Expert: MARK A. HOWELL - 8/20/2009

Question
I'll keep this brief. I'm currently enlisted. I'm almost done with OCS. I have my private pilot and instrument rating right now, and by the time I get commissioned, I'll have my commercial, CFI, and maybe CFII in addition to my current ratings. Assuming I make it through the rest of OCS and TBS, and continue on to API, how good are my chances of passing there? I read one of your responses and you stated that there is an 80% failure rate, with the hardest aspects being weather knowledge and basic pilot knowledge. I have a VERY good grasp on the things you hit on, partially due to the university doing an outstanding job of teaching me.

Since the beginning of high school, military aviation has been my calling, and I have been setting myself up for success ever since. Hopefully it will pay off.

Do prior pilots have a much better success rate throughout flight training and/or API? If I stay my course, should I have an advantage to everyone else?

Answer
Pavel,
I'm glad you did your homework and researched my previous answers.  Yes, prior pilots have a tremendous advantage over those who are learning it for the first time.  About the only thing you'll have to learn is that the military uses UHF radio frequencies instead of VHF civilian radio frequencies, and we use TACANs instead of VORs.  Remember when you learned that if you see somebody squawking 0000 it meant get the heck out of the way, a military jet is scrambling?  Well, your fellow classmates will still be trying to figure out what "squawk" means.
I entered OTS with a commercial license with instrument, multi-engine land, single-engine sea, and multi-engine sea ratings.  Believe me, I breezed through while the others were studying night and day trying to keep up.  My closest competitor had 12 hours in a Cessna 150.

It will definitely pay off.  You'll be one of the success stories.

Thanks for serving!
Colonel H