Helicopters or Fighter Jets? Be honest.

[TriViper]

I can tell you that we are not deployed and there are more hours available to fly at the moment than we have pilots (PCs and IPs) to fly them.

 

64s have 70 hour mimimums semi annually of which 12 can be sim hours. So even at the bare minimums you will be getting 116 hours a year. Everyone here is currently on track to do better than that.

 

All brand new Army pilots in general should expect to fly about minimums, regardless of airframe at least initially. Rookie fresh out of flight school pilots are the last priority for flight time. Get your minimums, stay current, stay in the books, these things will lead to more flight time, a PC ride, and a track which will lead to more flight time.

 

If you are joining the Army to build your logbook, in a non deployed environment, be prepared to be patient, pick 60s and track IP. Otherwise, pick the airframe that has the mission you want.

 

In a deployed envrionment, if you want flight time, pick 64s, you will fly more than you want.

 

Are most (or all) of the Apaches now the Longbow, or do they still have the older version?

[brackac]

Where is the "Helicopter Jet" option? I've seen Airwolf. I know they exist.

[Fliesbecauseracecar]

Can't talk about the afterburners or the stealth button. Nothing to see here, move along.

[Fliesbecauseracecar]

Was going to wait for a new thread to answer, but since he is actually the OP, all Apaches are D models, with the E models in the process of being fielded.

[Joe_P148]

There are so many limitations of fixed wing. What's the point of going really fast? You're the only person who gets to enjoy it...

 

The helicopter mission is awesome, your low to the ground, doors removed, possibly passengers and able to influence the battle wether through maneuver, fire support or logistically.

 

Fixed Wing is cool, and dropping JDAMs is cool but most of the time the only thing I've ever seen a fighter come below FL010 was to land or do a show of force, which the Taliban doesn't really care about.

 

You can keep fixed wing, I enjoy being the bastard of aviation as a helo guy.

[2ndGen]

If you were to throw timeframes into consideration, I would choose to fly A6 Intruders or F105 Thunderchiefs into North Vietnam over anything else in any branch or any time. That being said, the closest you will be to 'in the sh*t' in this day and age is Army Helos (and Probably the Corps' as well).

 

I saw Apaches tear sh*t up downrange, never saw anything from a fixed wing guy except a 'show of force' that was totally worthless. (they just stop shooting, wait till he's gone, and start shooting again).

[Hotdogs]

<-- Didn't have jet grades. There's a minimum score you need to even select the pipeline and then pass the FRS syllabus afterwards (and that score doesn't include your PT score). The learning curve is steep and some still wash out after wings. The boat and the Harrier pipeline are infamous for attrition. I didn't really care for jets, so I wasn't broken up about it, and up until about 2 years ago there was also minimum for Ospreys but that went away, or so I heard. That being said, the amount a firepower a F/A-18 or Harrier can sling is nothing short of awesome. I'd also wager that going to the merge and doing ACM against another jet pulling G's would be exhilarating as well. So yes, given the opportunity, I would do it in a heartbeat. Little known fact is that I have had more than one VFA/VMFA dude come up and say they'd love to have a chance in a Whiskey or Yankee. It's not exactly one sided.

[akscott60]

Oh sure. VMFA guy I know that flew GW1 and deployed to AFG multiple times said he would do Whiskeys if he had the choice all over again.