Rated Flyer 4 Life

I know I personally would be interested in it. I’m considering the airline/UPT IP gig as something down the road because it seems like it might be easier to keep up with all the beans than my current gig. Plus from what I’ve been told, it sounds like being a UPT IP has a lot of flexibility in terms of days you have to work and when you work…plus no deployments

Thanks for the explanation! Definitely interesting to see what happens with all this.

Are they really trying to have everyone go T-7s? So it’s back to how it used to be then. Are they going to take T-6/T-1 IPs and eventually train them on the T-7 as well?

How often are the units looking for Reserve IPs for T-6/T-38? Is it pretty competitive?

I am considering this because of the type of flying and possible schedule flexibility…besides the commuting to Enid/Del Rio/Columbus…is Randolph an option? Are there any other requirements that haven’t been discussed?

I’m not sure what is in your cover letter, but the only thing I can think of is maybe you’re coming across as too much of an airline guy on paper. You should definitely emphasize your military desires as much as possible in the cover letter, only mention you’re an airline pilot because you have to but otherwise everything else needs to be about how bad you want to be a military pilot. With the current fighter situation and the amount of slots…I would seriously expand your search to the unsponsored reserve board or look into AFSOC OA-1K or ACC heavies like the HC-130J and do Spec Ops/Rescue if not fighters. Consider bombers as well. B-1 is not a bad option if you still want to fly fast…it just breaks a lot lol.

So is this affecting all slots or just Guard? Any word from the reserves? Active Duty?

If they were to go single track, I wonder if there would be an opportunity for former T-1 IPs/heavy type pilots to be retrained / TX as IPs for the T-7?

I ended up making it work for now for my family situation. On military leave from the airlines so it’s all good.

OP, I would definitely look at your civilian opportunities to fly down the road. You will make more money at the airlines and have a better quality of life. Airlines are still hiring pretty well with all the retirements. Don’t beat yourself up too much over this. Other opportunities are out there.

Yeah that is solid advice. Thanks!

Yes. I was the one who made the decision at the time to change tracks. There’s a lot more to the decision. Lot of it was personal life/dealing with my wife/birth of our first child situations going on at the time. I'm sure the chances are pretty low, but I still want to do it, if it happens. If not then at least I gave it my all.

So they responded by just saying that they don’t have a specific rated board, and it’s case by case basis. They are most likely only hiring current and qualified fighter pilots.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I may reach out to them to see. I’m still friends with a lot of them on social media.

It’s a long story, but basically during UPT I decided to switch tracks from fighter to heavy. My original fighter unit is the one that gave me the slot. I went on to fly for a heavy unit. I’m starting to miss that fighter unit that I originally got hired by a few years ago. Would I be crazy to try and apply for a rated board with them?