Expert: Rod Powers - 11/11/2009

Question
Dear Mr. Powers,
I am 23 year old university student who has rekindled a old flame for flying fighters in the U.S air force.  My circumstances though have found me with a wife and 2 year old daughter.  Naturally, I am curious about the amount of time I would be spending working as a fighter pilot.  i realize there is much sacrifice to be had, but I was hoping you would be able to shed some light oin this subject and give me a truly sobering picture of how much time I would be spending away from my family.  Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Patrick,

It's not easy to become a fighter pilot in the Air Force. Ever since the movie "Top Gun" came out, everyone and his brother wants to become a fighter pilot.

All fighter pilots are commissioned officers. All commissioned officers must have a minimum of a bachelor's degree. To be competitive for an Air Force commission (OTS), the average selectee has a "hard science" degree (such as areospace engineering, chemestry, electronics, physics, ect.), with a minimum 3.4 GPA. Those with "soft" degrees (such as history, English, philosophy, etc.), aren't competitive for Air Force commissions (although exeptions are often made for pilot candidates who score *very* high on the pilot portion of the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test).

If selected for commission and flight training, you'll first attend undergraduate pilot training for about 9 months or so. This is "basic flight school," and your duty days will be pretty much M-F from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. But, you'll have ALOT of off-duty study.

There is no guarantee that you'll get fighters after you graduate UPT. Preferences are made by "class standing." In other words, the top 20 percent of the class is more likely to get their first choice than the bottom 20 percent of the class.

If you do get fighters, you then go to basic fighter training (about 6 months). Again, this is basically M-F, 7 to 5, with lot's of off-duty homework study. Upon graduation, you give preferences for your specific airframe choice (F-15s, F-16s, F-22s, ect). Again, class standing plays into the selection.

Then you go to school for the specific airframe (about six months). Like the other schools, it's basically M-F, 7 to 5, with lots of homework.

You then go to an operational squadron. Duty hours are generally 10 to 12 hour days, and can either be nights or days, depending on the flying schedule that week.

Air Force fighter pilots deploy a lot to areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan. They also deploy to other areas periodically for training exercises. You can expect to be deployed about 6 to 8 months out of every year.

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my US Military information site at: http://usmilitary.about.com

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
About.com US Military Guide
http://usmilitary.about.com