GordoSH-3
Heliman
Location: Birmingham, Alabama (USA)
| Dean:
I was an "unrestricted aviator" for 20 years and was both fixed wing and helicopter qualified with almost 4K total time No jet time but I do (did?) have experience in both single engine and twin engined props. Most of my flight time was logged in the RH-53D Sea Stallion (Sikorsky S-65), TH-1 Huey & TH-57 Jet Ranger trainers (Bell 212/206) and the SH-3 Sea King (Sikorsky S-61).
As rotorpsyco said, almost everyone wants to go jets initially but which type ACFT or mission you will ultimately fly will be determined by the needs of the Navy. Factors such as how many pilots graduate from basic flight training the week you graduate, what your class standing is, how many "seats" are open or available for the type ACFT or mission you want, etc. will control. The priorities and numbers will change from week to week. In my graduating class of 36, only 2 went jets, about 4-5 went multi-engine, more than 20 of us went helicopters, and a small handfull were sent to desk jobs!! Two-three months later, many graduating classes had almost everyone put into the jet pipeline, even guys who had lower overall grades than I did. Timing is a virtue.
Again, I agree with rotorpsyco in that flying and getting paid to do it is far better than any other job I've had. The view from a helicopter is unbeatable and I can do anything in a helicopter that a jet driver can do except exceed the speed of sound and routine aerobatics ( I did see 120-130 degrees angle of bank in a RH-53 a couple of times but that is another story!!). I spent most of my time at sea on aircraft carriers where we generally had more creature comforts. I did do some short stints aboard "small boys" such as nuke cruisers, Aegis cruisers and 1052(?) class frigates (the most challenging, no RAST hauldown for landings and only 11 feet of rotor clearance from the hanger doors when you had the Sea King exactly in the center of the landing spot). On the up side, we always took our hot food and bunks with us so we didn't have to worry much about snakes or bugs in our sleeping bags or eating MRE's for days on end like the Army guys.
If you really want to do the military service thing, then work very hard in college to be competitive for flight school selection and work extremely hard in basic flight school to get a shot at your first choice of ACFT type/mission. If you work hard enough, you'll get where you want to go.
Finally, remember that Naval Aviators wear wings of Gold, not lead and "real men" fly from the sea, not 12,000 foot runways.
Gordo |
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I fly the SH-60B seahawk....honestly...if you can get avation go for it, where else can you get paid for getting your fixed wing rating, and a rotary rating in the same place....ship life is fine, as a JO it sucks on the first cruise (I'm on small boys) but its not too bad...learning curve is huge, where else can you land on a floating pin in the middle of the ocean and stick a little itsy bitsy rast probe you cant even see into the deck of a bobbing ship, plus you get to see cool ports...I've had fun....I love it I cant believe they pay me for this, as far as jets helos.....pretty much everyone picks jets...fact of the matter is thats pretty much determined for you as per the needs of the navy, if your the best in the class you'll go jets...if your good but not the best...you'll prob get helos...you flight school grades depend on jets or rotary
I've been in One mishap...dont want to do that again, had a high speed shaft failure upon take off from a ddg flight 2 and when we came thundering back on deck our stab caught one of the bits and got ripped off.... oi...that was a long three days
