Chapter 2
Taking a Look at Training Programs
In This Chapter
Breaking down each branch’s training and requirements
Checking out paths to becoming an officer
Today’s military offers you the chance to get flight training that is second to none. Not only can you make a decent salary, but you also have the opportunity to operate some of the most advanced aviation equipment in the world.
In this chapter, we discuss the various military training programs, examine the paths to becoming an officer for the different branches, and present the selection criteria that are important to each military service (each branch has subtle variations in what it deems important).
Exploring the Different Military Training Opportunities
Deciding that you want to be a military aviator is only the first step in choosing your career path. Each branch of the armed services is different, and each has its own set of priorities and selection processes. If you think you may not meet the requirements for one branch, talk directly with an aviation flight recruiter from that branch (be sure it’s a flight recruiter) to see whether your status or condition is waiverable. For example, gone are the days when strict eyesight standards sidelined many potentially great aviators. The following sections break down the different services, what each branch looks for, and what you can expect as an aviation candidate in each.
Most criteria for all the branches have waivers that you can apply for on a case-by-case basis. Check with your flight recruiter for details.
Addressing Army aviation flight training programs
Army aviation can trace its roots to the balloon observers in the Civil War. Steeped in history and tradition, being an Army aviator means you can look forward to a challenging career flying difficult airframes.
The Army mission and aircraft
The mission of Army aviation is to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations. To accomplish this mission, aviation units are generally organized into combat, combat support, and combat service support units.
The Army uses aircraft to provide another prong to the attack in an air-land battle. Aviators in the Army fly differing missions, ranging from attack to medical evacuation. The Army primarily utilizes helicopters, so it conducts all initial flight training in rotary-wing rather than fixed-wing aircraft (see Chapter 11 for details on these types of aircraft). The other military branches conduct primary flight training in fixed-wing aircraft.
Army selection criteria/requirements for pilots and demographics
The U.S. Army has developed its selection criteria based on the experiences and traits that past successful warrant and commissioned officer flight candidates have shown. The Army actively recruits and trains previous enlisted personnel from the other branches of the military who want to fly but may not have the civilian educational requirements that the other military services require for flying assignments. Because so many aviation officers come from an enlisted background, aviation warrant officers understand the needs of (and have an affinity toward) the soldiers on the ground. Demographically, approximately 80 percent of new Army aviation warrant officers come from the enlisted ranks of all the different service branches.
Selection is based on academic qualification, previous flight experience, demonstrated performance and potential, and the following criteria:
U.S. citizenship.
Age: 18 to 32.
Minimum score of 40 on the Selection Instrument for Flight Training (SIFT). This requirement may change over time as this new test is validated.
Education: High school graduate (most do have a college degree, but it’s not required).
Medical: Ability to meet the standards of a Class 1A flight physical (Army Regulation 40-501).
Vision: 20/50 uncorrected and correctable to 20/20 with normal color and depth perception. Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) is waiverable, but the Lasik eye procedure is not.
Standard height/weight per Army Regulation 600-9.
Eligibility for security clearance.
Army flight training programs
The U.S. Army currently conducts all primary and most advanced training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. (Note: Flight training is the same for warrant and commissioned officers; head to Chapter 1 for more on these designations.) Not counting the specific warrant officer candidate training or commissioned officer initial branch training, Army flight school involves approximately 34 to 43 weeks of training, depending on the aircraft you’ll be flying.
Eyeing Air Force flight training programs
The Air Force — the nation’s youngest branch of service — originated with the Army Air Corps; during WWII, the military realized the value and importance of a strong aviation component on the modern battlefield and gave it its own branch.
The Air Force mission and aircraft
The mission of the U.S. Air Force is to fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace. The Air Force supports the joint mission first and foremost and provides compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for the combat commander. The Air Force has six distinctive capabilities: air and space superiority, global attack, rapid global mobility, precision engagement, information superiority, and agile combat support.
The Air Force uses many different types of aircraft to provide it with these capabilities. These aircraft — from smaller, agile fighter aircraft to large transport vehicles — allow the Air Force and its sister services to project military might worldwide. As an Air Force aviator, you can expect to fly one of a wide range of aircraft on a specific mission format.
Air Force selection criteria/requirements and demographics
The U.S. Air Force has developed selection criteria based on success established since before the branch’s founding shortly after World War II. The Air Force utilizes only commissioned officers in its aviation programs, and although waivers do exist, the branch tends to have tight standards because of its operating environment.
