Welcome to this episode of Dwayne’s Aviation, a wiseman once said, smash the like button
and subscribe our channel.
To be a fighter jet pilot in the U.S, you need to finish high school, and you only need
to just finish high school, you need to finish with high grades, I know at this point, you
want to start racing to join the military but don’t go just yet, if you want to fly
the fighter jets DO NOT ENLIST at this point.
Fighter pilot is an officer position, and all officers in the U.S. military must hold
a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, so you need to go to college.
There are three ways to do this: go to a regular college, or go to a military college, if you
go to a military academy: kiss goodbye to the normal college experience because it is
a whole different thing, but the best thing is that after four years, you will graduate
with a bachelor’s degree and as a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force.
But if you go to a regular college, when you graduate, you will need to apply to the officer
training school based at Maxwell air force base in Montgomery, Alabama, where you will
be transformed from a civilian to an officer in about 10 weeks.
You need to submit an application to them and indicate that you want to be a fighter
jet pilot.
But there is this thing called ROTC, which stands for reserved officer training.
This is a kind of military program established in over 1500 colleges and universities all
over the U.S. designed to prepare normal college students who want to become officers but are
not in a military college to become one.
Now, the way it works is that you have to send an application for an ROTC scholarship,
the scholarship will help you pay for your education, and in return, you will be required
to attend weekly military classes throughout your four years so that when you graduate,
you will become an officer.
If you want to attend a civilian school because you want all the flexibility and fun that
comes with it, you want to have the typical college experience, then this option is for
you.
Whichever route you take, whether it is the military college route, or civilian college,
or through ROTC, your degree can be in any subject of your choosing, it doesn’t matter
which course you go for.
What matters is how well you do in the college program, because your performance will determine
your competitiveness for any pilot training application.
I’m not advising you to do this, but I will rather take the easiest courses to make sure
I get straight A’s and maximize my GPA because the value of your GPA is very important.
A 3.5 GPA in Business will stand out more favorably than a 2.6 in Engineering.
You should choose a degree program in which you can maintain at least a 3.0, though you’re
a lot better off keeping your GPA even higher than that, just go for the highest score,
it doesn’t matter if you have an aeronautical engineering degree or cultural sciences.
If you can afford it, get your private pilot's license, get an instrument rating as well.
Learn the airspace, navigation, planning, and the rest.
Don't worry if you can't do this, because flying a Cessna is so different than what
you'll be doing, unless you've become truly proficient, it won't make much difference,
but the ground school however will make a difference.
Do something to gain leadership experience at college.
This can be a job, a school or club sports team, a civic organization, or some other
type of club.
It’s not good enough to just be a member of the organization.
You need a meaningful leadership position that you can list on your resume.
Network yourself because throughout your college career you need to build and maintain meaningful
relationships with those around you.
You’ll want 3-5 solid letters of recommendation from professors, bosses, mentors.
All cadets must have a standing height between 5’4” and 6’5”, and a sitting height
of 34–40 in, make sure that you fall within this height range because you need to fit
in comfortably in a fighter jet, you want to be too big or too small.
While being outside of this range is not always a ground for dismissal, you may be asked to
report for additional screenings to prove that your stature won’t be a liability during
training or operations.
There is a high standard when it comes to the vision of prospective fighter pilots because,
in a combat mission, you won’t always more than few seconds to tell an enemy and a wingmate
apart.
Not only must candidates possess near 20/20 vision uncorrected, but you must also be able
to pass several difficult tests that gauge your visual acuity, object recognition, depth
perception, and reaction time.
Even common sight defects such as partial color blindness or astigmatism could be enough
to disqualify you and put an end to your journey before it begins.
In rare cases, it may be possible for your commanding officers to request a waiver if
they think that you’d be a good candidate for a pilot position despite testing below
standard for vision.
Plan to apply no earlier than your senior year of college.
Send your applications out to every single fighter unit that you’d consider serving
in.
The more you apply to, the better your odds.
Finally, Apply early.
You can visit your local recruitment office to talk to a recruiter about getting your
start.
You can also apply online on the official website of the branch you’re interested
in joining.
The recruiter will schedule a time and date at which you’ll be expected to report to
a nearby Military Entrance Processing Station for evaluation.
Joining the military is a big commitment, one that comes with a high degree of responsibility
and potential risk, so you need to take some time to consider your options in-depth before
coming to a decision.
After completing your enlistment process and undergoing a thorough medical check-up, you’ll
be subjected to a series of physical challenges designed to test your basic level of fitness.
After the physical fitness test, you will take the fighter Aircrew Conditioning Test,
where you will be required to complete a minimum of 50 total repetitions across 5 different
strength exercises, which include the bench press, arm curl, leg press, and leg curl.
This exercise helps your body the body to withstand high amounts of G-forces in flight.
