about joining the military.
Killing people for a living should be something that disturbs you. There's a lot of cliches repeated often by many with a wide variety of motivations that serve to distance all of us, military and civilian, from the full effect of the use of military violence. There's all sorts of things about "heroes" "freedom" and "something bigger than you" that are repeated so often that they are simply assumed to be true, and people who challenge them are quickly vilified, so we don't question them.
My advice to someone considering joining the military for any reason, to include furthering a career as a pilot, is to not sacrifice your humanity for anything, to include "patriotism, "service," and "your country" as much as personal goals.
If the thought of killing people disturbs someone, but they have taken time to think about this and feel that despite this it is still justifiable and necessary, I disagree with them on some things but I can still respect that. The people who join the military and relish the chance to "kill bad guys" are more a danger to free society than they are defenders of freedom.
Killing people for a living should be something that disturbs you. There's a lot of cliches repeated often by many with a wide variety of motivations that serve to distance all of us, military and civilian, from the full effect of the use of military violence. There's all sorts of things about "heroes" "freedom" and "something bigger than you" that are repeated so often that they are simply assumed to be true, and people who challenge them are quickly vilified, so we don't question them.
My advice to someone considering joining the military for any reason, to include furthering a career as a pilot, is to not sacrifice your humanity for anything, to include "patriotism, "service," and "your country" as much as personal goals.
If the thought of killing people disturbs someone, but they have taken time to think about this and feel that despite this it is still justifiable and necessary, I disagree with them on some things but I can still respect that. The people who join the military and relish the chance to "kill bad guys" are more a danger to free society than they are defenders of freedom.
I know that you would rather be tilling the soil and watching vegetables ripen in the sun, but someone has to do the hard things in life and they may as well enjoy that too.
The real danger to a free society is that nobody will choose to perform those tasks which some find repulsive. Somebody has to take out the garbage.
"Be happy in your work." Whatever it may be...
03-11-2010, 09:06 PM
#38
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Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Retired Naval Aviator
Posts: 377
Originally Posted by USMCFLYR
Well you'll have to pad that logbook in another way then in your new job No more 4.0 FCLPs for you mister!!
USMCFLYR
No more 4.0 FCLPs for you mister!!USMCFLYR
03-11-2010, 09:50 PM
#39
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: FAA 'Flight Check'
Posts: 13,837
Originally Posted by bunk22
Fine with me, I hated those flights....so long and boring. Same with being an IP at the FRS, we had 3 to 4 students in the plane. They each got 8 passes vice 6. Took forever and boring, boring, boring.
I barely stomached the FFAM-101 or -104 pre-solo student having to hit the circuit landing in the pattern
much less FCLPs - which luckily are ALL solo (unless some out of the box help is required) I look forward to hearing about how you like you upcoming job in comparison to jobs of old.USMCFLYR
03-12-2010, 05:43 PM
#40
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Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: Retired Naval Aviator
Posts: 377
Originally Posted by USMCFLYR
You won't get much argument out of me about that!
I barely stomached the FFAM-101 or -104 pre-solo student having to hit the circuit landing in the pattern much less FCLPs - which luckily are ALL solo (unless some out of the box help is required) I look forward to hearing about how you like you upcoming job in comparison to jobs of old.
USMCFLYR
I barely stomached the FFAM-101 or -104 pre-solo student having to hit the circuit landing in the pattern
much less FCLPs - which luckily are ALL solo (unless some out of the box help is required) I look forward to hearing about how you like you upcoming job in comparison to jobs of old.USMCFLYR
I flew the COD for so long, 8+ years straight that I was so tired of the POS. When I became a T-34C pilot, it was like driving around in a go-kart, granted, a very, very slow go-kart. I think that it was great just not being a C-2A. From what I hear, everyone loves the T-45 so I don't think there will be any complaints from me. It was that or the T-6A but I think I made the right decision.
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