RANDOMDUDE13

This comes as a pleasant surprise that flying is still potentially on the table IF failing UPT occurs. I thought you had 1 chance at a USAF flying career regardless of seat, and if you failed, game over.

Thank you for the advice and sorry for the blabbering on my end. If I may ask, what is a SNAP?

Huggy, I just graduated with my undergrad degree back in the beginning of June. My preference is to serve in the Air Force as a pilot (absolutely zero shade to Naval Aviators). I intend on getting my PPL to hopefully have a shot at an ANG/AFR slot, and if that doesn't work out then the AD USAF is my next preference followed by the Navy. I have zero preference as to what I want to fly, and would be happy flying anything provided I get to serve while doing it. For reference I have only began studying for the AFOQT and ASTB respectively so I am very early in the process.

Sorry, I tend to be long winded.

Thank you for the response and will do to holding for current IP responses! I am not going to go into UPT if given the chance with an attitude of if I fail then what will happen, I was just genuinely curious as to if for some reason, what is now a dream for me were to not work out, what would my future entail after. I would assume that if I was selected and made it through all of the steps to get in the door at UPT, that the USAF has some confidence in my success, and I intend on running with that unless told otherwise.

My commissioning source would be, and only can be at this point in my life be OTS. I don't know how that would affect the requirements. I am obviously in no way planning on failing flight school, but if it were to occur, do those that fail out of UPT get to put in their job preference when getting a new AFSC, or is it where the Air Force decides without your preference and you happily oblige?

I have come to realize that probably learning the trade would be a much better idea than spreading potentially false statements all over the internet. If the mantra from the USAF Weapons School, humble, credible, and approachable were applied to my giving out information on aviation, 1 and 3 may be feasible, but 2 could potentially be tested due to what I would assure is a lack of knowledge of the topic on my end..especially with actual pilots potentially seeing my content.

I will then proceed to tell everyone I was meant for the Astronaut Corps haha. In all seriousness though, what actually does happen if a UPT student DORs or Attrites?

And there's one embarrassing moment for myself 🤦.

Ok, Thank You! On the heavy side of the house, do T-6 FAIPs that are assigned directly from the T-6 training go onto the T-1 sim then to their FAIP assignment, or is it straight UPT>IP Training>FAIP Assignment?

Sorry in advance for the weak google/forum searching. What happens if you drop out of/fail UPT? Do you stay in the Air Force and go onto a new career field, or are you kicked out of the Air Force? Sorry again if this has already been answered.

I am still interested if anyone has an answer. Pavehawks seem like an awesome bird with an awesome mission. I wouldn't mind flying them regardless of capacity (AD, ANG, AFR).

Sorry I did not see this post before this...lack of turning on notifications on my end. I would much rather STFU now than have to explain why I couldn't STFU back then. I really have zero clue reading this post almost 5 months later what the hell I was thinking even wanting to start a podcast, let alone an aviation related podcast. My aviation related knowledge currently in the grand scheme of things is that of a toddler trying to teach a College level English class. I have plenty of mess ups that aren't career wrecking and I would like to keep it that way. Thanks for the candid advice.

Thanks! I wasn't sure.

Curiosity killing the cat here. Do T-6 FAIPs go onto heavies now, or is it where they could track T-38s after their FAIP tour? Civilian here, just pure curiosity as to how assignments work currently out of USAF UPT.

Hello to all, I was talking with a friend who brought up a valid point, at least to my untrained civilian brain, of what would happen if you are hired by a unit, specifically if you are hired by a fighter unit and you cannot mentally make the cut. Reasons such as motion sickness, not liking pulling G's, etc, what happens if someone gets into training, was hired by a fighter unit and the candidate says "I cannot do this, I am not for this job?" I saw one current HC-130J pilot who was hired by an A-10 unit had something come up to where this was a decision he made to leave fighter training, but that is my only data point. -RANDOM

Thank you both! I wanted to come on here for this exact reason, candid and honest responses. I will heed this advice and not start a podcast. Thanks for the quick responses, -Random

