Rated Flyer 4 Life

At what point is it appropriate to consider switching units? If you’re a new guy should you at least do 2-3 yrs? I know there may not be a standard answer, but curious to discuss

Cool cool. MC-130J AC

Hah…are you even a pilot? Maryland is having a UPT board too if you wanna shoot your shot.

So I saw that Maryland is having a rated A-10 board for all rated pilots… So if a rated non fighter pilot gets picked up would they have to still do a T-38 course or would they just go straight to IFF or even the A-10 B course? I’m glad to see a fighter unit open up a board to all pilots. But curious on what that would entail for training.

Are there any Navy reserve fighter units that would take an Air Force pilot and transition to an F/A-18?

I know one guy in the unit. He told me he’s headed to the TX course later this year. I heard they are supposed to get jets like in the fall. Not sure of anything else yet.

Funny you mention Ft Wayne because that’s the same situation I’m seeing too with a potential opportunity. I’m from IND and I know some of those guys won’t want to transition from A-10 to F-16. So you never know.

Sounds like the timing has to be right for it to work. I wonder for the people it has worked out for, if that was the main factor. Either that or politics/networking?

I know it’s early, but any idea if there will be opportunities to learn the T-7 even if coming from a non T-38 background? What are they thinking about doing with all the T-1 IPs? Are they just going to transfer and do something else?

When transferring units, is the TX course totally dependent on your background and the new airframe or would one have to go thru a whole process regardless? How long are most TX courses?

You have too much time on your hands to worry about one word in my post.

To differentiate between UPT boards vs Rated boards

I guess anything soon might be possible. Did you hear about how they are hiring civilian CFIs to instruct in the T-6?

I have a friend who is a rated fixed wing Rescue Pilot on the HC-130J. If he wanted to one day transition to another airframe in the Reserves what would that process look like? Is Rescue to Bomber or Rescue to Fighter/Attack possible?

Well good to know it’s not impossible. I guess you have to just find units where it all lines up. Seems like timing is everything. if I a guy were to transition from heavy to fighter what would the process look like?

Anyone have experience with transitioning airframes in their career with the guard/reserve? How long did you give a unit before you made the switch? How hard is it to go from fighter to heavy or heavy to fighter/bomber?

What if someone is in the same command or field, but wants to transition? For example, Rescue and Bombers fall within the CAF, but if they wanted to switch to Fighter? Same process as Mobility to Fighter?

Thank you for answering the genuine question I had and not being ridiculous about it. I Appreciate the professionalism man.

Hah. That’s funny. I actually got picked up with a fighter squadron a couple years back. I’m just trying to get more people on board. There’s quite a bit of good heavy dudes I know who I think would be solid in a fighter.

You seem like a joy to fly with

If that’s the case then why would guard/reserve units still hire a MAF TX guy?

The Air Force won’t be able to retain pilots by throwing more money at us because the airlines just pay too much, but I do think if they let pilots fly longer and/or have the option to experience other airframes then more potentially could stay.

I understand it’s expensive, but based on the current manning, it seems that some communities (mobility) are over staffed while others (fighters) are short. So in order to keep us ready for future threats and possibly retain more pilots, I think it would be good to allow pilots the option to gain experience in another MDS at least once in their career. Isn’t flexibility the key to air power?

I just think that the Air Force could potentially retain more rated pilots if they were to allow cross flow programs into other airframes throughout a career. It would keep pilots doing what we love, without being in a desk job, and add more flexibility to the overall force. It probably could retain more people who normally would just bounce to the airlines if it meant that they could try to fly their dream plane and/or have a new experience in their Air Force career.