Alright guys, here is the low down. I just turned 25, and have been contemplating doing something with myself for a long time now. After much, much deliberation, I have decided that the world of flight would be something I want to endeavor in. I am worried though, for quite a few reasons:

1. I understand that you must be an officer for flight school, and an officer needs to have a bachelor's degree. I don't have a bachelor's degree. I went to an accredited vocational school for almost two years and graduated, but nothing in the form of college. I am in the wake of getting a new job, and one of the perks is that they said they will help with schooling if I so choose. I am not sure if my trade school experience will help with credits towards a degree, but it was in a mechanical field, so I am hopeful.

2. If I can't get any credits for the trade school, that means I have 4 years of school ahead of me, potentially disqualifing me for pilot school, due to being too old. I am not sure how readily the AF hands out age waivers, but this is a concern of mine.

3. As far as health goes, I have no medical conditions at all. I almost never get sick. I believe the AF has a limit on weight, and I am worried I am over that limit. I lift a lot, and at 6' 240lbs, I am a pretty big dude. I could stand to lose some bodyfat, as I am at 19%, but I have no desire to go crazy low. I would give up some muscle if need be. I have no worries about acing an AF PT, and I am in excellent cardiovascular health for running PT. However, my uncorrected vision was 20/25, last time I was tested. I have my concerns about that.

4. I have no piloting experience, but if having a pilot's liscense would be beneficial, it would be something that I definetly do before enlisting. How long does it usually take to secure a pilot's liscense?


I really would like to be one of the few who gets to experience the wonders of flight, and have been fascinated with the military for some time. Last IQ test I took, albiet is was a long time ago, I scored a 143. If the ASVAB is anything like an IQ test, I am not too worried about it. I was thinking of talking with a recruiter, but I have heard too many stories of their half truths to put all of my faith in what one of them says, so that is why I am here. Any input at all would be appreciated greatly. Thanks guys.

The BEST advice any of us in here can give you IS to advise you to go and speak to a recruiter.

Recruiters are out there to help locate our future military members and when it comes to Officers, find the best qualified. For those that want to be a pilot? There is a certain path to that one must take when considering the Air Force. Its called the Air Force Academy. The recruiter can detail all of this way better than anyone in here.

I will state this one item that I know to be true: trade schools will not land you in the cockpit of of an Air Force Jet, unless you are an enlisted maintainer. Enlisted maintainers seldom gain flight status, and those that do are in highly specialized fields.

Yeah, I didn't expect the trade school to help too much as far as a career in piloting goes. I brought it up more to the point that if I could use some of the credits to help with schooling for a bachelors, it could help land me in training before I might hit an age limititation. Officers do need a bachelors, am I not correct? I will eventually go talk to a recruiter, but I wanted to get some opinions beforehand.

Moving credits from one institution to another is iffy at best. The key with doing so is the term 'transferable credits from accredited schools'. In short, they must be recognized by the school that is accepting the transferred credits.

And yes a BS degree is required. And no, I don't know what the age limitations that the Air Force uses now.

I've strapped plenty of pilots into jet fighters during my career, and your size shouldn't be too much of an issue. Cockpits can be very confining to those with wide shoulders though.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so head down and set up an appointment with the recruiter. He will lay it all out for you and you will at least see what can or cannot happen for you.

Bummer for me about the shoulders thing. I have some pretty wide shoulders. The thing that worries me the most about all of this is the age thing. Hopefully I could be done schooling and get officer training in time to get a shot at being a pilot. As you stated; nothing ventured, nothing gained. I am definetly going to head over to a recruiting office early next week and see what they can tell me. Thanks for the info though.

hmmmm, wonder how it went?

If you post here again let us know what the recruiter said and I can tell you if its BS or not, you likely went to a run of the mill recruiter and if he did not immedeatly refer you to an officer recruiter then he is already full of BS. Air Force academy is the best route to becomming a pilot, if you dont get into the AFA the next best bet is OTS. I can line out exactly what you have to do, I went through all the hoop jumping and started when I was 18 and 5 years after I had checked off all of the boxes I was offered navigator with a 10 yr contract and I said no thank you (I then tried to go ARNG rotory and thats a story I will not get into, its the army need I say more), the age is a huge concern, 29 is the cut off and I doubt they waiver it unless your the red bull air race winner with a science or engineering degree. I would not even start worrying about shoulder width you have a very long road ahead of you, having a pilots licence is favorable and they dont take long to get if you have about 8K in the bank dedicated to flying and about 5 hours a day for study/flying, its just a matter of passing the FAA exam and getting your hours, you can do it as fast as you and your instructor are comfortable, if you wait to long you have to retake tests and medicals but your hours never expire. The nice thing is even if they say no at the end your walking away with a BS degree and a pilots licence, so use your BS degree to earn enough money to buy a red bull air race plane (extra 300 or pitts special).

Always remember if your a true aviator at heart The military is just a vehical to realize your aspiration if that vehical becomes broken you have to do something else so make sure you dont commit to the military hoping your can "work your way up" becasue it wont happen and you will be trying to save up to buy a plane when your in your 30's because the military pays dittly, I just wanted to pre-empt that because there are people on here that dont understand the aviatior mind set or the passion for flying, they are more caught up in service to country and anything to the contrary your a schmuck and they will start the flames.

Ignore the idiot who posted the above and you will be okay. Having known many aviators, I can say that he is truly wrong headed about the whole thing.

Would you care to elaborate what parts of my comments were "wrong headed" and why, there are plenty of aviators in the military, and there aviating so they have no reason to be disgruntled because there vehical is working for them, everyone I have met that wanted to be pilots and the military jacked them out of it are disgruntled and get out as soon as they can.

