Military Pilot to a Civilian Pilot?

Question

If i were to come out of the military as a pilot, would i be paid more if i became a commercial pilot because i was in the military and i have better qualifications

Answer 1

My son's grandfather retired from the airforce (he was a major) after many years and currently works as a pilot for american airlines, he is earning a bit more than he did in the air force, but he is also earning a retirement fund from the af.

If you are an enlistee you may have to rack up more fly time hours in order to qualify for a commercial airline, as the person mentioned above was career military and had accumulated quite a bit of actual fly time.

Answer 2

Navy flight school won't give you any kind of credit. You'll have to go through with everyone else. The good news is that the students that had advanced pilot licenses with uber hours got really high grades, and were selected to fly jets, the most desired slot in Naval Aviation. Guys with pirvate pilot licenses did better for a few flights, but everyone else caught up with them skill wise by the 4th or 5th flight. The learning curve is so steep and you either sink or swim, and the system won't wait for slow learners. Plus, the Navy way of teaching to fly VFR is so different than the civilian method, that the civilian pilots had to relearn how to do everything the Navy way too, and had no advantage other than their limited stick and rudder skills. Now, back to my original point; the students with the big hours had so much time that it really did make a difference. Also, they had a big advantage in that they had instrument tickets, and the IFR portion of the first phase of Navy flight school is arguably the most challenging. There are still some "Navyisms" that need to be learned, but for the most part, it's the same stuff so those guys could nail instrument approaches while us newbies were still trying to figure out the difference between a VOR and a PAR. Holding techniques and radio procedures were a piece of cake for them, and we're stumbling and bumbling on the radios and trying to figure out what entry procedures to use. So they got great grades. Bottom line, commercial-multi you'll excel in Navy flight school. You should get your pipeline choice coming out of primary whether that be jets or any other community. If I remember right, when I was a student, they did let the guys with lots of civilian time skip a few flights it they were doing extremely well. But you'll still do most of the program.

Answer 3

There are several factors to consider: What type of aircraft are you flying? How many hours do you have as PIC (Pilot in Command)? How old are you? By definition, a commercial pilot is one who gets paid for flying, not necessarily an airline pilot. I fly a C-130 turboprop transport aircraft and if I were to leave the military, finding a job with my experience would be difficult because not many civilian flying involves a turboprop aircraft.

Answer 4

Being a military pilot has its advantages as you would be higher on the list for consideration, no grantees of higher pay, but you would most likely get the job over a non military pilot.

Answer 5

Most likely. My good friend from GA went into the Army and trained as a chopper pilot. Now he's a Major in the reserves and flies for the DEA. I'm sure he makes some good scratch. He won't tell me what he does for the DEA, but he did tell me what he flies can out fly most aircraft. At least he said the ammo does. Use your imagination on that one.

Answer 6

Yes, this is likely.
Check the story of Paul 'Pablo' Mason - who was a sqn leader during Gulf war I, he's now a captain at a big airline

Answer 7

EVENTUALLY, you would. You might have to start off as a first officer for a while and build up from there. In the end, yes, you'll make great money.

Answer 8

i wouldnt say that you would be payed better.. but you wouldnt have to start at the bottom of the pay scale either.. you would probably be paid based on how many hours you have..