Expert: Eric Shangle - 10/18/2007

Question
Is there a maximum age to fly fighter jets for the military

Answer
Adam,
This is not as easy of a question to answer as you would think.  There are age restrictions for "entering" the service.  This would preclude someone of a certain age from event getting the chance to go to flight school.  Each service and individual community within each service has its own restrictions.  Your best bet would be to talk to an OFFICER recruiter for the Navy and/or Air Force.

There are more opportunities to fly fighter jets in the Navy actually.  Most people don't realize this.

Once in the military, there are no specific set age limits for flying.  It all depends on your overall health.  Also, after a certain point in ones career your job transitions from operational to more administrative and planning.  This would mean that a pilot would stop flying tactically at a certain point.  Or, if their health deteriorated, they would not be flying.  Sometimes this does correspond to age, but age is not a necessary requirement for flying.

I hope that this does help.
Eric