AF Pilot Wannabe

[lineguy]

Well I took JROTC for 4 years in high school, but because of reasons I chose not to take ROTC in College. I'm currently a Junior with a 2.5GPA as a General Business major at a Univeristy. I'm scheduled for a PPL checkride next week and plan to build up some time.

Now for the questions. What chances do I have as a walk in with a degree and a PPL license with a couple hundred hours? I know test scores will have a lot to do with it, but reallistically would I have a chance?

[frog_flyer]

get that gpa up and i've heard that for a guard pilot slot you want to have above 200 hours

[Customx]

Lineguy- here is a great link for you: http://www.dynamictruth.com/cgi-bin/...?ubb=forum;f=2

As you are still a junior, I would go to the ROTC office immediately. Usually you can still join ROTC in your 3rd year of college, but I'm almost certain it has to be BEFORE your junior year.

YOu need to get above a 2.5 in order to become an officer in the Navy or Air Force. I would think it would be the same for the Marines. I think your flying hours will help out your PCSM (?) score, but that GPA is going to kill you, unless you get some great letters of recommendation, and have a good excuse for such low grades. I think if you can pull your grades up, especially for the remainder of your junior and senior years, then you may have a shot. Take a look at that website, as they have some excellent information for people interested in Air Force pilot slots. Good luck~

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Customx

As you are still a junior, I would go to the ROTC office immediately. Usually you can still join ROTC in your 3rd year of college, but I'm almost certain it has to be BEFORE your junior year.

That's a good idea. You might be able to swing something like stay on for an extra semester or two to delay your graduation making what would be your senior year into a junior year. You could double major or pick up a minor or something. And ROTC might be willing to give you some scholarship dollars to do that (although with your low GPA, that might not happen).

There are more opportunities for ROTC than OTS. OTS is used to fill the slots that couldn't be filled by the Academy and ROTC, so you really won't know those figures until next year. With ROTC, you can lock into a slot now for a year or two down the line; with OTS, you'll have to wait until then to see how many slots there were. When I was in during the 90s, there were very, very few OTS classes, and even then, the opportunities were very limited (engineering, operations, radar controller, missileer slots).

But it can happen; MikeD went through OTS and onto a pilot slot during the 90s also.

[Windchill]

56/420 ... I'm told by a recruiter that was the number accepted to the number of applicants for OTS slots this past year.

I hear there is a need for pilots so the GPA may be lower (as much as I would love to be, that ship sailed when my unit took my slot due to a lazy eye during flight physical), anyhow, non-rated line officers must have a minimum 3.0 to apply for OTS.

I can't remember what minimum GPA guard units want to see. Guard units love to hire from within. I was selected without having completed my private pilot training ... mostly due to 1) Being in the unit, having deployed with/for the unit, etc. and 2) Good grades and great AFOQT scores.

With hindsight being 20/20 ... I perhaps woulda, shoulda, coulda gone ROTC in college ... but at that time I thought things were a sure bet with flying for my unit, or OTS not being so damn selective.

I would agree with the advice to seek out the ROTC office yesterday.