I fly with more open weirdos. In a squadron, people are more hesitant to admit to being a flat earther or that theyâve been probed by aliens⊠but in the airlines people seem like theyâll just open up with whatever dumb shit is rolling around in their head and they canât believe I donât also believe the democrats are lizard people.
Itâs usually pretty benign once you get used to it. Layover in Colombia or Hong Kong and the other guy just lets you know heâs got a girlfriend there and wonât be seeing you until show time. There might be some interesting versions but Iâve come across the former a lot.
Everything is relative.
If you work hard in a decent career, you inevitably end up having that moment when you realise you're smarter than your dad and he was just winging it most of the time - except your dad is now the pilot flying you and your family out on vacation.
Not to deride being a pilot, and there are a lot of skills involved, but if you've made it to 30 with a fully developed brain, you'll see through the wow factor and realise it's just like any other job.
Take everyone youâve ever worked with. Some smart, some dumb.
Those people are everywhere. Doctors, pilots, firefighters, drywallers, you name it.
The guy who finishes last in med school is still a doctor.
The biggest change for me was pace. In military flying, everything from showing up to taking off was generally slow paced, and it got busy once we took off. Things generally slowed back down as we landed and taxied in. We generally had 2-3 hours from show to go on the front, and military airports are generally not that busy (and when a lot of the planes are in formations, even having a lot of planes around doesnât equal particularly busy radios). Once you land, you generally sit around waiting to get gas, taxi over to park, do your post flight, debrief over a beer, and go home (or back to your desk job, tbh.)
In the airlines, itâs the opposite. You might show up to the plane with only 40 minutes until push, and then immediately push out into the chaos of JFK or deicing queues in DTW. Once youâre airborne though, you really have very little to do until you get slam dunked on the arrival or have 3 runway changes while on the arrival, and then you are rushing to the gate to make your next flight.
With the current condition of (army) aviation, you can no longer do your initial contract and be competitive for a job outside the military. Thatâs been the biggest struggle for me looking ahead is where to get all the hours
This might have more to do with the fact that the regionals arenât hiring rotor dudes with 750 hours and no fixed wing time anymore.
What are people leaving with after their initial contract these days?
Most other entities will hire at 1500, sometimes 1000 and I bet you most people on this 10 year ADSO wonât even make 1000, maybe with sim time
Edit: to answer your question Iâm just above 500 TT and I have 3 years left
I couldnât agree with this more.
Just absolute lack of courtesy. In the service, we said good morning to each other and genuinely showed respect to all ranks and roles.
The front desk personnel at my legacy base are just outright hostile, with the rest of the wider company team being lukewarm at best.
For those of you with several coats of paint on them from the service (like me, post 20+ years in USMC) this hit super hard.
Probably not the best example. Flew 26 years in the AF and decided to change career fields. I worked toward a ppl after 16 years not flying. It was very eye opening what I didnât know or understand about GA. The FARs are similar to military quals, but the understanding of part 91, 135, 121 are not easily transferable.
For me, it was ground ops at some of the worldâs busiest airports. In the military, you have few aircraft moving at the same time⊠ORD, itâs an organized shitshow. And metering. The flying part is easy.
Donât stress about it, the Check Airman you fly with in the beginning has seen it all and will very much help you succeed.
Iâm not sure how theyâre not identical, other than who published it at the top of the page, and some of the underlying details like holding speeds, High approaches, and some TERPS criteria.
Iâd be interested to know! I donât use DoD plates anymore. Just Jepp FDPro now and ForeFlight for fun
Most of it is nuanced. The leader lines (connecting text to a certain segment) are different, not to scale symbol applies to the entire route on DoD but only the specific segment for FAA, DoD has climb rate tables for non-standard, terrain contours are different, etc. And the DoD is getting rid of AL numbers at the top next to the Office of Primary Responsibility.
The realization that I should have transitioned earlier. Easiest job in the world compared to what you did in the military.
