Ask An Airman – How do you become a pilot?
So the requirements for becoming a pilot
in the Air Force, aside from all the medical stuff that's required being
somewhat strict. You have three different avenues to get to it: one's officer
training school (OTS), Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC),
or the Academy, and then through those three, you compete the best that you can
against your peers and hopefully at the end, you come out with a pilot slot. The
way you become a pilot in the Air Force is to have passion, desire and discipline.
First off you have to have a passion for aviation.
You have to have a desire for
learning, as well as you have to be disciplined to stay focused in the books.
The process is different for everyone. For me, I was a high school teacher at
the time, went to a local recruiter, asked about a pilot slot and officership first.
I was granted that opportunity to do that, won a pilot slot, and I went to
Officer Training School and went that route. Be of good moral character, smart
student, pass your tests. Once you get selected, you're going to go to pilot
training for a year. It's broken into different parts. You have your academics
part and then your initial trainer which is T-6s and then after that, it
branches off so you can choose T-38s, which is a fighter track, T-1s, which
is a heavy track, or go to helicopters as well.