Typically, an Air Force applicant comes from one of three sources, all of which require a bachelor’s degree prior to flight training:
The Air Force Academy
Air Force ROTC
Officer Training School
If you want to fly in the Air Force and you have at least two years of college remaining, we highly recommend you enter either a service academy or ROTC. The simple fact is that your odds of getting into an Air Force flight training program are greater if you choose these paths. We’re not saying that entry into flight training after OTS is impossible, but it’s a very competitive field for few potential slots. If you’ve already graduated from college with at least a bachelor’s degree, you can still achieve your goal. You’ve already shown your commitment to excellence by purchasing this book. Study hard and affect any other selection criteria you have control over.
The Air Force utilizes a pilot candidate selection method (PCSM) to determine who enters into flight training. If you’re coming into flight training as a member of the National Guard or Reserves, you fly the aircraft that is assigned to that unit. All other candidates get aircraft choice based on their standing during flight school.
The PCSM uses different determining factors but primarily focuses on three main categories:
Air Force Officer Qualifying Test: This test is scored and broken down into the following six categories (with minimum scores required to qualify as a pilot):
• Academic aptitude (no minimum score required).
• Verbal (15).
• Quantitative (10).
• Pilot (25).
• Navigator (10).
• Combined pilot and navigator (50). You may notice that this threshold is actually higher than the combined minimum scores for the pilot and navigator sections; to excel in this category, you have to score better than the bare minimum on these sections.
Your test of basic aviation skills (TBAS): The Air Force uses this format to assess your skill level and assigns a numerical value for evaluation purposes.
Any pre-test flight time: The Air Force actually gives you bonus points for up to 200 hours of flight time you already have. (Flip to Chapter 11 for more on the benefits of taking flying lessons before your aptitude test.)
Other qualifying factors for entry into the Air Force flight training program are
U.S. citizenship.
Age: Under 29.1 years old at date of application. If you’re close to this age, you face special requirements to ensure you’re able to begin flight training before you reach the age cutoff. See an Air Force aviation recruiter for the latest regulation changes.
Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university (can be waived under certain circumstances in the Reserve). No minimum GPA is necessary.
Medical: Ability to pass a pre-commissioning physical and to pass a class 1 physical upon selection into flight training (an exception is age-critical candidates, who must pass the class 1 physical before their applications are processed to make the age cutoff).
Vision: 20/70 uncorrected and correctable to 20/20 with normal depth and color perception. You can get a waiver for PRK but not for the Lasik eye procedure.
Height: 64 to 77 inches standing and 34 to 40 inches sitting.
Eligibility for security clearance.
Typically, if you attend the Air Force Academy and are medically qualified, you’re offered a flying quota upon graduation. ROTC fills a majority of the total 1,000 to 1,500 available quotas for initial flight training; OTS candidates fill 10 to 13 percent of the positions each year.
Air Force flight training programs
After you’re selected into the Air Force flight training program, you enroll in a commissioning program to earn the rank of Second Lieutenant (unless you’ve already been commissioned through another source). After you receive your commission, you first report to Pueblo, Colorado, for a six-week initial flight screening program. This training — given by civilian instructors under contract from the Air Force — provides you with an initial 25 hours of flight training and 58 hours of ground training before you advance to the next phase of training (undergraduate flying training program).
Undergraduate pilot training is a three-phase, 58-week program taught in Mississippi, Texas, or Oklahoma. In the first phase, you take academic classes and preflight training. Phase two includes 90 hours of primary flight training, where you’re ranked every day. When you complete the second phase, you get to pick an aircraft track for phase three based on your order of merit and the Air Force’s specific needs.
You choose from four potential tracks, each of which consists of follow-on training at various locations:
Helicopter: The helicopter track is conducted by the U.S. Army and consists of 115 flight hours over a 28-week period.
Multi-engine turboprop: The multi-engine turboprop track consists of 115 hours of flight training over a 26-week period.
Airlift/tanker: The airlift/tanker track consists of 90 hours of instruction and is 28 weeks long.
Fighter/bomber: The fighter/bomber track is 100 hours of flight training lasting 27 weeks.
After you complete phase three, you select an aircraft based on your order of merit and begin graduate pilot training in that aircraft before getting an operational assignment.
Noting Navy and Marine Corps flight training programs
The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps maintain separate aviation entities but combine much of their mutual training throughout the entire aviation training process under the umbrella of the U.S. Navy.