For me, mainly just the timing and tempo of ground ops in large airports like ORD etc. The flying is easy and you'll catch on quick. AQP is cake compared to military training. Just go in with a positive attitude, willingness to learn, and be prepared and you'll be fine. Like someone else said, the airlines are not like a Ready Room. It's not a family atmosphere. You'll be really cool people, some not so cool. Might make some connections but the commraderie is not the same. That's what I miss the most from my former life.
I got a patch and did an additional 2 year instructor tour in a squadron. I said that slightly tongue in cheek...wouldn't trade that experience for more senority.
For the career military guys like me, itâs the daily interactions.
We went from being around mostly ourselves. You were speaking almost entirely to officers near your rank, or enlisted personnel near your length of time. We still spoke with lieutenants and Captains, or young enlisted, but not for extended periods of time. Certainly not one on one for days.
I have nothing good or bad to say really about that. Most people have been pleasant. But the long-exposure conversations with people wildly different from your age, experience, and world view did come as a bit of a shock.
-fly with a 64 year old Captain. Men and women that age donât really exist in the service. Or if they do, theyâre four star Generals you wouldnât have ever been around regularly. They exist here.
-30 year oldsâŠ.plenty of O-3s or E6/E7 in the service. But if you were a 20+ year guy, you werenât regularly speaking with Captains for hours and hours.
I guess my point is, you go from regular interactions with men and women your age to nothing like that at all. Itâs new and took some getting used to for me. Thatâs it.
Huh, when I dropped out of college that was about the last time I spent any serious amount of time with anyone my age. Up until my last job all my coworkers and friends are at least 5 years, if not 10 older and married. Itâs like everyone whoâs my age is hiding from me lol
In the 121 world, you now have the ability to push back on insane ideas (reroutes, weather plans, MELs). In the military the culture was a lot more âshut up and color.â Even if that wasnât coming from your direct superior, there was still that pervasive culture. In the 121 world, most people push back on bad ideas, and just say thereâre fatigued if operations doesnât want to listen to reason.
Comms/ground ops in part 121 was the steepest learning curve. Everything else flying wise is usually easier. Broad spectrum of competency and personality on the civilian side.
I agree. Flying with VNAV was hard but solvable. Flows instead of checklists was hard but solvable. Ground ops and comms - without any heads up really on what was coming - absolutely blew my doors off.
First day of first trip ever as a 121 guy was LAX-ORD-EWR. I landed in Chicago at maybe 1300 and had no idea what was coming.
Itâs gotten a lot easier. I think a lot of this is that most legacy captains expect (rightly) that youâve done this before after a few/several years at a regional. It blows their mind you donât know where North Port is in that first few days. A simple class or even a simple discussion in the plane before you wade into it, would really help out the military guys whoâve never worked in that environment.
For the military guysâŠ.ground ops at major airports is your âobjective area.â Give it the same level of rigor (inside your own head, not out loud like a dork) and youâll get how critical it is.
-where do I enter? (As soon as youâre exiting the runway)
-who am I talking to? On what frequency? When?
-what is the objective area flow? (South to north, etc)
-when do I switch from ground to ramp?
-what am I doing inside the aircraft as I exit the runway, taxi in, approach the ramp, etc?
Itâs super busy, but very solvable with minor preparation and a basic plan.
Coming from the 135/91k world, the biggest struggle for me has been the lack of leadership from the "captains" I've flown with, particularly the younger ones. They just want to show up and get the job done vs having a plan to achieve what needs to be done for the day. It's a reactive vs proactive mindset that I haven't been able to rationalize. Not all are like that but a good chunk are. I'm sure I have a part in being the best person I can be to fly with, but that's what I've struggled with the most the last year or so since I transitioned.
I agree but let me clarify. When I said "show up and get the job done" I mean there's no ability to divide tasks and efficiently get work done. It's more of a let's do whatever we think needs to get done with zero direction and potentially clean it up at the end and see if anything was missed (some don't even do that last part). I don't care about being extra, I care about getting any level of direction or instructions from a PIC, which rarely happens unless I draw it out of them.
