Adlerdriver

This is excellent advice.

For some additional perspective, consider this. The traditional Guardsman (i.e. part-timer) F-15 pilot (or other ANG Fighter pilot) who can fly 7-8 days per month at his Guard unit and maintain proficiency is typically a veteran of at least 2 active duty tours in their fighter.


They were hired with at least 1000 hours of fighter time and probably spent 10-12 years on active duty. Most likely they were instructor pilots in their aircraft and a large percentage attended Fighter Weapons School. Those are the guys who can step out of the fighter cockpit and fly for a couple of weeks with their airline, show back up for drill and bring serious game. Even for them, it might take a sortie or two to get back up to speed.


My point is, after completing UPT and the rest of the training to be qualified in your unit's fighter, you'll have about 2 years of active duty completed. You show up and spend another 3-6 months getting checked out locally in their mission ready program. Now you're a wingman with maybe 100 hours in the fighter. You'll need to live, eat and breath fighter aviation for at least another 2 years before you could be considered mildly competent. I've watched a couple of "Guard baby's" try to go part time too soon and it ain't pretty. Their skills stagnate and they struggle to maintain proficiency. Upgrades to flight lead and beyond are difficult and their contribution to the squadron is minimal.


If your ultimate goal is to be an airline pilot, I wouldn't try to do that by joining a ANG fighter unit unless you're ready to spend an adequate amount of time becoming the best fighter pilot you can (say ~5 years after training complete). Good luck

galaxy flyer

Excellent comments, Adlerdriver

I've been there and done that regarding becoming a part-timer too soon. Fighters in the Guard/Reserve are a serious commitment which has gotten much more so since I left in the late '80's.

The C-5 is probably the easiest to get and stay proficient in along with the tankers. The C-17 and C-130 have a pretty decent balance of tactical (read: hand flying skills and thinking on your feet skills) and required commitment, still about 7 days a month as a part-timer once MR and with a 1,000 hours.

Like anything, you get out of it exactly what you put in. Fighters demand lots of "puttin' in" and one gets gets lots of flying and thinking skills. I have yet to meet a former fighter guy who could not be put into any flying environment and not excell--even CRM usually isn't an issue. Getting 3-5 other guys, in their own planes to do the task, whatever it is, takes CRM skill.

The Guard babies have had it pretty good in the past decade, lots of flying, good experience that generates proficiency and ability to upgrade. The next ten years, I cannot say, but joining won't be a big mistake.

GF

bojonpilot

As a fellow C-5 driver, I would definitely recommend the C-5 route. Not only is it an easy plane to fly, but you build 4 engine turbine heavy time very quickly. Also, where it takes many years for some civilians to make it to the left seat of a four-engine heavy jet, you could be the Aircraft Commander in as little as two and a half years from the time you finish UPT. The other good part of the C-5 is the crew--some might argue this one though! Having a crew is a good deal because it teaches you leadership and it is also great to have people to hang out with when overseas.

I can't speak to the Guard and Reserve, but looking back on my career path, I would definitely have gone that route as opposed to active-duty. The reason for this is that I love flying and being the best pilot I can be--active-duty (rightfully so) focuses more on career progression and making rank that just being a pilot. Yes, my aspiration is to fly for the airlines eventually as well and stay in the Guard/Reserve as long as I possibly can. I have many friends at C-5 Guard/Reserve Units and I have not heard a bad thing about any of them.

Best of Luck!

Hacker15e

Of course, fighter guys do everything alone, have nobody to lead except themselves, and thus have nobody "hang out with when overseas."

galaxy flyer

bojonpilot

Having been in both fighter and airfift "communities"; I'd ask that you withhold opinions on how the "other" side works and the requirements of their jobs. Leading a four-ship on a Red Flag mission is as tough, or more so, than anything I did in 4,000 hours in FRED. Never did combatin the Hun or the Hawg, so I'll reserve comment.

GF

Flyfast93

Good and nobles quests, however you need to aware of the realities of policies that might drive an officer into becoming an operator of a Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) vs pilot...big diffferenve that you need to be ready for.
Good = lots of impact and the ability to save alot of US lives
Bad = you are not a pilot

Sirecks

The beauty of Guard and Reserves is that you pick where you want to work. Once hired by a unit, your two years (or so) of training is completely laid out for you with a guarantee to work where you got hired. So no matter where you rank in UPT and such, you are going to work for your unit that hired you and fly the plane they fly provided you pass and get through training. It takes a lot of the pressure off and you can just concentrate on learning, flying, and enjoying the training.

Figure out what plane and mission you want to be a part of. Find out what the lifestyle is like for the planes you are interested in. Like everyone else has said, what the requirements are to keep current, how much full time work they can offer and so on. I'm a Charleston Reservist, and for the last 5 years I've been here I've done nothing by fly the 17 and have had plenty of paychecks. I have no other job right now. Charleston is rich with missions (just not money right now. A WHOLE separate topic. LOL!) and therefore you can always find lines to fly. If you don't want to be full time and just work when you want to, you can. If you want full time work we have that as well in rotations. What I'm getting at is not every C-17 unit is like us. You'll find many different situations out there. You will have different experiences at different places with each plane so do your research.

RunFast

0.3 hours per sortie is the additive Delta uses for military to civilian time since we only log T/O to land and not out to in. I'm pretty sure SWA uses the same.

RunFast

It's not the same Hawg you flew, but combatin is good this time of year.