Becoming A Fighter Pilot!

What is the best way to go at this? I want to be a pilot in the military more than anything! But I just don't know the best way to go at acheiving this. I know if I talk to a recruiter, all they will do is try to recruit me. I wanna talk to people with ACTUAL flight experience and/or know what the best way to do it is. Air Force? Army? Navy? I really don't know.

 

I used to want to go into tht and researched a little bit so don't take all of Wat I say to be all legit but my grandpa used to be inthe navy and I heard thts the easiest way to become one. Air force I heard is Mayb a little more difficult. I wanted to go into the air force though jus bc of their school and training

 

Navy.... we have more jets than the airforce

get a degree in engineering or science... apply to OCS

have good vision, don't get air sick, be in good shape

 

Im in the Navy, and am currently working on a commission to become a fighter pilot... First and foremost is you have to be an officer, and to do that you must have a bachelors degree or higher. SO... with that said, if you do not have your degree, and this is what you really want to do, I would recommend that either you get into one of the military academies, ROTC, or just straight up go to college and get your degree, but do not enlist! I am enlisted, and have been working at this for 6 years now. They entice you to enlist with the promise of paying for your college, but what they dont tell you is that duty, deployments, all of what come with being in the military come first and foremost! I knew this going in, but a lot of people don't take that into consideration! Second, physical conditioning, good eyesight (20/20), and do whatever you can to get a good working knowledge of the principles of flight, and anything related, because you will have to take a military test that tests your knowledge on flight systems and such. This is the best advice I can give you, and if you want to know anything more specific, hit me up!

PS: US NAVY/MARINE CORPS trains the best pilots in the world!!

 

And I think you have to be under 5ft 9inch. Unless thats changed.

 

And even if you do all the stuff they said above, you go to flight school with "everyone." Flight docs, random folks, pilots in training. And if you make it past flight training, not everyone becomes a "fighter pilot." Essentially at the end of each pilot training session, there's a list that comes out with available aircraft. There may be 0, or 20, spots on that list for pilots of combat craft. But you could be left with a helo, a cargo plane, etc., if there aren't enough billets. I believe they use (pilot) class ranking as to who gets to choose which billet first.

If you half-ass pilot training, or have a bunch of brainiacs, you might be stuck flying mail out to Antarctica every day or something totally not combat-related.

 

This should be a sticky for the next 20 or 30 that come on here wanting to fly.

 

Thats never been true. Ive worked with numerous F/A-18 pilots over 6'.

 

A. Be physically qualified. This includes being able to pass a military PT test (standards for the various services can be found online), having vision that meets the individual services standards, passing an extensive flight physical, etc. etc.

B. Be mentally qualified. In all the services that have fighter pilots, this includes having a bachelors degree and a commission. You can go OCS, ROTC, or Service Academy for the commission. ROTC and the academies will get you your degree at the same time. What your degree is in makes no difference. What does matter is the grades you get because selection to any pilot training will be very competitive and largely based on scholastic aptitude. You will also need to take an aviation aptitude test (all the services have their own version).

C. Be hard working. Once you're actually in a flight training program, a large portion of your class are all going to be fighter pilot wannabes too. You have to make sure you come out at the top of the class because aircraft selection will be based on your order of merit.

D. Be lucky. Even if you do come out on top, depending on the needs of the service in any given month of any given year, there may be more or less slots available for the various airframes. This means that there may be 5 slots of fighters in one class and 1 slot a month later. Being a fighter pilot is sexy, but someone has to fly all those helicopters, tankers, and cargo aircraft.

Bottom line is, if you are currently in high school, begin busting your ass right now. Getting into an Academy, or an ROTC scholarship, or OCS is all very selective. No one wants a dimwit flying multi-million dollar aircraft in support of troops in combat. Becoming a pilot requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Google is your friend.

http://www.navy.com/navy/careers/aviation.html
http://officer.marines.com/marine/winning_battles/leadership_positions/air/fixed_wing
http://www.airforce.com/opportunities/officer/careers/flight/pilot/

Don't be afraid to talk to a recruiter. Just make it clear up front that you have no desire to enlist. Oh, and consider being a helicopter pilot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu_leZE76VE

 

effin teachers... they told me the cockpits would not fit 6footers plus. Must have been back in the 40's lol. Now im going back to kick his ass for ruin my dreams....