Average NSS score range for aircraft selection

[Skywalker]

That’s what I meant thanks.

An important adage you'll hear about check rides is that they're "just another flight." Your check ride isn't happening in a vacuum - the IP looked at your gradesheets at a minimum and OPS/class advisor/you should've determined that you met all of the prerequisites. The briefs for them are usually a little more intense, but if you find yourself walking to an airplane for a check ride then things are going well and you just have to keep the train on the tracks.

 

[FLGUY]

As a current Primary IP, there are two distinct and separate points to clarify here:

1) Prior flight time does have the ability to significantly help you in flight school, full stop. The old saying of “prior flight time inherently introduces too many bad habits that you will have to unlearn” is simply incorrect. If someone has trouble unlearning old habits it would be because of their own attitude and stubbornness, which would manifest regardless of prior time. I’ve seen many studs come through with prior time who crushed the NSS game because their stick skills, radio comms, and SA were higher and they took their training seriously and studied hard.

2) Civilian flight training is insanely expensive. Tens of thousands of dollars is no small investment, and it’s not until you get to the commercial level (AKA hundreds of hours of prior time) that your NSS is significantly affected. Because of that, we are trying to say that you shouldn’t spend a ton of money on something that -might- give you a leg up, when the financial burden is so high. If you wanna fly for fun on the side, or want to simply expose yourself and see if it’s for you, go for it. But don’t try and “buy” your way to a high NSS.

 

[Python]

As a current Primary IP, there are two distinct and separate points to clarify here:

1) Prior flight time does have the ability to significantly help you in flight school, full stop. The old saying of “prior flight time inherently introduces too many bad habits that you will have to unlearn” is simply incorrect. If someone has trouble unlearning old habits it would be because of their own attitude and stubbornness, which would manifest regardless of prior time. I’ve seen many studs come through with prior time who crushed the NSS game because their stick skills, radio comms, and SA were higher and they took their training seriously and studied hard.

2) Civilian flight training is insanely expensive. Tens of thousands of dollars is no small investment, and it’s not until you get to the commercial level (AKA hundreds of hours of prior time) that your NSS is significantly affected. Because of that, we are trying to say that you shouldn’t spend a ton of money on something that -might- give you a leg up, when the financial burden is so high. If you wanna fly for fun on the side, or want to simply expose yourself and see if it’s for you, go for it. But don’t try and “buy” your way to a high NSS.

Absolutely perfect. This is exactly right. The only thing I'd argue is that PPL+IR (and you haven't been out of the cockpit for a long time) gives you a significant advantage. However, that's still a small fortune to pay for that and point #2 applies.

 

[JTS11]

I winged with a dude that was a former Army CWO-x AH-64 pilot with around a 1000 hrs. He was first in the class.

At our winging ceremony, his on-wing basically told the story of "have you ever wished you could go back to high-school" 😆

 

[FLGUY]

I winged with a dude that was a former Army CWO-x AH-64 pilot with around a 1000 hrs. He was first in the class.

At our winging ceremony, his on-wing basically told the story of "have you ever wished you could go back to high-school" 😆

Woah. Didn’t know CWOs could lat transfer, become Naval Aviators, and would have to go through flight school again. That’s an oddity for sure.

 

[JTS11]

Woah. Didn’t know CWOs could lat transfer, become Naval Aviators, and would have to go through flight school again. That’s an oddity for sure.

Yeah, I don't know the mechanics of how he transferred from the Army to the USMC (I'm assuming he had to resign?, but yeah he had to go through OCS/TBS and all steps of flight school).

On my FAM-1 in the HT's I was just trying to keep the fucking aircraft somewhere in the OLF...meanwhile this dude is ace of the base on FAM-1. "OH, you want me to do X?"

He probably had as many hours or more than a lot of his IP's.

 

[FLGUY]

Yeah, I don't know the mechanics of how he transferred from the Army to the USMC (I'm assuming he had to resign?, but yeah he had to go through OCS/TBS and all steps of flight school).

On my FAM-1 in the HT's I was just trying to keep the fucking aircraft somewhere in the OLF...meanwhile this dude is ace of the base on FAM-1. "OH, you want me to do X?"

