How hard is it to get picked up as a fighter pilot in the air national guard?
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Velocity173
Not hard.
Brad W
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for me it would likely be very hard
kgruber
Final Approach
No problem!!! I worked with a guy who married the base commander's daughter. The BC sent him to AF flight school.
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Velocity173
You just started college correct? You’re doing a little bit of cart before the horse here. There’s no telling what the status of any particular guard unit will be 4 years from now. To say that it will be hard or easy is completely subjective and the only ANG F-15 pilot we have on here is @EvilEagle. He’s already given guidance to check flyingsquadron/baseops. I’d go there and get real answers from real ANG pilots. I’d also concentrate right now at getting a degree, then about 4 years from now have all your ducks in a row to be competitive for a pilot slot. Also, I hope 86 isn’t your birth year because you’d be quickly approaching the age limit.
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Paul_Havelka
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A friend went through the USAF Academy and then on to flight school. He was top of his flight school class and his dream was to fly tactical aircraft, fighters. There was only 1 tactical slot available so he should get it, right? Nope. In the tactical portion of his flight training he finished number 2 in his class. The number 2 overall of the class just behind my buddy was the number 1 in the tactical portion. The other guy got the tactical spot. Buddy was relegated to heavies where he made it a point to be the best damn heavy pilot the AF had. Base Commander and his CO recognized this and submitted him for entry into a crossover program where he is now flying F-35s.
You have to be willing to go into the AF, ANG, whatever and be relegated to heavies. If you are ok with that then go for it. If you go in with the mindset that it's F-15s or nothing then you should probably do some self reflection and make some tough decisions because it's possible you might not get that tactical slot IF there is even one available at the time.
You have to be willing to go into the AF, ANG, whatever and be relegated to heavies. If you are ok with that then go for it. If you go in with the mindset that it's F-15s or nothing then you should probably do some self reflection and make some tough decisions because it's possible you might not get that tactical slot IF there is even one available at the time.
With the current state of airlines, you will be in line with the other professional pilot degree graduates applying to be a barista.
Maxnr
Line Up and Wait
Way, way back. And far away in Maine, the ANG was issued F-89's, then F101's. Then, KC-135's. If you didn't like it, you got a transfer to another state. For the most part, the majority liked it. It opened up more flight pay slots. My wife's uncle was one and he became a boom operator.
When I was in commercial aviation, I was grinding out a living in the S-76 community. The supply of new hire co-pilots got slim. Mgmt dropped the required experience level and everyone (including the FSDO) got antsy. The "Igor" is bit demanding as a co-pilot trainer. More so with a low time PIC sitting next to a zero time CP. Two of us S-76 typed PIC's got letters from the head shed that designated us Training Captains. And at FSDO's suggestion. One of my first new companion's was a guy that graduated from Army RW flight school as a chopper pilot, then pulled strings to transfer to the ANG at Keesler AFB. Home of the "Hurricane Hunters." WC-130's. He was then, (he said) one of them. He told me that he was doing his FW transition in two week stints over time. ??? I never heard of a deal like this, but "Took him to raise" without comment.
We started flying routine revenue flights together and it was soon apparent that this guy had marginal instrument skills. Dual autopilots can only take you so far. I was doing most of the flying in IMC. He displayed an unexpected reluctance to punch into the weather. In fact, a fear of IMC. I asked him "Why are joining the Hurricane Hunters?" No answer. He quit after an epic bad showing. In his exit interview with our mgmt, he singled me out as one who pushed weather.
When I was in commercial aviation, I was grinding out a living in the S-76 community. The supply of new hire co-pilots got slim. Mgmt dropped the required experience level and everyone (including the FSDO) got antsy. The "Igor" is bit demanding as a co-pilot trainer. More so with a low time PIC sitting next to a zero time CP. Two of us S-76 typed PIC's got letters from the head shed that designated us Training Captains. And at FSDO's suggestion. One of my first new companion's was a guy that graduated from Army RW flight school as a chopper pilot, then pulled strings to transfer to the ANG at Keesler AFB. Home of the "Hurricane Hunters." WC-130's. He was then, (he said) one of them. He told me that he was doing his FW transition in two week stints over time. ??? I never heard of a deal like this, but "Took him to raise" without comment.
We started flying routine revenue flights together and it was soon apparent that this guy had marginal instrument skills. Dual autopilots can only take you so far. I was doing most of the flying in IMC. He displayed an unexpected reluctance to punch into the weather. In fact, a fear of IMC. I asked him "Why are joining the Hurricane Hunters?" No answer. He quit after an epic bad showing. In his exit interview with our mgmt, he singled me out as one who pushed weather.
EvilEagle
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Witmo
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Tim
Not true when I was active duty. If your ANG unit flew fighters and they sent you to pilot training, you were guaranteed a fighter slot at your home unit provided you were good enough to get fighter qualified by your pilot training squadron commander. If not fighter qualified, I suppose you had to scramble to find a Guard unit flying heavies that would hire you from pilot training. Dean Martin's son, Dino, went to pilot training with an F4 assignment guaranteed since his CA guard unit flew F4s and he was FAR (fighter, attack, recce) qualified upon graduation from UPT. His standing in the class was immaterial.
EvilEagle
Pattern Altitude
Witmo, that's still the case but in the era of BRAC, you are never guaranteed. Many guys and gals went to pilot training thinking they were going to fly F-16's and somewhere in the line they lost their jets or switched to UAV's (Springfield, IL) or to C-130 (Montana ANG).
donjohnston
Pattern Altitude
What is a professional pilot degree?
You know, those worthless scraps of paper Embry-Riddle and the other puppy mills hand out.
