archer

Pretty sure the US has Russia beat when it comes to willingness to hemorrhage treasure for decades in the Middle East. USA USA USA 🇺🇸

Don’t think we should really get into the why here. I will say that you have to anticipate change due to Lockheed/Boeing taking years to deliver upgrades.

They have utility. Personally I’d choose going to combat in a B20 raptor over a viper 10 times out of 10. But as to upgrading, no. That would cost too much money from big Lockheed.

Nope. September 11, 2001.

Thanks all for the advice, appreciate that there is a forum of experienced aviators that will dole out words of wisdom.

Thanks! I had no idea that the turnaround could be 6 months. Every regional I've checked out (although I have barely started looking) seems like they want you to sign for 2+ years, which sounds like a drag. The 1300 hours includes UPT time and ~100 hours of civilian time. I wish we got to fly more... Yeah, I very rapidly am starting to come to the conclusion that the ANG is something I need to look into more. From the limited reaching out I've done, it seem hard to get hired back to a CAF guard/reserve position after going into the test world for a few years.

Hello, long time lurker here, and I'd love to pick your guys' brains if you have a second. My background is a fighter test guy with approximately 1300 hours TT approaching my commitment in about a year. Almost all of my hours are single-seat, PIC. I got IDE this year, but am leaning towards turning that down and going part time guard/reserve (most likely non-flying) and transitioning to the airlines. The task of actually making the majors, though, sounds hard, as I don't have an ATP. 1) Should I just pony up 20k over the next year to blow through the 150-200 hours I need to hit 1500? That would get me my ATP mins, which is basically the only thing that I don't have for the majors. I don't know of many airlines that do a military conversion other than FedEx, and it doesn't seem like I have the personal recs to make that a high Pk thing. 2) Should I consider the regionals? This seems like such a step backwards, but it would get me my hours I guess 3) Should I just try to stay active duty and fly for another year? Test guys don't get as many hours as they should, and my family is tired of living out in the desert I've got 7 days to make a decision to stay in the AF or turn down school, and I'd love to hear what your thoughts are.