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Flying GA while in the military

fighterpfeif

fighterpfeif

New Member
I have heard this before, but want to know if it is true.

If I get into flight school and become a Naval Aviator can I still fly General Aviation aircraft on my down time, either with a local flight club or Navy sponsored aero club (like the Air Force Aero Clubs). I have alot of prior flight experience and would still like to fly on my own and go where I want, but that once you start flying in Navy aircraft that is all you can fly period.

I am not saying that flying solely Navy aircraft wouldn't be awesome and that I wouldn't still fly Navy whenever possible, but taking a Cessna or Piper out on my own and going out and getting something to eat at a resturant on an airport or taking a quick trip to just get away from everything would still be nice.
 
Yes, you can still fly your Cessna or Piper. There's plenty of Navy Flying Clubs where you can rent aircraft fairly inexpensively. Though you don't have to use the Navy Flying Club.
 
If you own your aircraft isn't it a hassle to move it around with you when you are reassigned.

I would think that it would just be easier to enter into a contract and divide up an aircraft among civilian/military pilots or just military pilots.
 
fighterpfeif said:
If you own your aircraft isn't it a hassle to move it around with you when you are reassigned.
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Yes, it can be a hassle. As for flying when you're already a pilot, you can fly, as Steve is saying, but if you want to fly by yourself or as PIC, you need to have a Private (at a minimum). Just because you have your wings doesn't automatically mean you get your private. It's not hard, you pay some old guy a bunch of money, and then you go take an incredibly easy test and they give you your ticket in 4-6 weeks. May not be an issue you for you, per se, but just putting it out there.
 
gatordev said:
Yes, it can be a hassle. As for flying when you're already a pilot, you can fly, as Steve is saying, but if you want to fly by yourself or as PIC, you need to have a Private (at a minimum). Just because you have your wings doesn't automatically mean you get your private. It's not hard, you pay some old guy a bunch of money, and then you go take an incredibly easy test and they give you your ticket in 4-6 weeks. May not be an issue you for you, per se, but just putting it out there.
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Speaking of, I'm about to take the test for my Commercial/Instrument. Easy stuff?
 
gatordev said:
Yes, it can be a hassle. As for flying when you're already a pilot, you can fly, as Steve is saying, but if you want to fly by yourself or as PIC, you need to have a Private (at a minimum). Just because you have your wings doesn't automatically mean you get your private. It's not hard, you pay some old guy a bunch of money, and then you go take an incredibly easy test and they give you your ticket in 4-6 weeks. May not be an issue you for you, per se, but just putting it out there.
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There's no way you took the MCH test at PAC is there? I thought that guy was going to die of a heart attack while he was teaching the class.

Fly, if the test you'll take is anything like the one I took (which I'm sure its not too different) you should be fine. In Pcola there's a guy who has a class, in which he goes over the questions then you take the test afterwards. The test was not hard at all, covers the basic airspace questions and the like. I'm just waiting on my wings so I can get the licesne now. Good luck if you take it man.
 
gregsivers said:
There's no way you took the MCH test at PAC is there? I thought that guy was going to die of a heart attack while he was teaching the class.

Fly, if the test you'll take is anything like the one I took (which I'm sure its not too different) you should be fine. In Pcola there's a guy who has a class, in which he goes over the questions then you take the test afterwards. The test was not hard at all, covers the basic airspace questions and the like. I'm just waiting on my wings so I can get the licesne now. Good luck if you take it man.
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Thanks. The guy who does it already gave us the test gouge or something. Seems easy enough. One of our Reserve guys handles it. Already have my Private, this will be a nice upgrade :)
 
Sounds like you are talking about the FAA written exam, which is a complete joke. Gleim has a series of books that allows you to memorize the answers and questions, failing the test means that you probably shouldn't be in the cockpit of anything, even ultralights which last time I checked have no licensing setup.

The oral exam and checkride that be a pain. Avoid flight training in Chicago, because most of the examiners are jerks and give you a hard time. All certificates and ratings were obtained with DuPage FSDO and I hate them with a passion!:icon_rage
 
fighterpfeif said:
Sounds like you are talking about the FAA written exam, which is a complete joke. Gleim has a series of books that allows you to memorize the answers and questions, failing the test means that you probably shouldn't be in the cockpit of anything, even ultralights which last time I checked have no licensing setup.

The oral exam and checkride that be a pain. Avoid flight training in Chicago, because most of the examiners are jerks and give you a hard time. All certificates and ratings were obtained with DuPage FSDO and I hate them with a passion!:icon_rage
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Completely different test bro. It's a little special test they let military pilots take to convert to a Commercial/Instrument rating (Multi-Engine/Rotorwing as applicable).
 
The test that I took after I got wings in Pensacola gave me my commercial ticket in both single engine and helos, instrument rated in both. It was about $100. No check ride, just a 2 hour gouge session followed by a 15 minute test.

There are a couple of guys in my squadron who rent from the Navy Flying Club here at NASNI. I think that they only charge about $50 an hour, and that includes gas. It's a pretty good deal.
 
Bevo said:
There are a couple of guys in my squadron who rent from the Navy Flying Club here at NASNI. I think that they only charge about $50 an hour, and that includes gas. It's a pretty good deal.
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Yeah, there is a club at NASL, something like $60/hour for a 172, wet rate. Not bad!
 
Yeah, Fly, piece of cake. I think we had some Meridian guys in our class, but I can't remember. For our helo test, it was 35 questions. There were about 50 of us taking the test, and each guy was taking about 10-15 mins max, like Bevo said. It was also the day after our winging party, if that gives you a base for how much "studying" was actually done.
 
Fly Navy said:
Completely different test bro. It's a little special test they let military pilots take to convert to a Commercial/Instrument rating (Multi-Engine/Rotorwing as applicable).
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I took it while I was there too. No class, just the gouge packet. Know everything in the gouge because it's VERY similar to the test (wink, wink). MEI has pretty decent rates too. $55 or so an hour in a 152, check out took .6 or so. It was fun flying up to Philly, but that's about it to see in the immediate area.
 
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