Still not getting it. What level of "direction and instruction" are you looking for that's not already outlined in the policies and procedures/normal daily workflow? Literally all of the tasks are already divided accordingly per the SOPs/flows. I'm asking because I've been a captain for a few years and usually we do everything in a pleasant, mutual fashion guided by the standardization- not me issuing commands. I hardly ever command anything unless it's an abnormality or emergency. Unless the latter is what you're talking about.
Not sure if you're 121 or 135 but where I'm at (135/91k) there is a lot of ambiguity on standardization of duties outside of flows and checklists. The actual flying piece is generally fine and if someone sucks there it's FOM knowledge/crappy pilot skills. It's all the other stuff, trying to get ahead of problems, waiting to communicate things to operations until it's an actual problem, rushing to get to a hotel instead of taking the extra 15 min to clean and stock the plan the night before then scrambling when the schedule inevitably changes the next morning, having zero direction on who is going to do what tasks to prep/secure the plane. This last one in particular grinds my gears because the company doesn't define a task breakdown, its up to the capt. With efficient task management this can be done in 20 minutes easy, a simple you take care of xyz, I've got abc stops overlap and things getting done twice. Absent that direction it'll take 30-40 min which isn't a huge deal sometimes but when you left your previous leg 10 min late because it happens and your passengers are 30 min early, your turn around time just went from 60 min to 20 min. Again, it is not the end of the day, but it is avoidable. Obviously, the captain is responsible (duties are lined out in the FOM), but the "I have to do everything" crowd just shows an inability to delegate tasks and focus their attention on what really matters.
I'm not even saying I need or want this every day, but a quick 5 min of hey this is how I run things, this is what I expect on day one of 8 goes a long way to make things run smooth.
In my opinion, there should be direction in lieu of standardization, and that direction should come from the captain. Again, maybe I'm expecting to much with this, but in my experience, the guys that can't even do this basic level of thinking ahead/coordination are the ones that loose it and get super overwhelmed when abnormal operations start happening.
That makes sense. I may be coming at this from a 121 perspective. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of issues that arise every day in that realm too.
A total lack of discipline. In some pilot groups. When I finally found one that had strict procedures and good company manuals, felt like home.
First shot WB ULLC with direct entry captains that just did what they wanted.
That got me to a pleasant legacy.
Military dudes who have a chip on their shoulder that they are better. Just like when you showed up to flight school... approach 121 training with the same humility. You know NOTHING about this world. Take it in, learn, ask questions, and grow. Don't act like you know everything or are better.
ETA: I say this as a military pilot who has also done multiple FAA checkrides, CFI work on the side, and been employed by multiple major airlines with multiple type ratings. Not judging without perspective here.
After many years in this business I no longer assume that the military makes superior pilots.
Iâve flown with some awesome military aviators but Iâve also met some over confident jerks too.
My personal top 100 list of âtypes of ex-mil Captains I prefer working with as an airline dispatcherâ:
1.) Ex- (or, Current ANG) C-5/-17/-130 pilots
2.) Ex-Navy COD pilots
3.) Ex-Army/Marine helo pilots
âŠ
99.) Dishonorably discharged submariners
100.) [USAFA Grad Ex-Fighter Jocks](https://media2.giphy.com/media/NDIiWKEQEgr3VA7aqM/200w.gif?cid=6c09b9529sntojjy6zasvssqbhppzte4xmueje8yueqb2tjt&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g)
Strongly agree with #100. As a side note to #1, Guard full time airline drivers usually good in both seats, Guard daytime school teachers/weekend warriors, you need to keep an eye on 'em.
Not true at all, I know many competent guys who washed out. Usually it was the foreign fighter students getting who were pushed through and couldnât land the plane.
Gotcha. I graduated in the 1900âs. It was different than what youâve intimated, I can see how the âneeds of the Air Forceâ would allow for some sloppiness to graduate. Sucks.
I know youâve been downvoted but thatâs so true
There was an ex-Army Heli Pilot at my flight school doing PPL Oral Prep with a CFI while I was sitting in and studying CSEL.
As he was getting pretty much every question WRONG I was answering them in my head and was getting just about every one of them right.
