CALL911

iTrader: (17)

Neil, FWIW a good buddy who was in my T-6 class that is currently in T-38 training flew blackhawks for the Army for several years, and he could answer quite a few questions.

However I have a feeling you are looking at more specifics towards Rucker...

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

Just to clear it up, most AF Officers came from the Academy or ROTC. A very small percentage (less than 10%) came from OTS.

Really? What if you have ZERO aviation knowledge and want to be a pilot? You think scoring a 12 on the pilot section would look well to the board?

UnZFeat'd

iTrader: (1)

Is that the same for navy and marines?

CALL911

iTrader: (17)

Not sure how the numbers stack in Del Rio, or where you are getting your info. But at Columbus AFB, the majority is USAFA, then a much smaller percentage is OTS, and then even smaller is ROTC.

There were no ROTC students in my class at all, and only a handfull out of the class ahead of me and behind me combined.

To those that are wondering, they don't care where you got your commissioning source from. It's mearly the amount of spots offered to each. The academy is the #1 source for commissioning people, therefore it gets the most pilot spots. But you still can go through both ROTC and OTS and get a pilot spot. I got mine through OTS. StoleIt got his from ROTC.

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

According to this fact sheet on af.mil, ROTC commissions ~2000 officers per year and OTS commissions ~600 per year.

http://www.af.mil/information/factsh...t.asp?id=13032

CALL911

iTrader: (17)

That is all true, however we were not talking about commissioned officers in general, we were talking which one produces the most PILOT officers.

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

Well I don't have any scientific evidence of this, but less than 5% of all UPT students here at XL are from OTS.

The commissioning source of a certain class usually just has to do with the class start date. Academy dudes show up on station usually in late July after their 2 months off, but they still have to do IFS and ASBC. This means they won't usually start UPT until September or October at the earliest. Here at XL, classes 10-02 through 10-12 or so were all Academy. 10-13 through 11-01 were mostly ROTC. It's all timing.

My original class, 09-15, had 23 ROTC, 4 Academy, and 3 OTS. 10-02 on the other hand, had 25 Academy, 3 ROTC, 2 OTS.

CALL911

iTrader: (17)

Perhaps this is all a base to base difference as well, as the numbers here are different.

This is really like comparing apples to oranges in the end. The Academy still is the #1 producer, followed by OTS and ROTC.

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

I don't want to get into a pissing match here, but you're wrong. You really think a commissioning source that commissions 2000+ officers produces less pilots than a commissioning source that commissions 600? I don't see the apples to oranges here.

CALL911

iTrader: (17)

If you didn't want to get into an argument, I find it interesting why you would still want to point out facts that only would lead back into one.

That leads me to believe you still want to discuss.

In my last post, all I said was that the Academy produced the most pilots overall.

I then said it was followed by OTS, and ROTC. I didn't mean it had to be in that order though. I don't know for a fact that it would be. I do know that at Columbus the numbers point that way, that there are more OTS pilot students than ROTC. Obviously that is different in Del Rio. What we really need if you really want to proove anything beyond whats current at Del Rio vs Columbus would be factsheets showing how many pilots the different commissioning sources produce each year (not just how many officers they produce).

I think its really futile to argue further. I don't think it matters to the OP. He just wanted to know options about becoming a pilot. The best way for him to do that would be to exhaust all his options (as in all 3 commissioning sources for the Air Force, not to mention other means from different branches).

P Mack

iTrader: (6)

A couple years ago the academy had 500 pilot slots out of a graduating class of 900 something. ROTC had about the same number of pilots. Typically everyone who is medically qualified and wants to be a pilot will get a slot from the academy.

StoleIt

iTrader: (3)

Yea Ben, BADFNZ is right here. ROTC is the #1 officer producer here, then OTS, then Academy.

I don't have the numbers infront of me (look at the years end AFA magazine, it has all the stats in it) but I believe % wise it is most likely to get a pilot slot out of the Academy first, then ROTC, then OTS.

The pro's of OTS is you know what kind of rated slot you have before you even go.

CALL911

iTrader: (17)

Like I said before, just from what I have gathered at Columbus, I see more OTS than ROTC (with the most being the academy). But again, if we really want to proove anything, we need the facts to back it up.

StoleIt

iTrader: (3)

True, wish I had my stack of AFA magazines lying around.

But it really depends on the date for the make up of the UPT class. My class is two academy (one recycled from an old class the other an O-3 Strike Eagle WSO), maybe 6 OTS, and the rest commandingly ROTC.


Some other classes are 95% Academy, and the baby classes right now are 95% ROTC.

The Academy and ROTC have major surges since they all generally graduate at the same time. OTS has about the same number of pilot graduates every class and they just trickle in at a relatively even rate, unlike Academy and ROTC.

bitterchaos

iTrader: (6)

I secured a flight contract through a Navy collegiate program called the BDCP where I could apply directly for a specific designation. I'm not sure if this policy carries over for a straight OCS application, but it's worth giving an OR a call and ask.

In the Navy, I believe it's easier to get a pilot slot than the air force, but chances of getting a helo are much greater. 40% of the naval fleet are helos, and helos take 2 pilots each whereas strike fighters only need 1 pilot. Do the math.