He probably had as many hours or more than a lot of his IP's.

Great. Now we’re gonna be inundated with “Should I go Army Warrant before joining the Navy to help my NSS?” “How many prior Apache pilots get Jets?” 😉

 

[JTS11]

Great. Now we’re gonna be inundated with “Should I go Army Warrant before joining the Navy to help my NSS?” “How many prior Apache pilots get Jets?” 😉

 

[AFidk]

An important adage you'll hear about check rides is that they're "just another flight." Your check ride isn't happening in a vacuum - the IP looked at your gradesheets at a minimum and OPS/class advisor/you should've determined that you met all of the prerequisites. The briefs for them are usually a little more intense, but if you find yourself walking to an airplane for a check ride then things are going well and you just have to keep the train on the tracks.

The checkride system is one of my favorite parts about flight school. Learning the basics and then being able to put it all together more and more consistently over the blocks, and then finally have a profile you’re trying to reach checkride ready on makes for a huge confidence boost going in and after passing. Like you said getting out of the brief is its own little “I got this” feeling. Glad I don’t hate it. One more to go.

 

[Odominable]

Yeah, I don't know the mechanics of how he transferred from the Army to the USMC (I'm assuming he had to resign?, but yeah he had to go through OCS/TBS and all steps of flight school).

On my FAM-1 in the HT's I was just trying to keep the fucking aircraft somewhere in the OLF...meanwhile this dude is ace of the base on FAM-1. "OH, you want me to do X?"

He probably had as many hours or more than a lot of his IP's.

I’m shocked he had to even bother, that seems like an insane waste of resources.

 

[Griz882]

I’m shocked he had to even bother, that seems like an insane waste of resources.

Yeah…I know an old USCG pilot who started off as a CWO (Cobras) in the Army. After USCG OCS they basically sent him to New Orleans to learn the MH-65 and slapped some gold wings on him.

 

[Gatordev]

Yeah, I don't know the mechanics of how he transferred from the Army to the USMC (I'm assuming he had to resign?, but yeah he had to go through OCS/TBS and all steps of flight school).

There was one a class behind me, as well and he was an Apache guy, too. They would pop up every so often.

 

[FLGUY]

There was one a class behind me, as well and he was an Apache guy, too. They would pop up every so often.

You know unless they “restricted” him to only flying helos in the Navy, it may have been to ensure he gets some fixed wing time under his belt or to allow those types to select other platforms too. But I’m also surprised they didn’t just say “Cool go straight to the helo FRS” in the same way the aforementioned Coastie did.

 

[JTS11]

You know unless they “restricted” him to only flying helos in the Navy, it may have been to ensure he gets some fixed wing time under his belt or to allow those types to select other platforms too. But I’m also surprised they didn’t just say “Cool go straight to the helo FRS” in the same way the aforementioned Coastie did.

Yeah, I agree. I'm not sure what his preferences were out of Primary...but if it was helos all along, he should have gone straight to the HT's (and probably on a much abbreviated syllabus).

 

[Random13]

In general, I wouldn’t expect anyone to go out of their way to ensure you get what you want. Most of them don’t have much pull anyways. Your desires are only one small piece of the puzzle. That being said, definitely make your intentions known. You’ll never know if someone is able to pull some strings behind the scenes like the person above.


They will give you a sheet of paper where you’ll rank your choices. Aside from that, your instructors will probably ask what you want to fly and you should definitely talk with them and see if you can pick their brains about their communities. The only way you’ll sound like a jerk is if you come in with the “I’m the next blue angels pilot, respect me” attitude. Everyone has their desires. It gets talked about a lot, especially as you get close to the end. A lot of people want jets, and that’s totally fine, jets are sick. Just be humble about it, work as hard as you can, and don’t get bitter if your first choice wasn’t an option

Getting back to this three months later...thanks for the advice! I am currently in the process of studying for the ASTB, so this piece of being humble is great. It's a totally different mindset currently for me from "I want to fly X aircraft" to "I just want the chance and get my foot in the door."