Navy aviation mission and aircraft
The naval aviation mission is to protect and support U.S. naval forces and provide a rapid-strike capability worldwide. Naval aviators range from anti-submarine patrols to joint-strike fighters to helicopter search and rescue; their aircraft include fighters, turboprop cargo aircraft capable of carrier based landings, and a large fleet of helicopters (which the Navy calls “helos” rather than “rotary-wing aircraft”).
Marine Corps aviation mission and aircraft
The Marine Corps operates both fixed-wing and rotary-wing assets to provide close air support and transport to its ground forces. The six main functions of Marine aviation are anti-aircraft warfare, offensive air support, assault support, electronic warfare, control of aircraft and missiles, and aerial reconnaissance. Corps aircraft range from transport and attack helicopters to joint-strike fighters.
Navy and Marine Corps selection criteria/requirements and demographics
Naval aviation officer candidates come from a variety of commissioning sources: the U.S. Naval Academy, Naval ROTC, and the Naval Officer Candidate School (formerly geared to naval aviators but now organized to train applicants for the entire Navy). As with the Air Force (which we cover earlier in the chapter), a large percentage of aviation slots go to both Naval Academy graduates and ROTC cadets/midshipmen. The approximate percentage of officer candidate school slots for naval aviation runs around 10 to 15 percent a year. Other qualifications to become a naval aviator are
U.S. citizenship.
Age: 28 upon commissioning.
Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university.
Medical: Ability to pass Class 1 flight physical.
Vision: 20/40 uncorrected and correctable to 20/20 with normal depth and color perception. Waivers are available for PRK but not for the Lasik eye procedure.
Swimming ability.
Eligibility for security clearance.
Naval/Marine flight training programs
After you’re accepted into a naval aviation program, the first step is to earn your commission (if you’re not already commissioned through another source). This process means officer candidate school — a 12-week program taught by both Marine and Navy instructors at Newport, Rhode Island.
When you receive your commission, you begin your first phase in the path toward becoming a naval aviator: Introductory Flight Screening (IFS). IFS consists of 15 hours of flight training and is taught by contracted civilian instructors at three different locations throughout the country. Next, you attend aviation preflight indoctrination, a six-week introductory phase taught at Pensacola, Florida. This program consists of four weeks of academic instruction and two weeks of survival and psychological warfare training.
Finally, you go to one of two locations (Florida or Texas) to begin a six-month primary flight training program. At the end of primary flight training, you’re assigned to one of four intermediate flight training paths based on the Navy’s needs and your performance and preference. Each path has its continuing training program:
Tailhook: Aviators selected for tailhook training (aircraft equipped to land on an aircraft carrier) report for an additional 27 weeks of training. Of those, approximately 80 percent are selected for advance strike aircraft and spend an additional 23 weeks in flight training before transitioning to specific aircraft.
E2/C2 pipeline: Those selected for the E2/C2 pipeline receive an additional 8 weeks of training for other carrier-based aircraft and then report for a 16-week multi-engine training program.
Helos: Those selected for helos report to Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting in Florida for primary and advanced training in the fundamentals of rotary-wing flight.
Maritime: Those selected for this path receive initial multi-engine training with the E2/C2 group and then separate for specific training to operate larger, non-carrier-based, multi-engine aircraft.
Upon graduation, the three respective services (the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard, which utilizes naval training facilities) separate for advanced training in both the mission and specific aircraft of their individual branches.
Considering Coast Guard flight training programs
The Coast Guard is the oldest continuous seagoing service in the United States. Aligned under the Department of Homeland Security (rather than the Department of Defense), this branch of the military aviation is a welcome sight to vessels in distress and also serves as a larger shield in the fight against global terrorism. As an old saying goes, when the weather gets too bad for others to fly, that’s when the Coast Guard goes out.
Coast Guard aviation mission and aircraft
The U.S. Coast Guard has the mission to protect the public, the environment, and U.S. economic and national interests in the nation’s ports and waterways, along the coast, in international waters, and in any maritime region required. The Coast Guard has a fleet of both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft that it uses to conduct rescue and anti-drug missions.
Coast Guard selection criteria and demographics
The U.S. Coast Guard utilizes naval aviation training facilities to train unrated prospective pilots. Even though the Navy does a majority of the Coast Guard’s aviation training, we’ve placed the Coast Guard in its own separate category simply because of the way it acquires aviators. All Coast Guard aviators are commissioned officers. Flip to the later section “Choosing Your Path to Becoming an Officer” for more on becoming an officer.