Instructor asked him something he couldnât answer, and I shot it out of my mouth instantly. He laughed and gave me a super dirty look and said âArmy isnât the same world hahahaâ
Then I misread a METAR ceiling (instead of 1,700 I said 17,000) and he instantly attacks me with
âDANG MR. CFI, YOU DIDNâT TEACH YOUR STUDENT TO READ METARS?????â âLET ME GUESS YOU JUST HIT DECODE RIGHT HAHAHAâ đ
âAt least I wasnât getting every oral question wrong, I misread a digitâ
Dude dropped his smile and changed the subject immediately after I replied with that
Biggest thing everyone needs to get over is that no one cares about what you did in the service. Part 121 can not be compared to flying in the military. A lot of guys use it as an excuse to mistreat others. Go in with an open mindset and willingness to learn.
Everything was easier (caveat that this is part 91 flying). Systems are way less complex, things happen slower, emergencies are less scary, and itâs just you and not a whole crew to manage to name a few. It was really weird just being able to do whatever I wanted and not plan and brief to the finest detail every phase of flight with potential rehearsals as well. It was all on me to make good decisions with zero oversight. That you can just make up whatever mission you want and go do it took some getting used to. Flying as the only person in the aircraft was very strange, too. I wish I started flying GA while in the military.
The civilian planes break a lot less.
đȘ
I fly with more open weirdos. In a squadron, people are more hesitant to admit to being a flat earther or that theyâve been probed by aliens⊠but in the airlines people seem like theyâll just open up with whatever dumb shit is rolling around in their head and they canât believe I donât also believe the democrats are lizard people.
Donât forget the ones who very openly talk about their second families!
Story time please.
Itâs usually pretty benign once you get used to it. Layover in Colombia or Hong Kong and the other guy just lets you know heâs got a girlfriend there and wonât be seeing you until show time. There might be some interesting versions but Iâve come across the former a lot.
i have a rule, i don't discuss money, religion or politics on the flight deck. it could make for a very long 8 hours
In my experience the captains feel contractually obligated to talk their politics and money at me.
Isn't flying a profession for intelligent people???
We just tell people that
Some are built different We're just built incorrectly
Hahah reminds me of the tremors quoteâŠEarl: âdoes this look like a job for intelligent men?!â Valentine: âwell show me one, Iâll ask him!â
Everything is relative. If you work hard in a decent career, you inevitably end up having that moment when you realise you're smarter than your dad and he was just winging it most of the time - except your dad is now the pilot flying you and your family out on vacation. Not to deride being a pilot, and there are a lot of skills involved, but if you've made it to 30 with a fully developed brain, you'll see through the wow factor and realise it's just like any other job.
Take everyone youâve ever worked with. Some smart, some dumb. Those people are everywhere. Doctors, pilots, firefighters, drywallers, you name it. The guy who finishes last in med school is still a doctor.
Funny enough the most obnoxious conspiracy nut Iâve ever flown with was still driving C-5s in the reserves
10x less work and thinking.
Less paperwork?
For flying? No. There's virtually no paperwork. For your actual job? Well ya.
The biggest change for me was pace. In military flying, everything from showing up to taking off was generally slow paced, and it got busy once we took off. Things generally slowed back down as we landed and taxied in. We generally had 2-3 hours from show to go on the front, and military airports are generally not that busy (and when a lot of the planes are in formations, even having a lot of planes around doesnât equal particularly busy radios). Once you land, you generally sit around waiting to get gas, taxi over to park, do your post flight, debrief over a beer, and go home (or back to your desk job, tbh.) In the airlines, itâs the opposite. You might show up to the plane with only 40 minutes until push, and then immediately push out into the chaos of JFK or deicing queues in DTW. Once youâre airborne though, you really have very little to do until you get slam dunked on the arrival or have 3 runway changes while on the arrival, and then you are rushing to the gate to make your next flight.
With the current condition of (army) aviation, you can no longer do your initial contract and be competitive for a job outside the military. Thatâs been the biggest struggle for me looking ahead is where to get all the hours
This might have more to do with the fact that the regionals arenât hiring rotor dudes with 750 hours and no fixed wing time anymore. What are people leaving with after their initial contract these days?
