Timbo

With only 350 hours, you'll have to do something to build time before you will be airline eligible. Joining the Guard/Reserves is a great way to build time, they pay a lot better than instructing, and you'll get top notch pilot training, for free, (heck, they PAY YOU for lessons!).

When you return from UPT, you'll be free to pursue other flying jobs to build more time, quickly, and you'll have a great fall back job if/when you get furloughed from the airlines.

XHooker

Joe, there's a lot of good advice on this thread and a lot of different opinions... I'll give you mine.

1) You have yet to graduate from college and only think you know what you want. I know lots of pilots who joined the military to fly as a means to an airline job or avoiding the infantry during the Vietnam era draft who wound up making the military a career. I just joined as an exciting way to serve my country for a few years and no intention of being career military or an airline pilot. Almost three decades later, I'm retired from the reserves (after over a decade of AD [Active Duty]) and an airline captain. Life doesn't go the way you planned.

2) I'll go against the consensus here and suggest you look at AD service. There are lots of pitfalls (stifling bureaucracy, absurd regulations, long hours, careerist senior officers, to name a few) but you'll make decent money, get the best training in the world and be surrounded by the finest people you'll ever work with. The experience is character building if nothing else. Admittedly, the ANG/AFR offer most of the advantages of AD with few of the disadvantages, but don't dismiss AD out of hand. As far as going straight civilian, I wouldn't trade my mil time for a decade of seniority.

I was on the DC-10 flying with a 40ish captain who was only a few years older than me when we flew over a low level route I used to fly well below the trees at well over 400 knots. I finished my musing with the statement it probably wasn't very smart. He countered with how he would have loved to have traded careers with me.

3) If you go to the reserves it's best to live near both your military and civilian job. Frequently that's impossible, but at least live near one of your jobs. I've never seen anyone commute to both jobs for any length of time and have never heard of anyone doing it while holding a family together.

4) Just 'cause you've got a whopping 300 plus hours and some ratings, don't assume military flight school will be a snap, no matter what your ex-AF IP tells you. I've seen pilots with better quals wash out. To put it into perspective, for me, having a Marine DI scream at you and work you to exhaustion for a few months was a walk in the park compared to the rigors and stress of flight school.

Also, don't fall into the fighters or nothing mindset. Some of your selection will be determined by skill and some by luck beyond your control. Heavy drivers do some cool stuff and while helos might take longer to get the airline job, that's probably some of the most challenging flying available.

Just some food for thought, Joe. Good luck with your career... no matter where it takes you.

Adlerdriver

Some additional thoughts: I spent most of my time commuting to the guard (not by choice, long story). For a fighter unit, that's definitely the more difficult option. I was also commuting to my airline job, so double whammy.

There are pros/cons to both ways of doing it. Some of the factors depend on your Guard unit. Some units require members to live within a specific radius - so decision made. Others (like mine was) were much more flexible, providing hotels for members who resided more than 50 miles away.

Other factors involve your unit's aircraft/mission. A fighter unit is typically very dependent on the local weather. Weather cancelling an entire day's flying because every MOA within 300 miles is socked in and your airport's weather requires higher IFR bingos can happen frequently. If you're showing up to fly a tanker mission or a multi-day cargo trip, you probably have a much higher chance that it's going. If you can count on the military flying actually happening most of the time and fit that into a reserve airline schedule, it may make sense to live in domicile and commute to the guard.

You commute to you guard fighter unit and you've blocked off 6 days of duty that month in addition to your normal airline schedule. You're going there for 3 days over drill weekend and another 3 some other time in the month. If the weather tanks over drill, you're going to have to make another trip or stay longer on your next one (unless drill is your second fly period). Other commuters are in the same boat, so you may be scrambling to find days with available sorties. Scheduling extra days means you're going to have to eat up days off with the family (maybe you only had 8 to start with) or mil dropping airline trips taking a significant financial hit (depending on mil pay vs airline).

If you lived near your unit, finding extra fly days would be minor problem. You can go in when it suits you and fly. There are always short notice "holes" in the schedule due to commuter issues, sickness, other conflicts. Nothing going on at home, wife is OTR, kids at school - go in and grab a morning BFM sortie because a commuter didn't make it into town or they need an IP. You can be home in time to meet the kids off the bus.

One other factor depends on your airline, hiring/movement and pay scales there. If you're junior at your airline and on reserve, chances are you make more money flying in the guard. If things are stagnant at your airline and will be for years, all the more reason to live near your unit and commute to the airline. Would you rather sit reserve in a crash pad away from home or fly a fighter for more money and be home those nights? You drop more R days, fly more at the guard, make more money and you're home more. Once you hold a line, you'll have more days off than a pilot on reserve and it is usually easier to manage both schedules. It's a lot easier to squeeze in local training sorties without disrupting your airline schedule when you live near your guard unit.

Caution Terrain

dude, sounds like the berries to me.

Tom a Hawk

I'll add my experience, since I faced a similar decision and made the civilian choice.

I graduated from college in 07 and at the time guys were getting picked up by regionals with 500 hours or so. I decided not to pursue military even though it was something I wanted. 10 years seemed like a long time to me when I was 20. It's not.

