Long story short: I was an F/A-18 pilot and I didn't achieve my section lead qual. I did my full 3 year JO tour and flew OEF missions so flying abilities were never a question. I was taking longer than normal to get through the section lead syllabus, was put on the bench (from continuing with the syllabus), and just ran out of time. I didn't have any options for flying billets after my JO tour so I've been enjoying (not) a desk for my shore tour. I have no desires to switch over to PAO, Intel, etc.

I have two options for getting out of the military. There is a good chance I will not make O4 (2016) so that means I will get the friendly boot with a nice little thanks-for-the-10-years paycheck. I could also choose to just leave the military when my commitment ends. Both my commitment and second look at O4 are around the same time.

So my question is will one of these ways out of the military look worse in a future airline interview? Failure to select O4 and getting the boot sounds a lot worse than me choosing to leave the military. The separation pay though would really help for that regional airline transition...

If you are wondering, I would never try to hide anything and I am fully prepared to explain the situation that led to my low military time.

Thanks.

 

Don't know how important section lead is to Hornet guys, but Delta takes a long look at all your OER/FITREPS. I'd recommend separating before the O4 board if you think you're likely to be passed over and get aboard a regional airline for some 121 time. Getting back to flying will nullify the section lead issue and if you're lucky enough to get hired by a major at the front of a hiring wave you'll make up that involuntary separation pay in no time.

Just my 2 cents..good luck..

 

[QUOTE=CGfalconHerc;1595099]Don't know how important section lead is to Hornet guys, but Delta takes a long look at all your OER/FITREPS.

I'm not familiar with "OER" do you mean OSR? And FITREPS are held by the military right, I mean I guess they could ask him to bring them to the interview...but aside from a DD-214 I don't think that they can ask him for those legally....right??? I'm totally not an expert, I just thought I had heard that before.

IMO, I think that if you can get some solid recs (internal is best) and you meet the mins, I think you should be fine for having lower hours. From what I've heard from guys who have gotten their tickets punched, it is important to be yourself, be honest and let your experience speak for itself. Good luck!

 

[QUOTE=T45Heinous;1595148]I was a Coast Guard puke. OER (Officer Evaluation Reports) were our evaluations that were used by the promotion board to promote to the next rank. I thought you guys in the Navy used the same thing and the USAF used FITREPS.

Either way, Delta requires that ALL of your evaluations from whatever branch you were in, from O-1 on up, to be submitted as part of the interview process. If you don't want to submit those documents, then you don't want to be a Delta pilot. I don't know about other airlines or the legality of requesting the information..but they don't have any legal obligation to hire someone who won't disclose their previous work history.

Anyway, I think non-selection for O-4 would be more of an obstacle than failure to make section lead based on tour length, ect.

 

I love the fact Delta puts so much effort into OPRs/FITREPS. Seriously? they obviously haven't thought too much on how those come together, but hey, whatever they want. I'll have all my OPR's stacked up. What do they look at for the non-mil types?

 

UAL is the only one that I have interviewed with but they did NOT ask for OER/FITREP/EVALs.

IF anyone even asks why you left the military you can honestly answer that "it was the correct time personally and professionally to leave the military".....of course unless they specifically ask "did you get passed over and were forced out?"
I highly doubt any interviewer is going to present you a question about your military service in that manner....again IF they did then answer honestly.

What ever you decide, figure it out early. ALL the majors need pilots but their training departments are not capable of training them at the needed pace. As a result massive log jams are occurring and extremely long wait times are developing.

UAL poolies are in a 6-9 month wait for training, DAL interviewees who interview in spring will not see training until 2015 and AA is starting to be moving at the same slow pace.

Flip side - Regionals will interview and start training within 4-8 weeks, if you can afford to work for $1500 per month.

Always answer honestly, humbly and you will be fine. Good luck.

 

I really don't know what they look at for civilian-only folks, WARich..

My only advice would be to stay honest, humble and don't exclude anything they want to look at that might give them a reason to disqualify you. A stack of grossly inflated OPR's certainly couldn't hurt!

 

I'm about as honest and humble as they come.

 

How would they even know unless they directly asked you if you were twice passed for O-4? Would they really care? Will it be on your last FITREP? I'm going to be passed for the second time on the next promotion board, and all of my FITREPS recommend me for promotion at the earliest possible opportunity.

 

I'm not involved with the hiring process at Delta so please don't take any of my opinions as Delta policy.

My experience 15 yrs ago was tailored towards a Delta where 98% of the pilots were prior military (before they dropped the 20/20 vision and no nepotism policies). I had already pinned on O4 so they didn't ask me that question. But they did know exactly how many yrs I had been in the service and knew what the expected rank should be. They did look at my OER's and ask me specific questions during the HR portion of the interview. I was sitting next to a former Blue Angel (no kidding) and an F-15 driver while we waited for the decision on the conditional job offer..and was wondering how I got lucky enough to be in that position. Anyway, they must have needed guys with experience saving penguins and all three of us got lucky with the job offer.

If they did ask about the board, I would just say that you were recommended for promotion, you don't know why you weren't selected, so you decided to take this opportunity to move over to delta.

Delta hired almost exclusively civilian part 121 RJ drivers in 07-08, and I'm sure the process has evolved. I recommend searching this board for other guys in the pool and what interview prep services they used. I've seen some posts from "aero crew solutions" or something like that over on the L&G about Delta thread..maybe he's got the good gouge.

Again, don't sweat any perceived blemishes on your record. If your prior military, they know that non-selection is one topic they may investigate to see how a candidate reacts. As long as you're honest and willing to openly discuss anything they bring up, you've got a good shot. Delta's got a great pilot group and we were all in your shoes yrs ago...we wish you the best whether you get on here or with another airline. Good Luck..