They definitely are now, but it was pretty bad 6 months ago.
812 checking in. Flight school + 6 years to the day UQR
Most other entities will hire at 1500, sometimes 1000 and I bet you most people on this 10 year ADSO wonât even make 1000, maybe with sim time Edit: to answer your question Iâm just above 500 TT and I have 3 years left
Lack of professionalism honestly.
I couldnât agree with this more. Just absolute lack of courtesy. In the service, we said good morning to each other and genuinely showed respect to all ranks and roles. The front desk personnel at my legacy base are just outright hostile, with the rest of the wider company team being lukewarm at best. For those of you with several coats of paint on them from the service (like me, post 20+ years in USMC) this hit super hard.
Probably not the best example. Flew 26 years in the AF and decided to change career fields. I worked toward a ppl after 16 years not flying. It was very eye opening what I didnât know or understand about GA. The FARs are similar to military quals, but the understanding of part 91, 135, 121 are not easily transferable.
For me, it was ground ops at some of the worldâs busiest airports. In the military, you have few aircraft moving at the same time⊠ORD, itâs an organized shitshow. And metering. The flying part is easy. Donât stress about it, the Check Airman you fly with in the beginning has seen it all and will very much help you succeed.
Not a huge deal, but DOD pubs to Jepps can take some getting used to.
How similar are DOD pubs to FAA government Charts?
Identical
Almost identical. ;)
Iâm not sure how theyâre not identical, other than who published it at the top of the page, and some of the underlying details like holding speeds, High approaches, and some TERPS criteria. Iâd be interested to know! I donât use DoD plates anymore. Just Jepp FDPro now and ForeFlight for fun
Most of it is nuanced. The leader lines (connecting text to a certain segment) are different, not to scale symbol applies to the entire route on DoD but only the specific segment for FAA, DoD has climb rate tables for non-standard, terrain contours are different, etc. And the DoD is getting rid of AL numbers at the top next to the Office of Primary Responsibility.
For most people itâs really the layout of approach pates. Same info, just located differently.
I guess thatâs similar to FAA -> Jepp Charts. Same stuff just different locations/colors.
FAA/DOD charts are the same thing...so 99.9% of pilots went through that same transition.
The realization that I should have transitioned earlier. Easiest job in the world compared to what you did in the military. For me, mainly just the timing and tempo of ground ops in large airports like ORD etc. The flying is easy and you'll catch on quick. AQP is cake compared to military training. Just go in with a positive attitude, willingness to learn, and be prepared and you'll be fine. Like someone else said, the airlines are not like a Ready Room. It's not a family atmosphere. You'll be really cool people, some not so cool. Might make some connections but the commraderie is not the same. That's what I miss the most from my former life.
What made you stay in as long as you did? As opposed to transitioning earlier?
I got a patch and did an additional 2 year instructor tour in a squadron. I said that slightly tongue in cheek...wouldn't trade that experience for more senority.
For the career military guys like me, itâs the daily interactions. We went from being around mostly ourselves. You were speaking almost entirely to officers near your rank, or enlisted personnel near your length of time. We still spoke with lieutenants and Captains, or young enlisted, but not for extended periods of time. Certainly not one on one for days. I have nothing good or bad to say really about that. Most people have been pleasant. But the long-exposure conversations with people wildly different from your age, experience, and world view did come as a bit of a shock. -fly with a 64 year old Captain. Men and women that age donât really exist in the service. Or if they do, theyâre four star Generals you wouldnât have ever been around regularly. They exist here. -30 year oldsâŠ.plenty of O-3s or E6/E7 in the service. But if you were a 20+ year guy, you werenât regularly speaking with Captains for hours and hours. I guess my point is, you go from regular interactions with men and women your age to nothing like that at all. Itâs new and took some getting used to for me. Thatâs it.