It is your blatant anti-military propaganda that you insert in most every one of your posts. Since I scored at the 98 percentile in reading comprehension -- I believe that it is a true statement and I did not misunderstand your comments.

If one talks to anyone who has had trouble with the military -- they have nothing nice to say about the institution. The same can be said for most anyone who has trouble with any institution or organization. Prejudicial comments are expected from people who cannot see that there is more than one responsibility for any given situation.

I want to know why these aviators you know give you the impression that im so wrong headed. Have you ever noticed the JAG creed, soldiers first lawyers always, I seem to think that the soldiers first part was politicly motivated, if you read between the lines they are lawyers always this mentality holds true for any professional, the profession comes before the employer becasuse your professionalism in what ever field you practice determines your credibility (ie engineers, lawyers, pilots, doctors scientists etc) your place of employment is where ever you are at the time, but you will say things like "the army first" or "BP is the greatest" so you either keep your job or circumvent political pressure or harrasment. People who have a passion for flying care first about actually flying and second about the instiution. Maybe you cant comprehend this harryp because you either do not have a strong passion or are not a true professional.

Hmmmm, every single Marine avaitor I know, and I know quite a few as I've strapped hundreds into thier ejection seats, have always to a T, stated that thier love of flying jets is and always will be second to thier primary reason for existance and that being to protect the troops on the ground and be there for THEM.

Your love of flying is purely for you and only you.

Ronald, do not put your weaknesses on me. You only have a passion for being self centered and it is apparent in every one of your posts. Just because you do not have the slightest comprehension of what service or duty means does not mean that the rest of us are wrong – just that you have social inadequacies.

Have you ever helped in a soup kitchen or rang the bell for the Salvation Army? Do you celebrate your religion by helping those less fortunate that you? Well I do and many people do. Even giving money helps but it is just buying your way out of doing something meaningful.

Do you wonder why pilots go into harms way? As the Gunny says, it is to support the troops on the ground. Having served in a combat aviation battalion – I know this for a fact.

I would agree gunny that the people come before the passion, the problem with the military is everything becomes convoluded, your flying to support your buddies on the ground who were ordered there for the wrong reasons in a country we should not even be in, it creates a "catch 22" for lack of a better term, this same problem exists in congress. congress controls the purse strings to finance the war but if they cut off the money they will be viewed as "not supporting the troops" but since the executive branch controls the actual military actions once he gets the money he can purpetuate the war until the US is a 2nd world nation. Unfortunatly to stop the perpetuation of poor choices by our executive branch the soldiers will have to be the ones to suffer, and anyone who thinks congress is evil for cutting off funding is a fool, its the executive branch fault for the perpetuation of the war. Anyways back to flying, everyone wants to support there buddies and community, its what capacity do you want to do that in, notice the pilot said first and foremost is support of his buddies not the institution of the military then flying which means flying is above the military but not his buddies, if the insitution/vehical of the military stone walled his passion of flying he would be singing a different tune I gaurentee you that (try talking to someone who wanted to be a pilot and the military f'ed them over) people choose the capacity that they want to serve in the community for a reason otherwise we would choose our profession out of a hat. "Troops" are used as a scape goat for burecrats to get what they want, and the troops support it so how can I have any sympathy for the "troops" the people on this forum are a testimate to that, so i would not feel sorry for the "troops" if congress cut off the funding and they suffered because you support thrusting our nation into debt beyond any ones imagination, nor do the "troops" uphold the constitution they just do what they are told, there like brain washed robots.

By the way harryp pilots (except helicopter pilots) have not been truly in harms way since vietnam.

Also harryp giving money is a totally acceptable way of giving back, your money represents your time.

No pilots have been in harms way since Vietnam?

No troops have been killed in action since Vietnam?

Ronald.....RONALD....HELLO! Wakey, Wakey!


You sure you don't want me to forward you those links to sites that cater to your mindset?

When was the last time a significant number of bombers and figher planes were shot down (notice I exempted helicopters) since vietnam. Every now and then an F-15 will get shot down or crash from engine failure but nothing like vietnam where they were dropping like flys. This is why I say they are not in harms way no more then when I get in my car and drive there are so many countermeasures and safety devices in military air craft, the troops on the ground are the ones truely in harms way.

You have no friggin clue about what our military men and women have faced since NAM. Your experiences (boot camp) in the military hardly even qualify you to make such statements.

During Desert Storm (post Vietnam mind you) I suppose those SCUD missles that landing in my compound were a pure figment of my imagination? I suppose the ship that hit the mine didn't happen either? I suppose those aircraft that were shot down really didn't happen?

Coalition Aircraft Losses: 75 (63 U.S., 12 Allied)

Fixed wing, 37 combat, 15 noncombat
U.S. losses, 28 combat, 12 noncombat
No U.S. losses in air-to-air engagements
Helicopters, 23 (all U.S.): 5 combat, 18 noncombat

Your comments are dispicable and disrespectful in your assertions to justify your own actions in the eyes of those who visit this website.

So we lost 28 air craft to combat losses in 6 years and how many of thoes are high performance fighters or even multi engine bombers for that matter, how many were unmaned preditors. "fixed wing" is a deceptive term becasue the army has low performance fixed wing that should be lumped into the same catagory as rotary wing (helicopters). I would agree that helicopters and low performance "fixed wing" are in harms way, but anyone that is straped into an ejection seat I would hardly call in harms way. I would be highly surprised if most of thoes 28 air craft were jet fighter or bomber air craft. That being said I dont think its nessicary for any of our military to be in harms way with the technology and national assets we have. It will be interesting to see what happens to this nation in the next 20 years.