Expert: David A. NewMyer - 4/12/2006

Question
David,
My son is a HS junior. He would like to fly a helicopter for medvac as a career. I would like to see him get a college degree as well. We went to Embry Riddle for a tour and talked to AF ROTC. It seemed rather discouraging that he could go through school and ROTC and possibly never get to fly. Also they don't teach helicopter flight there.  I spoke to Army Rotc and they said best way for him to fly was to enlist rather than ROTC.I'm afraid if he did that he would not get a college degree. We certainly could use the help with scholarships. Any suggestions.  Thanks  Mary

Answer
Hi, Mary:

Nice to hear from you, I will try to assist.

My nephew is an Army Helicopter pilot and entered the military as an enlisted person and then, after two years, became a Warrant Officer and a pilot in the Army.  He did all of that AFTER earning his college degree.  But, he also did it before 2003, so, he did not worry about having to fight a war as an enlisted guy before going to Warrant Officer school.  He is glad he did it that way in that he was sure he wanted to fly but also found that, once he entered the Army, it was difficult to find time for anything else (like going to school to get a degree).  So, what the Army recruiter told you is essentially correct HOWEVER:  You CAN also enter directly via the Warrant Officer program and become a pilot without going into the enlisted ranks first.  The advantage of this approach is that, by going enlisted, you might be challenged to make a move within the military depending on what is going on in terms of world events.  Going directly to the warrant officer program AFTER your college degree gives you some options in the Army, too.  I would suggest doing it that way.

Regarding ROTC, the only other suggestion that I would have is for him to investigate the US Air Force ROTC at any campus he might attend....they (the USAF) fly helicopters, too.  And, commissioned officers tend to fly aircraft more in the Air Force than they do in the Army, which is why Army ROTC is not a great path to becoming a pilot in the Army (the Army uses Warrant Officers for their pilots....warrant officers do not require college degrees, although many have them).

Another thing that he could do is get a college degree, in aviation, preferably, and then do the helicopter flight training on the side THROUGH A CIVILIAN flight training organization.  Now, keep in mind that the military trains the vast majority of helicopter pilots out there, that is true.  But, there are more being trained via the civilian schools every day.

See below for references for civilian flight training information:

Midwest Helicopter, St. Louis at www.flymidwest.com

Vertical Reference website:  www.verticalreference.com  Has a listing of additional school, jobs, etc.

Or, do a google search via www.google.com to find more such contacts.

I hope that this answer helps!  Email another question to AllExperts.com if you need anything else.

Sincerely,

David A. NewMyer, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Aviation Management and Flight
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
http://www.aviation.siu.edu