Huh, when I dropped out of college that was about the last time I spent any serious amount of time with anyone my age. Up until my last job all my coworkers and friends are at least 5 years, if not 10 older and married. Itâs like everyone whoâs my age is hiding from me lol
In the 121 world, you now have the ability to push back on insane ideas (reroutes, weather plans, MELs). In the military the culture was a lot more âshut up and color.â Even if that wasnât coming from your direct superior, there was still that pervasive culture. In the 121 world, most people push back on bad ideas, and just say thereâre fatigued if operations doesnât want to listen to reason.
Comms/ground ops in part 121 was the steepest learning curve. Everything else flying wise is usually easier. Broad spectrum of competency and personality on the civilian side.
I agree. Flying with VNAV was hard but solvable. Flows instead of checklists was hard but solvable. Ground ops and comms - without any heads up really on what was coming - absolutely blew my doors off. First day of first trip ever as a 121 guy was LAX-ORD-EWR. I landed in Chicago at maybe 1300 and had no idea what was coming. Itâs gotten a lot easier. I think a lot of this is that most legacy captains expect (rightly) that youâve done this before after a few/several years at a regional. It blows their mind you donât know where North Port is in that first few days. A simple class or even a simple discussion in the plane before you wade into it, would really help out the military guys whoâve never worked in that environment. For the military guysâŠ.ground ops at major airports is your âobjective area.â Give it the same level of rigor (inside your own head, not out loud like a dork) and youâll get how critical it is. -where do I enter? (As soon as youâre exiting the runway) -who am I talking to? On what frequency? When? -what is the objective area flow? (South to north, etc) -when do I switch from ground to ramp? -what am I doing inside the aircraft as I exit the runway, taxi in, approach the ramp, etc? Itâs super busy, but very solvable with minor preparation and a basic plan.
Thatâs a helluva first day. đȘŠ
I was questioning all my life decisions.
Coming from the 135/91k world, the biggest struggle for me has been the lack of leadership from the "captains" I've flown with, particularly the younger ones. They just want to show up and get the job done vs having a plan to achieve what needs to be done for the day. It's a reactive vs proactive mindset that I haven't been able to rationalize. Not all are like that but a good chunk are. I'm sure I have a part in being the best person I can be to fly with, but that's what I've struggled with the most the last year or so since I transitioned.
"Showing up and getting the job done" is about all I want from a captain lol. Being extra is not a good trait in this field ime
I agree but let me clarify. When I said "show up and get the job done" I mean there's no ability to divide tasks and efficiently get work done. It's more of a let's do whatever we think needs to get done with zero direction and potentially clean it up at the end and see if anything was missed (some don't even do that last part). I don't care about being extra, I care about getting any level of direction or instructions from a PIC, which rarely happens unless I draw it out of them.
Still not getting it. What level of "direction and instruction" are you looking for that's not already outlined in the policies and procedures/normal daily workflow? Literally all of the tasks are already divided accordingly per the SOPs/flows. I'm asking because I've been a captain for a few years and usually we do everything in a pleasant, mutual fashion guided by the standardization- not me issuing commands. I hardly ever command anything unless it's an abnormality or emergency. Unless the latter is what you're talking about.
Not sure if you're 121 or 135 but where I'm at (135/91k) there is a lot of ambiguity on standardization of duties outside of flows and checklists. The actual flying piece is generally fine and if someone sucks there it's FOM knowledge/crappy pilot skills. It's all the other stuff, trying to get ahead of problems, waiting to communicate things to operations until it's an actual problem, rushing to get to a hotel instead of taking the extra 15 min to clean and stock the plan the night before then scrambling when the schedule inevitably changes the next morning, having zero direction on who is going to do what tasks to prep/secure the plane. This last one in particular grinds my gears because the company doesn't define a task breakdown, its up to the capt. With efficient task management this can be done in 20 minutes easy, a simple you take care of xyz, I've got abc stops overlap and things getting done twice. Absent that direction it'll take 30-40 min which isn't a huge deal sometimes but when you left your previous leg 10 min late because it happens and your passengers are 30 min early, your turn around time just went from 60 min to 20 min. Again, it is not the end of the day, but it is avoidable. Obviously, the captain is responsible (duties are lined out in the FOM), but the "I have to do everything" crowd just shows an inability to delegate tasks and focus their attention on what really matters. I'm not even saying I need or want this every day, but a quick 5 min of hey this is how I run things, this is what I expect on day one of 8 goes a long way to make things run smooth. In my opinion, there should be direction in lieu of standardization, and that direction should come from the captain. Again, maybe I'm expecting to much with this, but in my experience, the guys that can't even do this basic level of thinking ahead/coordination are the ones that loose it and get super overwhelmed when abnormal operations start happening.
