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Flight Hours


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I'd like to start by saying I know this is a vague question and can potentially be seen as silly but, I wanted to ask.

 

Are Army aviators getting a good amount of hours? Does it matter if your WO or Commissioned?

 

Some of what I've read says the fleet is having difficulty meeting minimums. In the grand scheme of things I suppose any flight time is better than none, but I was curious.

 

 

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My unit expects 250/year which is considered "good compared to many other units" which are just getting minimums. The thing is, these things change with time. At the peak of both wars pilots were getting stupid amounts of flight time on deployment (750+).

 

The only thing I can tell you for sure is don't join the Army for the flight time. Make sure there is another very very good reason. My civilian counterparts have tripled or quadrupled me in flight time, and we started civilian flight school at the same time. Keep in mind also that you will not fly for at least a year during the first half of the pipeline (BCT, WOCS, SERE, WOBC, bubbles, etc).

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I fly in a CAB with an unlimited flying hour budget. In fact, my last one was too. I flew 450 hours in Korea in the 15 months I was there, and at Bragg I am averaging 40 hours a month as a 47IP.

 

However, experiences will vary GREATLY.

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Whether you like it or not, your officer evaluation does not have a thing to do with aviation. Additional duties make a commander or platoon leader look good. Always keep this in mind. The time you are not spending on the flight line as a W/O, should be dedicated to additional duties, supply, comsec, alse, safety, motor pool etc... Flight time is OK if you want to be an IP. You want to be at the head of the pack on all OERs. Do not neglect your non-aviation duties or you will be looking at promotion pass-overs. Just some experienced words of Wisdom.

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Whether you like it or not, your officer evaluation does not have a thing to do with aviation. Additional duties make a commander or platoon leader look good. Always keep this in mind. The time you are not spending on the flight line as a W/O, should be dedicated to additional duties, supply, comsec, alse, safety, motor pool etc... Flight time is OK if you want to be an IP. You want to be at the head of the pack on all OERs. Do not neglect your non-aviation duties or you will be looking at promotion pass-overs. Just some experienced words of Wisdom.

 

 

Exactly, everyone is a pilot, it's what you do outside of aviation duties that separates you from your peers. I took the job of assistant S3 in a unit because my tracked job wasn't available. It wasn't my dream job, but it was what the unit needed, and it was a step forward in my career in regards to how my BC rated me.

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I'm not in the unit but I know that the Illinois Army National Guard is required to fly 48 hours every 6 months and they get an additional 72 AFTPs a year (36 full days or 72 four hour periods.).

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You won't fly during the bubbles, you say? ;-)

 

Can confirm.

 

Three more months until I start the Apache course. Maybe I should take up drone racing.

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I agree... don't join any service just for the hours. All services have their pros and cons, so do your research. I will be happy to share my experiences as a Navy and Coast Guard helo pilot.

 

I can tell you that we do fly a lot in the Coast Guard. I just looked at my log book. In my 9 years as a Navy pilot, and 10 years as a Coastie, I have been averaging about 260 hrs per year. Some years more, some less. But, staying in the cockpit now seems like an anomaly, and I am a bit of a dinosaur among youngins'.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since I got to my first unit, I have averaged 19 hours a month. Some months I've flown 0 and the highest so far has been 43. I'm also in a unit with a high flight hour/pilot ratio. We don't have a ton of flight hours, but we don't have very many pilots either. Based on all the other pilots at my unit, we (the pilots) fly more than many other units.

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Kona,

 

Averaged over a 5 year period, we probably only fly slightly more than a conventional aviator. The difference is the pace is always steady, there is no post deployment re-sets, etc. it's a continuous hi-tempo training cycle followed by a deployment, repeat. For the duration of your career.

 

Mike-

Sounds awesome to me. How hard is it to go from Guard to SOAR?

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