Timeline

[Tom]

With OCS and flight school a year away, I am getting more curious as to a timeline for a pilot career. I am trying to figure out what different paths exist. I know nothing is set in stone and that the Navy changes. This is what I have gathered on the life of a jet pilot. Here is what I think I know:

OCS - 3 Months (done August 2007)
Flight School - 2-3 years, round up to 3 years with 6 months of waiting (done February 2011)
RAG, which I believe is training into a specific platform - 8 months (done October 2011)
First duty - 2-3 years, How much time is roughly spent at sea? (done October 2014)
Second duty - 2-3 years, again time at sea (done October 2017)
Third duty - 2-3 years, Usually a shore duty? (done October 2020)

My overall questions have to deal with time at sea, required shore duty and assignments. Through a progression of getting promoted and the assumption that the aircraft does not get retired, what specific jobs can be entailed? What could life be like? I know that one can not really know what they want to fly until they start training, but seeing as there is a wide variety of aircraft flown by aviators on this board, what has your career been like?

Tom

 

[Gatordev]

There's a couple of threads about the "Life of..." here you can read through. Because there's so many differences, it's hard to narrow it down. As for your timeline, there's a few corrections:

Flight School - 2-3 years, round up to 3 years with 6 months of waiting (done February 2011)

That would be if you went jets. If you get selected Props or helos it's more like 14-18 months (hurricanes/hail storms notwithstanding).

RAG, which I believe is training into a specific platform - 8 months (done October 2011)

Again, this is dependent on the community. Even communities w/in a particular pipeline have varying timelines. Sometimes whichever coast you're on can determine time to train.

First duty - 2-3 years, How much time is roughly spent at sea? (done October 2014)
Second duty - 2-3 years, again time at sea (done October 2017)
Third duty - 2-3 years, Usually a shore duty? (done October 2020)

First tour is a sea tour. Again, depends on community, but usually two 6 month deployments plus workups, which can vary, again, on community. Second tour is a shore tour, and is usually 30-33 months. No sea time, generally, but there's always exceptions. Third duty may or may not be a disassociated sea tour (again, depending on the community), but will undoubtedly involve at least one deployment. Usually the tour is about 24 months or so.

Hope that helps.