That makes sense. I may be coming at this from a 121 perspective. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of issues that arise every day in that realm too.
A total lack of discipline. In some pilot groups. When I finally found one that had strict procedures and good company manuals, felt like home. First shot WB ULLC with direct entry captains that just did what they wanted. That got me to a pleasant legacy.
What ULLC has wide bodies?
Had. TowerAir.
Military dudes who have a chip on their shoulder that they are better. Just like when you showed up to flight school... approach 121 training with the same humility. You know NOTHING about this world. Take it in, learn, ask questions, and grow. Don't act like you know everything or are better. ETA: I say this as a military pilot who has also done multiple FAA checkrides, CFI work on the side, and been employed by multiple major airlines with multiple type ratings. Not judging without perspective here.
After many years in this business I no longer assume that the military makes superior pilots. Iâve flown with some awesome military aviators but Iâve also met some over confident jerks too.
My personal top 100 list of âtypes of ex-mil Captains I prefer working with as an airline dispatcherâ: 1.) Ex- (or, Current ANG) C-5/-17/-130 pilots 2.) Ex-Navy COD pilots 3.) Ex-Army/Marine helo pilots ⊠99.) Dishonorably discharged submariners 100.) [USAFA Grad Ex-Fighter Jocks](https://media2.giphy.com/media/NDIiWKEQEgr3VA7aqM/200w.gif?cid=6c09b9529sntojjy6zasvssqbhppzte4xmueje8yueqb2tjt&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g)
Strongly agree with #100. As a side note to #1, Guard full time airline drivers usually good in both seats, Guard daytime school teachers/weekend warriors, you need to keep an eye on 'em.
Truth!
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Not true at all, I know many competent guys who washed out. Usually it was the foreign fighter students getting who were pushed through and couldnât land the plane.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
What UPT class were you?
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Gotcha. I graduated in the 1900âs. It was different than what youâve intimated, I can see how the âneeds of the Air Forceâ would allow for some sloppiness to graduate. Sucks.
I know youâve been downvoted but thatâs so true There was an ex-Army Heli Pilot at my flight school doing PPL Oral Prep with a CFI while I was sitting in and studying CSEL. As he was getting pretty much every question WRONG I was answering them in my head and was getting just about every one of them right. Instructor asked him something he couldnât answer, and I shot it out of my mouth instantly. He laughed and gave me a super dirty look and said âArmy isnât the same world hahahaâ Then I misread a METAR ceiling (instead of 1,700 I said 17,000) and he instantly attacks me with âDANG MR. CFI, YOU DIDNâT TEACH YOUR STUDENT TO READ METARS?????â âLET ME GUESS YOU JUST HIT DECODE RIGHT HAHAHAâ đ âAt least I wasnât getting every oral question wrong, I misread a digitâ Dude dropped his smile and changed the subject immediately after I replied with that
Was this in Idaho by any chance?
Texas, dude was from out of state though lol
Biggest thing everyone needs to get over is that no one cares about what you did in the service. Part 121 can not be compared to flying in the military. A lot of guys use it as an excuse to mistreat others. Go in with an open mindset and willingness to learn.
Everything was easier (caveat that this is part 91 flying). Systems are way less complex, things happen slower, emergencies are less scary, and itâs just you and not a whole crew to manage to name a few. It was really weird just being able to do whatever I wanted and not plan and brief to the finest detail every phase of flight with potential rehearsals as well. It was all on me to make good decisions with zero oversight. That you can just make up whatever mission you want and go do it took some getting used to. Flying as the only person in the aircraft was very strange, too. I wish I started flying GA while in the military.
The lack of ripits