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Thread: Becoming a fighter pilot, some questions

  1. #1

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    Apr 2015
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    Becoming a fighter pilot, some questions

    Hello everyone. So I've been dreaming of becoming a fighter pilot for a very long time and I have some questions. The country I'm from doesn't have too much of a fighter program, so I've been thinking. I'll be finishing uni at 23 and after that I'm planning to move to the US. I've read that I can be no older than 28 in order to enter officer training on the US air force, but do I have to be a citizen? Also, i have this health condition: my left wrist bones are grown together. I can perform physical tasks just fine, but would it be a problem to pass physical examination? I'm looking forward to hearing your answers!

  2. #2
    Dana's Avatar
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    Jul 2011
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    To be a USAF officer, you must be a US citizen and have at least a bachelor's degree. The competition for pilot slots is extremely competitive. To get accepted into pilot training, you pretty much have to be near the top of your class in college/university and be in perfect physical condition (including eyesight). To be a be a fighter pilot, you have to be the top of your class in flight training.

  3. #3
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dana View Post
    To be a USAF officer, you must be a US citizen and have at least a bachelor's degree. The competition for pilot slots is extremely competitive. To get accepted into pilot training, you pretty much have to be near the top of your class in college/university and be in perfect physical condition (including eyesight).
    Things have changed. Back when I was in ROTC, you had to have 20/20 vision and be breathing. Of course, that was during Vietnam when ROTC was not a popular class choice...

    (I only had 50% of the 20/20 requirement, sadly....)

    As Dana says, you have to be a citizen. Naturalization would probably be acceptable, but that takes five years and, with graduation at 23 and an age limit for pilot training of 28, you've got an extremely narrow window. You'd also probably have to complete Officer Candidate School first, which would delay you even further. I suspect that ROTC requires citizenship, so transferring to a US university probably wouldn't help.

    Being commissioned also requires a security clearance, which will be complicated due to all your relatives outside the US.

    The best way I see it is to join your own nation's Air Force, complete flight training, and work to get selected for an exchange program that involves fighters. The US Air Force does exchange pilots with other air forces for typically one-year periods.

    Ron Wanttaja

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