College Senior (Have PPL)
 

Hey fellow aviators! This is my first non-intro/Rules thread so thanks for motivating me already through all the content I've read so far, most of you are truly passionate like me I can tell...

At any rate, the business: I am currently a senior at a NC college with a 3.4 GPA in Biology. I love my study, however I know I want to fly because I wake up every single day wanting to be in an airplane. I did an internship the last two summers in Seattle, WA with Boeing and by working I paid for my PPL. I soloed at 7 hours and got my license at 44 hours however I flew 1.8 hrs to the DPE ;] haha I am proud, sorry! At any rate, I am in a dilemma... My first semester of junior year I joined AFROTC and it was great until I got really depressed when my 2.5 year relationship ended when my girlfriend passed away from a car accident. My life pretty much was shutdown at an instant, I went from being a straight A student to failing out because I didn't do my work and didn't go to class the rest of the semester. I went from a 3.92 GPA down to a 3.55 in ONE SEMESTER and since have made decent A-B grades again. I am saying this because I Failed out of ROTC due to this depression I went through and it is a rule that if you fail an AFROTC class you cannot continue... I contacted a recruiter in hopes of OTS but she told me the selection is incredibly a low 17% and I won't be graduated in time for next year because the board sits in March... this means I will not be able to go till 2015 IF I get selected... Thats a lot of time to not be flying working towards an airline career if I can't go military... Plus I just won't be as attractive for a pilot slot because I'll be around 25 at that point compared to being 22 at graduation...

Thanks for any advice you may have for me, I'm optimistic still about flying no matter where I do it.

Thank You For Your Service.

Just my opinion...

Where you sit now as a PP, and where you'd need to be to get hired (1500 TT and an ATP) is a pretty wide gap. It's possible to get there, but it'd likely take years and possibly a boat-load of $$ to do so.

It sounds like you want to do military flying... good. In the military, you'd get into turbines instantly, and the time is high quality; and you'd get paid to do it.

How about this - pursue aviation (go for your commercial, instrument, CFI) while you continue to press for the military. If you do go military, be sure the path is one into a cockpit.

If the mil doesn't pan out, press on with your civilian aviation career if that is what you want. But be sure you understand the state of the industry for a new regional FO. Long hours, very low pay, potential stagnation in that seat.

Another option is Guard and Reserve.

Good luck! Sorry about your GF.

It sounds like you will have a pretty solid degree that can put food on the table without flying. With that being the case, you should really consider CLT and flying C-130s for the ANG. You overcame a really hard period in your life and bounced back. Maybe you should have withdrawn from classes, but at the time you probably thought you could 'man up' and make it work. Learn from it and move on, the ANG won't hold that against you unlike the big blue active duty machine which is about to go into RIF mode.

Do some research on the ANG = lots of searches here and on baseops.net. Then call the folks at CLT, I am sure they would be glad to chat with you.

Good luck, and thanks for having a desire to serve your country.

P.S. the ANG path will take about 2 years to get to UPT, use that time to work on instrument rating, and if you can hook up with the former and current mil dudes out there teaching formation in the RV air force do that. And I hate to say this next part, but the way life in the Air Force Reserves is now, will be the way the ANG will be in 5-10 years, so get a masters degree before UPT if you can. It will save you headaches 12 years from now when you are trying to get promoted, doing PME, while hopefully juggling family and a civilian flying job.

Have you thought about other branches. I got an aviation contract prior to joining the USMC so I knew I would be flying. But every branch has aviation so do research and soul searching

There is a waiver/exception for everything. Talk to the PAS again, put all your cards on the table, show what you learned about during that time period and how it made you better.

Ditto on this. If you truly have a desire to serve your country and understand that going active duty in any branch will be a 9-10 year commitment, don't limit yourself to the AF.

You can get a flight contract prior to OCS for the Navy, you will need to do OCS and TBS (about 8-9 months total) prior to flight school in the USMC (but you can still get the flight contract prior to reporting), and you can get a flight contract prior to reporting for OCS with the Coast Guard (although you will have to serve 2 years on a CG cutter or other ship). I believe you can also get a flight contract prior to OCS with the Army. All of these branches fly fixed wing aircraft that will get you plenty of time in a multi-engine turbine.

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, but they are not insurmountable. You are young and will have a long career ahead of you, regardless of whether you fly civilian aviation or start your journey in the service of our country.

25 isn't 'old' for starting UPT. I've had many 30 year olds in the past, and there is currently a 38 year old (very unusual circumstance).

ROTC is tough right now for pilot slots; same with OTS due to budget constraints. But, it isn't impossible.

Look on USA Jobs for guard and Reserve units that are hiring, then contact them directly to see if they are interested in hiring off the street. Dover (C-5s) seems to be perpetually looking for guys.

Good luck.

I'll second the age thing. I turned 30 in UPT and the selection rate for pilot on my board was 6% (and my GPA was far worse than 3.55). I know that at your age you feel like there is a big rush to get things going. I was there once, I had a grand plan to be hired at a major by age 26 (anything less was going to be a failure in my eyes). Guess what, I'm 40 now and still not there, big deal. Your perspective will change, especially after joining the Air Force. If you go AD, you won't really even think about the airlines your first few years.

ForeverFO pretty much summed up what I'd recommend (and did). Get your CFI and keep building hours while you wait for the slot. The hours will help your PCSM and chances of selection. If you don't get selected, you press on the civilian side of the house.

Well, you won't be able to think about anything else until your commitment is up - I think it's wings + 10 now.

^^^true, but if one is planning to separate and go the airline route, they need to start thinking about assignment choices to set themselves up for success toward the end of their ADSC.

Airlines didn't cross my mind at all for my first 5 years but it factored very heavily in my choice of final assignment. I wanted to be flying a decent amount, not pick up an ADSC extension (TX course), and set myself up to be marketable for a flying reserve job.