types of Jobs after commitment

[Rookie02]

I'm in the process of trying to decide whether or not to submit my Warrant Officer packet which I have been putting together for the past year or go the civilian route. Can anybody here tell me what kind of employment a military pilot usually can procure after their 6 year term is up? From what I understand, if I do 6 years in the Army I would come out with around 1,000 hours depending on airframe; is this true? So I've looked at the employment listings here and have tried to correlate that amount of hours with jobs a pilot would be qualified for, but I'm not sure how it works. Again, assuming 1,000 hours is what I would have and since it would be all turbine time, I'm not sure what types of jobs I would be competitive for. I'm assuming entry level turbine jobs, say ENG, but I have Noo I idea. If anybody here could give me a ballpark idea of hours I would have and what jobs I could acquire, I would be very thankful.

 

As always thanks to all for your advice,

 

Jereme

Edited July 24, 2007 by Rookie02

[JDHelicopterPilot]

I'm in the process of trying to decide whether or not to submit my Warrant Officer packet which I have been putting together for the past year or go the civilian route. Can anybody here tell me what kind of employment a military pilot usually can procure after their 6 year term is up? From what I understand, if I do 6 years in the Army I would come out with around 1,000 hours depending on airframe; is this true? So I've looked at the employment listings here and have tried to correlate that amount of hours with jobs a pilot would be qualified for, but I'm not sure how it works. Again, assuming 1,000 hours is what I would have and since it would be all turbine time, I'm not sure what types of jobs I would be competitive for. I'm assuming entry level turbine jobs, say ENG, but I have Noo I idea. If anybody here could give me a ballpark idea of hours I would have and what jobs I could acquire, I would be very thankful.

 

As always thanks to all for your advice,

 

Jereme

 

Ps. the picture on the left is not me, it's my friend. If you saw that pic and thought it was me, you might think I wouldn't be competitve enough to get a job mowing your lawn.

First off, thank you very much for your continued service to our Country!!!!

 

I am just going to run with what you have told me. I am not nor have I ever been in the military. It's really up to you. It's going to be two very different lives to choose from. If what you say, after 6 years in the military you'll have around 1,000 hours? Granted all turbine time but this is not much in the civilian world. With that time you'll be able to fly off shore in the Gulf, tours in Alaska or Grand Canyon. There are some other small oportunites you may find but those are hard to come by. Right now ENG is looking for about 1,500 hours with at least some time in type. The comon types would be the Bell 206 or Astar 350. EMS is looking for at least 2,000-3,000 hours with emphasis on night time and turbine time.

If you decide to train in the civilian world and make it full time it will be faster to get into a civilian helicopter pilot career. School would take about 18 months, flight instruct for another 18 months and you'll have 1,000 hours. Fly in the Gulf or Alaska or the Canyon after that. Most likely in an Astar for the tours and Bell 206 or 407 to start in the Gulf. After a year maybe less in the Gulf you'll be able to move into mediums. With that experiance you can go anywhere.

That said, in 2-3 years you would have 1,000 hours PIC, and after 6 years depending on what job you took you could have around 4,000-5,000 total time. Quite a bit more than what the military guy would have at the same time.

 

Military flying however is quite different from what we do. It may really appeal to you or it may not vs civilian flying for 6 years. Anyway, hope this helps some. Again, it's really up to you to do what you feel is best and how you want to spend the next 6 years of your life. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to our Country.

 

 

JD

 

PS. I know someone who came out of the Marines with 3,000 hours. Mostly CH47's I think and I am not sure how long he was in either. Might want to double check again the average hours a military pilot could expect after 6 years.

[Voluptuary5]

Rookie,

 

It’s my impression (and experience) that Army Aviation doesn’t like to hear you plan to do your six (which by the way starts after you complete flight school so your total enlistment is more like 7-8 years) and get out. Just a little friendly advice, but I wouldn’t go boasting that to loudly around the higher-ups.

 

To answer your question, it is my understanding that because the military training is so specialized, military pilots come into the civilian sector highly qualified for some jobs and underqualified for others. Of course it also depends on what you do/fly in the Army.

 

For what it’s worth,

 

-V5