Keydet

I had zero flight hours before IFS. 10 hours plus IFS will typically wrap it up, especially if you can find a DA-20 to finish up in. There are plenty of flight schools in the San Antonio area that will assist you in getting it done. The transition flight at the squadron will have all that info. Ballpark estimate would probably be around $3,000 based on renting the aircraft, instructor fees for dual sorties, and paying for the FAA checkride. I topped it off a little bit because you will be doing some driving to get to either airport (~30-45 minutes one way), so gotta figure car gas, too.

HiFlyer is in the ballpark. You will satisfy most of the requirements for a PPL through the Doss IFS RPA track. It's unfortunate that RPA students are not allowed to land on solo cross-countries, because we actually DO all of it, except are only allowed to do low-approaches at the out fields. Pretty much everything else counts towards the PPL, though. I am finishing up mine right now and the main things you will have to focus on are: - A few more night time landings. Two night flights are done at Doss, but they most are just touch and go's. - Cross country solo time. You'll have to tack another flight or two on to get checked out at another flight school to go solo x-country. - Precheck, checkride stuff. All in all, I am ten hours away from finishing it. Lots of folks take the opportunity while at San Antonio to finish up the license. Can easily be done in two months at a moderate pace.

Just as an aside while this thread is totally derailing, I will still answer any questions for anyone legitimately seeking answers about the 18X career field.

Now to use an e-mail system that doesn't highlight drafts as much as Gmail.

Haha, there's actually a thread somewhere around here where someone comments on RPAs having drops.

From the beginning, I've always had the mindset that if the current benefits are tweaked for the worse, I would punch as soon as I could. However, if changes are brought about that bring the system more in line with civilian wages and it basically saves money by cutting out subpar performers only sticking around for 20-year pension, I might be able to live with that. It's been mentioned in prior posts, but the constant deployments and the blank check on overtime when the government needs me to work 60-hour work weeks at home should be seen as a reason to compensate a little better than joe-schmo working the cubicle 40-hours a week.

The famous short answer: It depends. Those numbers are roughly correct concerning the pipeline, but casual status in between class dates (IFS, RIQ, RFC, and FTU) are all up in the air. You could come on active duty, sit for five months and then go to IFS. Or you could come on active duty and go to IFS two weeks later. This applies for the latter three classes, as well. You could come back from IFS and sit another two months before a slot opens for RIQ. Mileage varies, of course. If you are a cross-trainer coming in as part of an extended TDY to Randolph, you typically will class up pretty quickly and then return to your permanent station until you TDY-en-route to Holloman. And yes, you can drop Reapers out of Randolph. It is becoming the norm now, rather than the exception to the rule. Yes trolls, har har, RPA pilots compete for their airframe. Edit: Didn't see Landfill's post prior to writing this. Spot on.

Hello everyone! I figured I'd finally attempt to get acquainted with the community rather than just lurk the boards endlessly. I came into the service last year as one of the first 18X officers behind the beta classes for the RPA pipeline. There is not a lot of information on what potential and impending 18X'ers will face in the training process, outside of the guys that got non-vol'd or didn't go through the entire program. I figured I would at least cast the thread out there and attempt to shed any light on questions others might have on it. I'm by no means an expert, but finishing up the training program here at Holloman right now, I'm pretty fresh out of the Randolph schoolhouse. Looking forward to getting into the convo's on the other parts of the board!