Ask a Flight School Student

[nil5038]

12 hours ago, Ragnar said:

One thing you will learn in flight school is priorities. It’s not hard. If you keep your head in the books all day, everyday, you will only make your time here sickening. That’s not to say, don’t study. You just gotta know when enough is enough. The instructors will give you all the tools to make it through. If you f**k off you could still pass with at least a 70 average...... and you’ll fly Blackhawks for sure (eww). 

That’s actually one aspect of army flight school I was wondering about. Other than being higher on the OML for airframe, are there any benefits to kicking ass in flight school?

in the AF if you do especially well you can get a slot in Enjjpt which all but guarantees you a fighter or bomber slot. You also get higher preference for where you get stationed as well as some other small perks. I like that competitive nature.

[Thedude]

16 minutes ago, nil5038 said:

That’s actually one aspect of army flight school I was wondering about. Other than being higher on the OML for airframe, are there any benefits to kicking ass in flight school?

in the AF if you do especially well you can get a slot in Enjjpt which all but guarantees you a fighter or bomber slot. You also get higher preference for where you get stationed as well as some other small perks. I like that competitive nature.

Not really. There is essentially no difference between the guy who was top of the OML and selected blackhawks or the guy who was last on the OML and got hawks because it was the only thing left. Duty station preference is basically meaningless, the Army will assign you wherever they want even if it wasn't on the list of options given to you at selection. Pretty much the only motivation to do well is to ensure you have the highest chance of  picking the airframe you want to fly. 

[Crash7051]

On 9/18/2020 at 3:51 AM, TheSmallLebowski said:

Are you referring to before WOCS? I believe I had 10 days from leaving home to reporting in with HHC.

 

No... How long between WOCS and the start of flight school?

[eyrk]

1 hour ago, Crash7051 said:

No... How long between WOCS and the start of flight school?

Post WOCS you have 10 days of free leave essentially, if you need to leave the current restriction of 150 miles you'll need to submit an ETP. The duration between wocs and wobc can vary but currently in going on a month and a few weeks waiting for wobc. Hopefully get bumped up soon cause it was supposed to be two months between the two for me. 

[Huachuca172]

was the flight physical screening process at Rucker more or less relaxed than the typical first flight physical? I barely passed the vision requirement without a waiver (low contrast sensitivity) and I am scared that when I go there I won't be able to pass again and I haven't seen anything about the probabilities of getting a waiver for that. 

[Crash7051]

23 hours ago, eyrk said:

Post WOCS you have 10 days of free leave essentially, if you need to leave the current restriction of 150 miles you'll need to submit an ETP. The duration between wocs and wobc can vary but currently in going on a month and a few weeks waiting for wobc. Hopefully get bumped up soon cause it was supposed to be two months between the two for me. 

So for the street to seat guys, this is when you get billeting and would move your stuff? After you get pinned WO1?

[Soon2be2LT]

Is it true that Airframe slots are now divided by Rank? Ex. Army needs 6 WO for ch47 and 6 Ah64 CO?

I had a buddy go through and they said basically all the O's got Apaches...

[Influke]

11 minutes ago, Soon2be2LT said:

Is it true that Airframe slots are now divided by Rank? Ex. Army needs 6 WO for ch47 and 6 Ah64 CO?

I had a buddy go through and they said basically all the O's got Apaches...

That certainly would be disappointing.. 

[Thedude]

1 hour ago, Soon2be2LT said:

Is it true that Airframe slots are now divided by Rank? Ex. Army needs 6 WO for ch47 and 6 Ah64 CO?

I had a buddy go through and they said basically all the O's got Apaches...

It's always been that way with separate OMLs and airframe numbers for warrants and RLOs. 

[TheSmallLebowski]

On 9/22/2020 at 1:38 PM, Crash7051 said:

No... How long between WOCS and the start of flight school?

As another poster said, you get 10 days of "leave" then wait for a WOBC date, for me it was a 2-3 week wait. Was at Honors that whole time. Plenty of time to take care of personal things.

[TheSmallLebowski]

On 9/22/2020 at 7:35 PM, Huachuca172 said:

was the flight physical screening process at Rucker more or less relaxed than the typical first flight physical? I barely passed the vision requirement without a waiver (low contrast sensitivity) and I am scared that when I go there I won't be able to pass again and I haven't seen anything about the probabilities of getting a waiver for that. 

I felt like my physical at Fort Knox was more thorough than the one here at Rucker. That's not to say I haven't seen people get caught up during the physical. I don't remember the exact time frame but I think they give you 90-120 days to apply for waivers and such. I was in that situation after a medical issue popped up during training and was able to get a waiver within 30 days. 

[SBuzzkill]

You’ll never have another physical as thorough as your first one.  “Anything wrong with you?  Ok here’s your upslip.”

[mike0331]

The initial physical at Rucker is pretty thorough. Full eye work-up, blood work, anthro, etc 

[jkray]

Supposedly there are two different types of flight physicals. The “long form” which is essentially what you get as an applicant and at Rucker, then the “short form” which is what you get at your units. From what I have been told once you leave Rucker the short form is the standard one and the long one happens once every 5 years or so

[mike0331]

Yea I had the short form between my first long form and coming here (Guard). It’s a bit quicker. 

[SBuzzkill]

IIRC the long form goes by age.  Every time you pass 5.  20, 25, 30...  And it’s just a few more tests.  After leaving Rucker I had 2 long forms and 5 short.

Each duty station does the testing appointments differently.  Some require briefings, some are walk in, some give you the packet, etc.  Some of mine I got done in half a day, others took me weeks to get the checklist done.

None of them were as thorough as my first one.  As long as nothing is wrong with you they’re just checkups.

Edited September 24, 2020 by SBuzzkill

[eyrk]

I just had my flight physical here at rucker, gotta be short form style. Did some visual acuity tests and the usual hearing etc. Basically a full medpros and that's it. Some people needed follow ups, others skipped sections I did completely like no labs. Again your first is gonna be way more in depth 

[doc.keltie]

What are the chances of snagging blackhawk? Is it more competitive for them, or are there usually plenty of slots?

[Thedude]

13 minutes ago, doc.keltie said:

What are the chances of snagging blackhawk? Is it more competitive for them, or are there usually plenty of slots?

You'll almost always be able to get a Blackhawk if that's what you want. Half the fleet in the Army consists of 60s.

[AriX17]

On 9/23/2020 at 11:06 PM, Soon2be2LT said:

Is it true that Airframe slots are now divided by Rank? Ex. Army needs 6 WO for ch47 and 6 Ah64 CO?

I had a buddy go through and they said basically all the O's got Apaches..

Someone,  deny or proove it...

[SBuzzkill]

Deny or prove what?  That WO and Os select from different choices?  Of course they do, they always have and always will.  That’s how manning works.

[AriX17]

1 hour ago, SBuzzkill said:

 That WO and Os select from different choices?

 Soon2be2LT has meant otherwise in his post.

[Thedude]

4 hours ago, AriX17 said:

 Soon2be2LT has meant otherwise in his post.

He is wrong. 

[Soon2be2LT]

22 hours ago, AriX17 said:

 Soon2be2LT has meant otherwise in his post.

TheDude and SBuzzkill answered my the intent of my question. Are there 2 Separate lists of available airframes divided by rank. The answer was yes. Not sure what you are getting at.

[AriX17]

On 9/30/2020 at 11:49 PM, Soon2be2LT said:

Not sure what you are getting at.

From youre post it was like airframes from those list are separate to.