A large portion of the Coast Guard’s aviators (approximately 60 percent) are actually direct transfers and direct commissions from the other branches of the military, specifically the Army. The Coast Guard doesn’t accept pilot applicants for OCS. To transfer to the Coast Guard, you must be 21 to 32 years old, be a rated military aviator with at least 500 hours of military flight time, and have had full-time flying experience within the previous two years. Because of these requirements, many prospective Coast Guard pilots either attend the U.S. Coast Guard Academy or first begin their careers as Army aviators. Many Army aviators who want to become commissioned aviators but don’t like the fact Army commissioned officer aviators primarily serve as leaders first and pilots second choose this aviation path.
Coast Guard flight training programs
Aircraft transition and indoctrination into the Coast Guard way of life takes place in Mobile, Alabama, where the Coast Guard aviation center is located. Coast Guard aviators focus much more heavily on instrument flying than Army aviators do, so a specific amount of transition time is spent on this task. All Coast Guard aviators return to this station one week each year to maintain training in their selected aircraft.
Meeting the Other Basic Requirements
The preceding sections cover some of the specific requirements (age, education, and so on) for each branch of the military, but those aren’t the only categories the service branches look at. Here are some basic guidelines for military aviation service as a whole.
If you don’t meet the requirements (and can’t get a waiver) for one branch, make sure you look at the others, which may have completely different sets of requirements.
Aptitude: As the title of this book suggests, all branches give you a flight aptitude test to predict how successful you’ll be as an aviator. This aptitude is one of the single most important selection criteria that you can affect, so read on!
Moral character: Moral character is basically your legal record; that is, have you broken laws or been arrested for or convicted of a crime? Don’t automatically panic if you’re remembering a couple of youthful indiscretions; you can get waivers for certain minor infractions (check with your flight recruiter for details).
Psychological makeup: The military is looking for competent, confident team players who can handle the pressures of aviation service under duress, so you take a series of tests and screenings to predict your ability to successfully fulfill the role of a military aviator. Individual military services do give medical waivers for specific minor behavioral health issues.
Marital status and dependents: Although certain commissioning programs have restrictions on marital status, flight training has no such constraints. Certain phases of candidate programs are considered to be unaccompanied, so the branch doesn’t provide you with accompanied housing, but during the majority of your flight training, you can live with your family.
Choosing Your Path to Becoming an Officer
You may decide that you want your military career path to include becoming an officer. If you come to that conclusion, do some soul searching to determine whether you want to be a pilot first or an officer first. We know that the standard interview answer is to say that you want to be an officer first, but be honest with yourself; some branches’ officers don’t put in a lot of time in the sky, so if you truly want to be a pilot first, those paths/branches may not be for you. Based on your answer, look at how the different branches utilize both commissioned and warrant officers and what the various mission profiles are to help you make your decision. The best way to discover this information is to get insight from current and former pilots from all branches of the military.
If you do decide that life as an officer is for you, officer training is in your future. Here’s an overview of each branch’s training program, as well as some of the various paths to becoming an officer:
Warrant officer training (Army): Upon selection as an Army Warrant Officer Candidate (WOC), you report to Fort Rucker, Alabama, for a rigorous six-week course.
Officer Training School (Air Force): The Air Force Officer Training School consists of a 12-week indoctrination and training program at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Officer Candidate School (Navy): The Navy operates its Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. The program consists of a 12-week course that fully integrates future leaders into the lifestyle and responsibilities of a Navy commissioned officer.
Officer Candidate School and Platoon Leaders Class (Marine Corps): Marine officer candidates go through either a ten-week initial officer candidate training program or two separate six-week training sessions over two different summers in Quantico, Virginia. After this training, Marines are commissioned as Second Lieutenants and then attend a six-month basic school to expand on their leadership skills before aviation training.
Coast Guard paths: You can follow multiple paths to become a commissioned officer within the U.S. Coast Guard, ranging from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to Coast Guard Officer Candidate school to direct appointments as a commissioned officer.
Military service academies: The United States has four military service academies in various locations throughout the country. (Why only four? Future Marines attend the U.S. Naval Academy because the Marine Corps is a department of the Navy.) Graduates of the academies receive both a four-year degree and a commission.
Direct appointments: A relatively smaller and lesser-known program is a direct appointment utilized in the Reserve and Coast Guard. This rarely used, needs-directed program fills personnel shortfalls with otherwise-qualified applicants.