Currently a regional first officer and lately I've thinking about applying to the military. I've always wanted to serve and fly for the military but have never pursued it before. I hear a lot of stories of military guys coming to the airlines, but not too many in the reverse order? I also know the guard/reserve reccomended a lot, however due to my age of 29 I think I missed the window for that. Question I ask is, would it be fullish for me to leave my current airline to become a active duty flight member? I feel my time window is small and I may regret it later down the road if I do not try. Any thoughts/inputs appreciated. 

Do you meet the pre-reqs, such as a Bachelor's Degree?

Frankly, only you can answer your question.  Do you want to be a military pilot for the next 11 years?  Or would you rather stay in the airlines?

 

Edited May 1, 20205 yr by HuggyU2

Second what Huggy said. But to add, in my several interviews at a heavy unit, there has usually been someone there that was currently flying for a regional. At 29 you're more apt to get interest from a heavy unit (just my $0.02, which doesn't mean much yet). I see you mentioned being an active duty flight member. Have you considered the guard/reserves? You would most likely be able to keep your regional jet job and return to it once you have gotten through training. Bottom line, if you think its something you want, go for it. Like you said, your time is running out, but you still have time. Get the tests taken and start applying. Its not a short process so you gotta get to gettin'. 

Age limit was bumped up to 33. There are a couple of airline bros in my class that left the airlines for UPT guard slots. Still building seniority while in training. Good luck!


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22 hours ago, CharlieHotel47 said:

Age limit was bumped up to 33. There are a couple of airline bros in my class that left the airlines for UPT guard slots. Still building seniority while in training. Good luck!


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Interesting looks like you're right. Are they in the reserves are did they go active duty? Do you know if you're able to still keep your job seniority if you go active duty or is that only for the reserves/guard. I see theres a 5 year limit but not entirely sure how that works/applies. 

4 hours ago, Skygod407 said:

Interesting looks like you're right. Are they in the reserves are did they go active duty? Do you know if you're able to still keep your job seniority if you go active duty or is that only for the reserves/guard. I see theres a 5 year limit but not entirely sure how that works/applies. 

Cant keep seniority if you go AD. You can't lose seniority as well in the Guard/Reserves if you pick up an AGR job or TECH job after school.

Cant keep seniority if you go AD. You can't lose seniority as well in the Guard/Reserves if you pick up an AGR job or TECH job after school.

Are you sure? Initial service obligations exceeding 5 years are exempt from the USERRA 5 year limit. I would imagine the 10 year UPT commitment falls under that exemption, although I don't personally know anyone that's done that. I almost pressed to test that rule to go back to my previous job, but decided airlines would be better, whoops.

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10 year commitment for ANG/AFRES can be done as a DSG ("part timer") it does not need to be 10 full-time years.  Pipeline training time and initial seasoning days are USERRA exempt for the ARC, after that your USERRA clock is running.