Civilian vs. Military Training

[Threefingeredjack]

Civilian is better anyone who enlists with the idea of becoming a pilot has the mental capacity of a scratch card addict.

Apparently you know your own limitations, which is a good thing.

I went into the service with every intention of flying. I devoted myself totally toward that goal every minute of my time at the Academy, and was one of just six in my class to go straight to flight track instead of spending a year in the fleet as is the usual USCG track.

If you have a goal, go for it. I kept this pinned over my desk while studying:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
Teddy Roosevelt

 

[RhinoDrvr]

I would argue that both segments of aviation have their unique challenges. I got my PPL in High School and now fly F/A-18s. Couple points;

1. I landed on an aircraft carrier with 190 hours of military time. In the civil world I wouldn't be allowed to get paid for a cross country...yet I got in a jet solo, flew 100 miles off the coast and landed on a ship. No way to compare that amount of trust and responsibility to civil aviation.

2. In the military/tactical world problems happen much faster. Flying a low level at 200 feet/480 knots requires much faster thinking and reaction time than anything in the civil world. Period dot.

3. The military teaches to fly the aircraft to the edges of its performance envelope. We spun the T-6 right side up, left, right, out of a turn, level etc. I hadn't done any supervised spins in civil flight training and only did a couple on my own in a Super Decathlon. Civil aviation teaches people to avoid max performing their aircraft if possible.

4. The biggest challenges of transport aviation, taking off, flying a complex route to a challenging approach to mins is the same thing we need to do in the military...after we have completed a mission, employed complex guided ordnance, and done it all in a plane that carries nowhere near enough fuel and usually have much less advanced cockpit instrumentation compared to our civil counterparts.

5. That being said, civil aviation offers it's own challenges, off field landings, uncontrolled ops, flying non-standard aircraft...etc. It's possible to die in either job. Neither is necessarily "better" but to say that the military doesn't require more from its aviators than civilian ops is naive. In military ops, flying is just admin.

6. The problem with civil aviation is lack of QA. I've seen some wonderful CFIs, but also lots of slackers and unprofessional individuals...in the military quality is much more standardized. Fewer rock stars, but much fewer no-loads too. Also, I took a checkride about twice a month in the training command, every flight was an evaluation that could be failed. That provides pressure to learn and take onboard lessons quick, vice a civil environment where a CFI may not provide a harsh debrief for fear or losing a student and not being able to make rent that month.

All that being said, GA holds a dear place in my heart and is just as much fun as my day job...

 

[JimNtexas]

This thread got me kind of recalling the past. I started flying in high school, and soloed in a Piper J-3 at age 18. I flew maybe a hundred hours as a private pilot in college and then went in the Air Force as a nav student.

At that time nav school was about 9 months long, and then another 4 months for electronic warfare school. At that time nav/ewo school was longer than pilot training.

After that I got ~10 hours of totally awesome T-38 time in what was then called 'fighter lead-in' before going to F-4 replacement training (where I puked my guts out on initial at the end of my first flight).

After F-4 I was in the first class of 'baby Weasels', that is new EWOs who got initial assignment into Wild Weasel F-4s. So that was another couple of months of school. Weasel school was a lot bit of a shock because a lot more goes on in the back seat of a Weasel than in an F-4E on Surface Attack Mission one.

After Weasel school I went to Okinawa for my first operational assignment. It took another few months to become a 'mission ready' EWO.

It was a bit over two years between showing up at nav school and becoming a qualified newbie EWO.

The funny thing is this. I have only vaguest memory of my solo flight in the J-3, although I love the J-3 more than anything I've flown since.

On the other hand, I vividly remember how pleased and proud I was after my first flight as an MR crewmember, because after two years and close to 200 military hours, that was the first time an instructor didn't fill out a long and detailed grade slip on me!

 

[Warlock]

I think of the things I did as a PIC in Aircraft as a military pilot with less than 1000 hrs early in my career...but with 20 years as a Attack Helicopter guy my skills really did not fit well in the civilian world and a good CFI has tailored that very good air sence into a easy fixed wing transition, that I am just finishing up. I admire his skill and would say he might be the best IP I have ever had.

 

[bbchien]

This survey needs a fourth option: "just different".

 

[RotorAndWing]

This survey needs a fourth option: "just different".

Yep.....

 

[dmcmurry]

On the other hand, I vividly remember how pleased and proud I was after my first flight as an MR crewmember, because after two years and close to 200 military hours, that was the first time an instructor didn't fill out a long and detailed grade slip on me!

Yes! By far the most enjoyable flight I have ever had was on of my last flights before getting my navy pilot wings: the Airnav "brolo." Me and another student in a C-12 for a couple hours each way just to get lunch. There was nothing particularly hard about this flight, just a simple exercise in airway navigation, but the fact that the only thing between us and our wings was a ceremony made it one of the most memorable experiences. And while we still had grade sheets ahead (fleet aircraft, upgrading in that aircraft, etc), the hard part was over. In primary flight training squadrons "Attrition is our mission." Once you had your wings, all that was left to do was polish.


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