To the OP, the Air Force or ANG don't care what ratings or how many hours you have, they train their pilots from scratch. At best, it gets you past the initial flight screening where they give students a few hours in a T-41 (Cessna) just to make sure they're not total bozos.
If you're serious about a military flight career, study engineering or some other technical field in college, then apply and take your chances (because even if you don't get selected for a flight slot you still have to serve out your commitment).
Witmo
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Tim
That's always a possibility if the DoD decides they no longer need a particular unit to fly a particular aircraft. There was a B1 outfit in Wichita that got their airplanes pulled and now they don't even fly anymore having switched to some info warfare mission. I was sent there to consult with them on info warfare and tried to convince them they were a better fit with a UAV mission but they insisted they wanted to do IW and they had the political pull to get what they wanted.
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Velocity173
N884
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35 AoA
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Can't speak for the USAF side, but on the USN side, I know the fundamental point he was trying to make is true. They don't/didnt care during the application process if you had a PPL/CPL/CFI(I)/ATP/whatever. Some folks would even say that prior flying experience can be a liability for some. In real terms, I know mine absolutely helped me do well enough in T-34's to get jets/fighters, but there were also plenty of higher time (in relative terms) prior civilian pilots who I watched struggle. I don't think anyone can make a one-size-fits-all statement about the value added of civilian flying experience prior to flight school, it really just comes down to the individual and their willingness to study hard, learn from mistakes, keep a good attitude, and learn to do the new things they want you to learn. For me, it was value added though. In fairness to ERAU, the two guys I knew well who came from that background ended up crushing their careers, and both have been flying with US majors for a while now since. I know of a couple others who washed out. Just depends on the person.
Dress metro and wear plenty of hair gel...
I've sat on our (ANG F-16) interview boards for the last 5 or 6 years. I'm not sure how other squadrons view it, but we only require you to have soloed. After that, we don't really care much about hours as hours can be an asset or a hinderance. I showed up to pilot training with 800 hours and did well, while I knew 3k hour guys who washed out...it's a totally different type of flying. We also generally don't care as much about your degree and most will understand GPA vs type of degree you received. It's really more a whole person concept, will I be able to stand spending 20 years in a squadron with this guy. Get good grades, kick ass on the AFOQT/TBAS, and most importantly go visit the units in which you wish to apply. If I see an app of someone who hasn't visited the squadron, that app is likely going in the trash.
If Evil PM'd you, listen to the man, he knows of what he speaks.
Word. We have guys from 5 different ANG fighter squadrons...refugees of squadrons that lost their jets/changed missions.
Fracpilot
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Baseops.net will help you with a lot of your questions. AFOQT, TBAS, and GPA scores are important. I was in charge of the pilot accessions process and putting together the UPT boards for 4 years in my ANG unit.
You need to spend time at the ANG unit meeting the right people so when they have a UPT board they select you. They want to know you’re going to be there a long time and they can work with you.
Most likely they’ll hire internally first. Meaning if they have an enlisted guy there that’s paid his dues, he’ll most likely get selected over someone coming in off the street. Just how most ANG units work.
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I was only (admittedly snarkily) speaking of the "professional pilot" degrees (or whatever it's called) offered by ERAU and the other schools that basically satisfy the airline hiring requirements for a degree in something but have little value outside that market. But yes, ERAU and other aviation oriented schools also offer accredited aerospace engineering and other technical degree programs that one can pursue while still taking flying lessons... I suspect that's the path that your Thunderbird and astronaut ER grads took. Yes, OCS also only requires "a degree" but you can bet the candidates for the top slots all have degrees in something more rigorous than "professional pilot".
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OK, the services don’t care what degree one has or where it came from. “Snort” Snodgrass has a BS in Biology. “Heater” Heatley (Cutting Edge) has a degree in Journalism. Neither one went to the USNA.
When I was enlisted, you didn’t even have to have a degree to get picked up the Marine MCP. Guaranteed aviation with only 60 credit hours. It’s mostly lucky timing in submitting a packet when they need pilots.
Oh, if you do have future plans on attending the USNTPS, then by all means, get an engineering or math degree.
When I was enlisted, you didn’t even have to have a degree to get picked up the Marine MCP. Guaranteed aviation with only 60 credit hours. It’s mostly lucky timing in submitting a packet when they need pilots.
Oh, if you do have future plans on attending the USNTPS, then by all means, get an engineering or math degree.
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You’re already a CFI with 3K hours?
catmandu
Pattern Altitude
Undergrad GPA regardless of major was the rule back in the day, much to my chagrin. Not so much anymore, so I hear.
And thanks for referencing dudes that I consider old, I feel young(er)!
OP, ANG fighter slots via UPT is the simplest way to get to a pointy nosed airplane. Get the gouge on bogidope, execute.
I’m at roughly 1,200 hours but I still got 3 more years of college so I can definitely get 3k. I’m still not sure what route I am going. But I’ve been obsessed with flying my whole life and it is all I want to do. I never knew military flying was as competitive as y’all say it is but the more I hear about it the more it appeals to me.
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Undergrad GPA regardless of major was the rule back in the day, much to my chagrin. Not so much anymore, so I hear.
And thanks for referencing dudes that I consider old, I feel young(er)!
OP, ANG fighter slots via UPT is the simplest way to get to a pointy nosed airplane. Get the gouge on bogidope, execute.
I actually wrote Heater a few years back because he was selling some of his original prints in poster format. I wanted the 2 VF-1 Tomcats coming into the break that’s in the O Club scene in Top Gun. He answered a couple emails but then never got back to me. Hope he’s doing OK.