Could US military helicopter pilots answer some of my questions?

Question

from day one i knew i wanted to fly,but the only thing that changed is what i wanted to fly.so after living on a military base and seeing black hawk helicopters flying over my house everyday i started getting interested in flying those.so my questions are:

(1)if you have eye surgery to make your vision 20/20 can you still apply to become an army helicopter pilot?

(2)what type of subjects should i take?i know math but what type of math?

(3)for college could i enlist as a warrant officer, become a pilot,and take the army's college courses,and after graduating can i enlist as an officer?

(4)how hard is the actual flight training,and what do you do?how hard is the written part of it?

(5)after becoming a pilot how much time do you spend flying?

(6)how old do you have to apply to become a army helicopter pilot,18?

(7)and finally could you please send me some good websites with good information about joining the military?

can you wear contacts:
my vision is -2.5 and so i wear contacts.if not then why do i see active duty pilots wearing glasses when they are being interviewed?

Answer 1

I'll answer what i can. I'm not a pilot yet, in OCS & selected for a slot.

You don't need 20/20 to be a pilot of any type in any branch of the military. I don't know who keeps spreading that rumor, but it's not ture & never has been at any point in history.

You can be a pilot w/ eye surgery, but don't just go get it. Only certain proceedures are approved, and even then it's on a case-by-case basis as part of a study group. I don't know what your vision is like now, but I'd encourage you to hold off if you can. If you fail the eye portion of the physical when the time comes, THEN apply for the test group with a statement of intent to get surgery within their standards.

As far as subjects... it's not that big a deal. if you were asking me about how to go to the air force academy & end up a test pilot trying out for astronaut, then by all means I'd have a long list for you, but this is the Army. You can be a pilot with a history degree or no degree. A little advanced math couldn't hurt, but it's not going to make as big a dif.

You can't just enlist as a WO & be a pilot. You can APPLY through an extremely cometitive program and may or may not get selected. The min reqs are just 18 & HS, but that's by no means the norm. Many of those guys have degrees & flight time. It's total package they are looking at, not jsut a couple test scores. Your chances of selection are much better if you enlist first & serve a couple years, then apply (from any service by the way, they have to release you to an officer producing program).

Can you go WO & then convert to commissioned later though? By all means, but most people don't want to once they are in. WOs do more flying further into their careers, where officers get pulled back to be managers & lead staff. There's pros & cons to each side. I'd encourage you to figure out which route is for you & just go after that. Don't think WO is any kind of shortcut cause it certainly is not.

However, if you did want to come into say the national guard & get a slot as a WO, then go to college, and commission after, you could do something like that. In fact, your flight training will count for about half a degree at places like embry riddle. And in the NG, you can start OCS with jsut 60hrs, so pretty much as soon as you get back from trng. I don; tthink they'll give you a WO slot if you are trying to do that though. It's a waste of time & money for them.

Flight trng is long & somewhat hard, but the Army program is very good at weeding people out before they get that far. Once you start actual flight school, there is only a 1% failure rate. You'll find the selection a much bigger hurddle to overcome.

I could give you several very good websites, but what you;re going to find as you explore this slection process is that it's a pain in the butt, and it's meant to be that way. The people that have the tenacity to do their own homework & figure it out are halfway to selection already. The people that don't, well that's part of how we weed them out.

Answer 2

(1)if you have eye surgery to make your vision 20/20 can you still apply to become an army helicopter pilot?

No. Corrective eye surgery disqualifies you. Remember, that some disqualifications are waiverable. I doubt that this one is.

(2)what type of subjects should i take?i know math but what type of math?

Math and science. Since you are talking about going the warrant officer route, I would also find a study course on acing the FAST.

(3)for college could i enlist as a warrant officer, become a pilot,and take the army's college courses,and after graduating can i enlist as an officer?

You enlist with a contract to go to flight school, go complete basic and head off the WOC school. You don't become a WO until you complete WOC school. Then you start flight school. It is possible to become a commissioned officer at a later time.

(4)how hard is the actual flight training,and what do you do?how hard is the written part of it?

I could teach a monkey to do the mechanical part of flying. Few people have a problem with this. Most checkride failures are caused by a failure to comprehend the procedures and rules of flying. Academics aren't that difficult.

(5)after becoming a pilot how much time do you spend flying?

Not nearly enough. In peacetime, about 100-150 hours per year depending on type aircraft and mission. In wartime, it's not unusual to get four to eight times this number of hours.

(6)how old do you have to apply to become a army helicopter pilot,18?

Old enough to enlist.

(7)and finally could you please send me some good websites with good information about joining the military?

www.goarmy.com

my vision is -2.5 and so i wear contacts.if not then why do i see active duty pilots wearing glasses when they are being interviewed?

You cannot wear contact lenses while performing flight duties.


Djack (above) gives some great insight. The part where he is wrong is the part of 20/20 vision. You are disqualified if you do not have 20/20 vision, period. This however is waiverable. Your odds of receiving a waiver depend on how bad the Army needs pilots. Right now, it's easy to get waivers, because we need pilots. There have been times in the last 25 years where it has been virtually impossible to get a waiver. (But I still give Djack a "thumbs-up for his great answers.)

Answer 3

If you've had corrective eye surgery, you can't enlist in the military. Here's why: it's a relatively new procedure and they don't know what the long term complications may or may not be. I know someone who tried it. If you're in the Army, they'll give you corrective eye surgery. It's one of those catch 22s.

In order to fly into combat (and possibly cargo, not sure on that one) you have to have a minimum of 20/20 uncorrected vision. That means no corrective eye surgery. This is why: when flying in combat, you are subject to a lot ore G-forces than normal. They don't know how eyes corrected through surgery will react to that pressure.

Answer 4

The army would be the quickest bet since you do not need a bachelors degree. Yes math is a big part of the training. Just google becoming a helicopter pilot in the army and there a number of websites that will answer it for you.

Answer 5

if you want to be an officer and fly helicopters, you should check out the Air Force. Army officers don't get to fly nearly as much.