In a year I got all my ratings and a few hundred hours of instruction and had two interviews scheduled. Comair and eagle. They both called in the summer of 08 and cancelled the interviews. I spent the next 2 years being a cfi/cfii/mei until a bottom tier turboprop operator called me in 2010. I had 1700tt, 500ME. You'll need at least 1500 now with the new rules.

I spent about two years as an FO and caught a windfall upgrade when companies were merging. While I was in the sim doing my check ride, the company announced bankruptcy and parking my aircraft. I somehow managed to trade that for a direct entry captain spot at another bottom tier turboprop operator on the same plane.

So it's been about six years since I was where you are. I've worked steadily but didn't give up time with family for tons of flying time. 3000tt and 300 turbine pic. It will probably be 2 more years to get to 1000 turbine pic and be competitive ish. I still have no jet time. My w2s have been 24, 25, 19, 33, 40, and 40.

If I had gotten on with Comair I would have been laid off too, eagle I would still be an FO. I have many friends that have been doing it longer with less to show for it, I've been pretty lucky. If I had to do it again, I would pursue military. The air force and navy officers that I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with are some of the finest individuals I've ever met.

It could easily take 10 years of instructing/regional slogging to get your "dream job". Average age hired at a major is 34. I don't think you'll look back and say "I wish I had flown a turboprop/rj to little towns for pennies in my twenties". You might look back and think "why didn't I give military a shot when I could have."

rickair7777

Several issues about AD to consider...

- You don't get to chose your airframe. You could end up in RW, which is a different animal than fixed-wing. Good missions and fun flying, but obviously an entirely different career track once you transition to the civilian world. The vast majority of military helo pilots I know do not have flying jobs post-military, some of that is lack of opportunity, some is by choice.

The army is almost all RW, especially for new hires. The USN/USMC/USCG have a lot of helos, probably at least 50% of their airframes. The USAF has the fewest helos, and I think they usually have enough volunteers to fill those seats (can anyone elaborate?). With the guard/USAF reserve you know what your airframe will be before you commit.

- UAVs: Not sure what the policy is this week, but I personally would not sign up for AD if there was a chance that I could get invol-ed into UAVs. UAVs will do nothing for a civilian aviation career (might as well fly wire-guide model airlines and log that), and in my opinion will not provide good career progression in the AD military. The military culture does not (and for good reason) place UAV pilots on equal footing with actual war-fighters who go in harms way, and stunts like that "RPA Hero Pilot Medal" actually make those folks a laughingstock.

- NPQ: If you get medically disqualified or wash out of training, there's a good chance you'll still owe the military some number of years. Maybe not the end of the world, some guys have gone on to have long careers in non-flying specialties after attriting from aviation.

Personally, I would only consider regular AD if:

- I just wanted to serve for a few years, and didn't care too much about what I flew, and wasn't too worried about civilian aviation. This is what I did.

- Or I was interested in serving in a variety of flying and non-flying jobs, desired to move around a lot, and wanted to achieve high rank. If you're not "in it to win it" you'll end up doing a lot of mandatory career-enhancing stuff that you'll consider a waste of your time. An AD career is a different animal compared to airlines and/or reserves.

All true, but if airlines is your long-term goal, try to stick to FW.

e6bpilot

What Rickair said is spot on. About half of Navy Student Naval Aviators go on to fly helos. Nothing wrong with that, they fly awesome missions, but rotary wing flight time will be nothing but a feather in your cap for an airline application. They are looking for fixed wing and especially multi fixed wing.

The AD side of the military is a minimum 10 year gig...a lot can happen in a decade. It is a lot of fun, but if you are only in it for the flight time, you will not do well. Flying, at least in the Navy and Marines, is second to being an Officer and a leader. If your heart isn't in it, you will be miserable.

e6bpilot

Yes, my apologies, fighters not withstanding. All the current Navy inventory (not trainers) is ME, but won't be for long.

USMCFLYR

In the past, and who kows where future hiring trends will lead, but if you were a helo pilot for your first tour there was ample opportunity for a transition to FW or a tour with the VTs to get your FW time up to par in order to apply to the majors. FWIW - when I was going through flight training, the USMC was about 80% helo selection and it was NOT a guarantee to get FW even if you graduated Primary at the top of your class.

e6bpilot

I was a primary instructor in the 06-09 timeframe, and we did have quite a few helo guys who got 1000-1500 hrs of fixed wing instructor time with us, so yes, that is definitely a possibility. In the past, those guys have been hired on with the airlines. I know because many of them were reservists.

The days of helo guys transitioning platforms to fixed wing are pretty much over. Of course, there are onesies and twosies, but with manning what it is today, most communities are loathe to let their good pilots go, and the gaining communities don't want the trash. The best way, honestly, to make this happen in the Navy is to go FTS or SELRES with a VR unit and not to stay active duty and endure the pain that comes with AD officer promotion.

Best way for a guy who selects helos to get fixed wing time in the Navy:
Kick ass as a helo guy (or you are done from the start)
Go to a VT command
Go FTS/SELRES when your commitment is up

Of course, this would require the obligatory 2 year boat tour, but if your timing is good, YMMV.