Originally Posted by KYhawkdriver

With all of the news about the units losing guys to the airlines, are they granting any age waivers? I am an Army Rotary wing guy that would like to make the switch if at all possible.

Originally Posted by Tweetdrvr

If you are a rated pilot, I think a unit can do an aeronautical conversion through an FEB process that awards you AF pilot wings because your Army training is equal to AF helo training. At that point, you are now a helo pilot going to get fixed wing qualified and the age doesn't matter. I am pretty sure I have seen this in the past. Bad thing is the shorter fixed wing qual syllabus doesn't exist anymore, so you'd probably be class SRO and go through the full course. The good news is that it is one year plus of AD pay and points.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Ohlsan

What if you are an Army fixed wing guy

Originally Posted by BeatNavy

Every army fw guy I know who went ANG had to go thru FWQ or UPT. Army's MEFWQ course at Rucker isn't recognized as an adequate fixed wing course to satisfy their requirements like USN/USAF pilot training. A buddy of mine with thousands of C12/Sherpa hours went thru FWQ. It's all in an AFI I found with a little google research, I'll try to find it. AETC commander is the waiver authority and supposedly they have waived portions of UPT for some folks. I haven't heard of that first hand though.

Originally Posted by Tweetdrvr

I have said this before in another ancient thread on the same topic or maybe on another forum. The rules on Army RW guys coming to the AF are not set in stone. For every rule, it seems like there is an exception. In thirteen years of doing Phase II, I have seen all sorts of crazy things. I have seen an AF Lt Col who went to RW UPT as a Lt, then get command of a FW Spec Ops deal to fly a 130 variant, have to come back to FWQ. I have seen an Aarmy guy who could not pass a physical based on hearing, get his aeronautical rating converted to AF equivalent so he could wear AF pilot wings. Then because he was a rated AF pilot, his hearing was waivable, but he went through full up UPT to Boise to fly A-10s. I've seen Army guys hired into ANG/ARC units do full UPT with their Army wings. Right now, there are two dudes at FWQ, and each one was told they were to be the last FWQ guys at different times, who are both way over 30. Their units converted them via ARB process to AF equivalent ratings, so they are now AF pilots going to FW UPT. I think if FWQ ever truly goes away, an Army guy who gets his wings converted would be able to go to UPT over 30, if a ANG/AFRES unit wanted to hire them and jump the hoops to make it happen. Slightly different subject but the age limit for units in conversion and losing their Nav/WSO/EWO/CSO (what ever they are this week and next week) positions as in 130E/H to J or RPA is 34 for those folks. The supposedly last two guys in FWQ are both over that number.

Originally Posted by FlyingBulldog

No transfer of wings from Army Rotary. There was an Army RW guy while I was at UPT recently who had to go through the entire program to earn a second set of wings for AF fixed wing.

As for the age, I also knew a 37 year old who was there on a waiver. There was yet another guy there who I want to say was even older than he was, but that's unverified.