If you make it through the preliminary testing, you’ll start the IFT (initial flight training).
The Air Force’s Introductory Flight Screening is a 40-day program, which takes place in
both the classroom and the cockpit.
It consists of a total of 25 hours of Primary Flying Training, along with 58 hours of ground-based
education, where you will learn basic flight maneuvers in a Diamond DA40.
After the introductory flight screening, you will proceed to advanced flight training.
This is where you’ll really develop your chops as a pilot.
The course your training takes from this point on will vary depending on your specialization
and the branch you’re serving with.
As with your specialized undergraduate training, however, your time will still be split between
classroom learning, solo flying, and flight simulator sessions.
During this time, you’ll be stationed at an Air Force base, naval air station, or army
airfield, where your training will also be conducted, so you have to plan accordingly
in regards to your living arrangements and other practical considerations.
This stage could take you anywhere from 20 to 50 weeks to complete because it is one
of the most intensive training programs in the entire U.S. military.
At this stage, you will constantly train in the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II and master aerobatics,
instrument flying in low visibility, formation flying, barrel rolls, and the rest.
At the end of this step, you and your colleagues will be grouped into three parts:
-The first group are for those that will fly will fly the military transport and tankers
whose job will be to transport other aircraft, equipment, and even personnel from one location
to another, you are on this track, you will be trained in the Raytheon T-1 Jayhawk, in
the end, you will specialize either in the Lockheed C1 30 Super Hercules, the Boeing
C17 Globemaster, or the McDonnel’s Douglas KC10 Extender.
-The second group are those that will fly the fighter jets, if you are on this track,
you will be trained on the Northrop T-38 Talon, which is a two-seat supersonic jet trainer.
This is the route that will lead you to fly the F22’s, the F35’s, the F15’s and
16’s.
-The third and last group are for those that will fly helicopters, these guys will be trained
on the Bell UH1 Iroquois, this is the track that lands you on the likes of the Sikorsky
UH60 Black Hawk and the massive Boeing CH47 Chinook.
The group is based on merit, the best students can choose the plane their favorite plane,
this means that Your performance at pilot training relative to your peers will determine
the order in which you can choose your aircraft.
However, the needs of that particular branch of service will determine which aircraft are
available when it’s your turn to choose.
For example, if you’re ranked 5th in your pilot training class, and there are 5+ fighter
slots available, you will have the opportunity to pick one.
If on the other hand, there are only 3 fighter slots available, your dream of flying fighters
may be over forever, this means that you can’t just choose any airplane in your mind, some
people will actually choose the retired SR71 Blackbird if it works that way.
But the Air force makes the options based on their needs at that point, and you will
choose from what they made available.
At the end of this phase, you will be awarded an airplane, still once again: based on merit,
starting from the best student in the class, and you continue to train and fly that specific
type.
In the air force, you can never tell exactly which airplane you will fly at the end of
the day, at day one, you all will show up to fly may be fighters, but the truth is,
many will not make it through the initial screening phase, many will not make it through
the training phase, many will not end up flying an airplane at all, those that reach the finish
line will either fly military Transport Planes, Fighter jets, Maritime Patrol Planes, Reconnaissance
and Surveillance Planes, Bombers or tankers, that’s the sad reality of joining the air
force, but it is not exactly a sad reality though, because I will be proud of whatever
wing I earn and serve the country with it.
However, the only way to be sure you will fly fighter jets and also be sure of which
particular jet you fly is to join the Air National Guard or the Air Force Reserve, which
are basically backups for the Active-Duty Air Force, which is basically a part-time
job for most pilots.
One of the biggest benefits of the Guard and Reserve is that you only apply to the units
that you want to join.
You can be hired with no military experience to fly the Fairchild A10 Thunderbolt, F-15
Eagle, The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, or
the F-35 lightening 2.
Here, you don’t only have the benefit of knowing that you fly fighters and exactly
which one you will fly, you also know the location squadron you will be assigned to
for the rest of your career.
The Guard and Reserve also offer nice pay and benefits, and there is a pension for pilots
who give at least 20 years of service.
Earning pilot wings in the Guard or Reserve still obligates you to 10 years of service;
however, that service can be part-time.
You’ll still end up deploying, though there tends to be a lot more flexibility on when
and how often you go.
Most Guard and Reserve pilots have other full-time jobs.
If, on the other hand, you want to work full-time at your Guard or Reserve unit, there will
almost always be full-time orders available in most fighter squadrons.
The difference between the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve is not in the job
they do; the difference is whom they work for.
The Air Force Reserve is the Reserve branch for the United States Air Force.
They work for the Commander-in-Chief: the president, while the Air National Guard is
not a part of the active US Air Force.
The National Guard works for the Governor of the state in which they serve and their
job is to defend the residents of that state.
You can support us on patreon using the link in the description, a wiseman once said, subscribe
for more.