Hello everyone, I have considered starting a podcast related to aviation, however I am coming to this forum for advice as to whether or not it would be a good idea before even securing any sort of military pilot slot. I would aim for my podcast to be somewhat informational and entertaining, but I don't want it to come across or be perceived that I am doing the podcast to show my ownself, rather the aviation professionals I would be interviewing. The absolute last thing I want to do is create a podcast, broadcast my face and make it to where, even if get past the commissioning phase, that I am viewed as some know-it-all asshole, even if I do my best to not portray being as such. I like the "Make them tell you no" mantra and the last thing I want to do is literally make them tell me know. Thanks in advance for any advice, -Random

I didn't think about the complete failures lol..my bad. I put this question out on the Make Them Tell You Know Facebook page, but never got a response. Compared to fighters and heavies, how competitive are HH-60 Guard/ Reserve slots?

@Biff_T Thank you for tagging me with this, and sorry for not responding sooner! Doing some very broad research and talking to military aviators from different platforms and different branches, I find it cool how everything (at least from my angle) in the military aviation realm seems to be an interwoven circle, where not one mission is more important than the other, and where each mission is reliant heavily on other platforms to accomplish the mission. Hence my personal opinion where I would be happy executing any mission and flying any DOD aircraft. If my inference above is wrong by all means correct me. Odd question about HH-60s based on the One's Ready Podcast. They mentioned how PJs are assigned to both STSs and RQSs. Are HH-60s solely assigned to RQSs, or are they assigned to STS as well?

I agree to the cool mission, saving lives is something personally I would be willing to go into harms way for. I have been interested in this mission for years since finding old clips of the Nat Geo documentary on the 38th RQS in Kandahar, Afghanistan on the show "Inside Combat Rescue" and subsequent research after. I don't know how to join two quotes^ my apologies. In all honesty the lack of hellfire and CAS in the USAF helo world is A-OK with me. Personally CSAR with the HH-60s would be my top choice for helos now learning about the issue with the Osprey mission set, but again I would be happy flying anything. Now an apology for the lack of research, but If I am correct, the USAF flies the Cv-22, HH-60, UH-1N, and the MH-139 for helos.. where UH-1s, and the MH-139 specialize in training, nuclear missile field protection, and VIP transport. Are there any other helicopters that I am missing, or any other mission sets I am missing.

FWIW, I am a college senior not even in the pipeline, so right now it's all a dream. I am interested in any mission, I want to serve my country as a pilot. That said, I would say the two missions that really, really, interest me are Close Air Support, and CSAR. However, missions like OCA, DCA, Airdrop, Air Assault, Air Refueling (NKAWTG!), etc, they are all interesting to me. I am not going to be heartbroken doing any of them, I just want to serve my country as a pilot...cliche I know, but I'm being honest here. I am not against serving in the other branches of the military either, if the USAF, be-it AD/AFR/ANG doesn't work out.

Thanks for the advice! Honestly any piece of information regarding the pilot career field I value as I am still trying to get into the pipeline (college senior FWIW). I was fortunate to see 2 USMC Ospreys conduct a flyover for a local event. Saw them practice right over my house as we are in the flight path for the flyover, then got to see them startup and takeoff, then recover and shutdown at our local airport, where they were staging. It was pretty epic and definitely sparked the interest in the aircraft, seeing them do their run up within 200-300 feet from me and the sound of the rotors basically going through me. So not necessarily the most interested in that specific mission set, but there is definitely an interest there.

Wow, thank you both! I honestly did not take into account how the crashes would effect the community as far as flight time and overall health of the community. I guess here's another question, are there senior (like a first tour pilot) Osprey pilots being forced out of the community, or electing to attempt to leave the community for another due to the uncertainty of the future and the current situation?

Hello all, This is more of a "curiosity killed the cat" post, and a post that may have been answered somewhere I cannot find on this forum, so my apologies in advance for the weak searching capabilities. Cutting to the chase, how does CV-22 Osprey assignments happen out of pilot training. I have read that dropping the Osprey only occurs out of the newer HTN training pipeline, but I have also read that you can drop the Osprey from the T-38 and the T-1 through the typical T-6 UPT. Could a UPT grad for example, drop the Osprey from say the T-1 track? I look forward to reading any and all information given, -Random