Forum: Future F-16 crew

Hello everyone. I am currently a sophomore in high school and am an aspiring Air Force Academy cadet and Air Force fighter pilot. I am a very hard worker and I try to excell in all that I do. I am fascinated with all of the Air Force's fighter aircraft, but I am most interested in the F/A-22 Raptor. I want to fly this aircraft because I want to be able to know that I am flying the best thing around and that I am second to none. What I want to know however, are what my chances are of gettting a Rator slot after UPT. Assuming that I excelled in UPT (let's say first in class) what would be my chances of getting a Raptor slot? I am supposed to graduate from high school in 2007, which means that I should graduate from college (USAFA, hopefully) in 2011. I know that right now the only ones flying F-22s are veteran pilots with years of experience under their belt. In around 2012, however, what would be the chances of a second or first leutenant - who has demonstrated that he can work hard and apply himself - to start training in F-22s. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

P.S.
I know I may sound somewhat arrogant. I really am not, but I know that the only way that I can become a great pilot is to apply myself 100% to all that I do. I feel that this requires a winning attitude which I believe that I have.

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There are several thousand guys like (50,000 does not seem unresonable) you right now and there might be 50 to 100 raptor slots a year (dependoing how many really get built)

Do the math, But if you don´t try your chances are zero, so go ahead,

FF06, You have to crawl before you can walk, so slow it down a bit and concentrate on now. It is great to have a goal or vision, but getting to far ahead of yourself could be setting yourself up for dissapointment. This forum gets a dozen or so posts like this a week if not more from young people such as yourself wanting to know what it takes to fly this or what their chances are of flying that. I see that you are new to the forum and what we tell newbies is search the previous posts for answers to any questions you may have. Chances are that they have already been answered 10 to 15 times already. After so many times of answering the same questions, they tend to not get answered or referred to previous posts. Don't let any negative replies or even lack of replies keep you from making any further posts and good luck to you.

HARRUMPH
O.T.

aggressor267, with all due respect, I am aware of that. I am not like many teens my age who want to do all this and that but do not realize the fact that they have to work for it. I am in various Honors and AP classes, I play sports and am in other extracurricular activities, plus I have a strong GPA. I know that I have to bust a$$ now if I want so much as a chance in hell to get into USAFA.

I am also aware of the many pilot "wannabes" who post on this website, but I did not find any that dealt with the availability of F-22 slots, which was why I made this post. I appreciate your response, however.

Thank you.

Hey bro,

There's a good chance that if you graduate from UPT during that time frame that they will have F/A-22s in the drops. When I graduated from Sheppard the leadership was talking about F/A-22 drops as soon as 2006-2007. They will need LTs to fly them too.

Keep focused like you are now and you'll do fine. Just make sure you research all of your options. The Academy is a great option, but talk to some Academy grads that are pilots before you make your decision. Ask them if, given the chance to do it again, they would have chosen ROTC, the Academy, or even the Guard. You may be suprised by the answers you get. ROTC is another fine option and don't forget the Guard and Reserve.

Keep working hard and it will pay off. Good luck.

TucsonVipers

Please dont take this the wrong way man. But you need to listen to aggressor. When you are posting in the company of men that have the edge and play the game, be a little humble. I applaud your enthusiasm and drive that is good. I can tell you first hand that the Academy is a good way to get what you want in the AF. However, take a hard look at how you come off when you talk with rated pilots. You need to take yourself down a notch until you were silver wings bro. Once again this is just friendly advice. I would assume that you are just excited and pumped about starting your journey to be one of the few that do this for a living. Good luck but be chill. When you have 2000 hrs in a fighter you can tell me to piss off. later and work hard you will get there.

other than a few guys who are at langley with the 1st fw, and some guys at tyndall and nellis, there are very few raptor guys out there. (hell, one guy just crashed one not to long ago... thats gotta be tough, the first guy to crash a 270 million dollar airplane, but I digress) Aggressor is right dude, it's a long hard road to be at the top, but fi you really work at it, you might make it...

One thing to consider also is the ANG. Right now, I am not too sure of any ANG units planning to convert to the f22. But in a way i think the ANG can be better than AF for a couple of reasons. One is the simple fact that you basically get to pick your airframe. Secondly is that you can pretty much pick your assignments. You don't necessarily move around a lot. Hell, part timers can stay with their unit for their entire career. My dad just retired from the 138 fs in Syracuse ny as an O5. But he was a full timer in the AGR program. He spent time at the old ANG Readiness center at andrews then ran the range at fort drum (it was a detachment of the 174th fw) and then to weps and tactics at ACC. he flew the a-37, the a-10 an the f-16, all with his same unit. (they converted a few times) The ANG is something i am looking into at least, but i gotta finnish up my undergrad degree frist.

If I were you, I'd say screw the Raptor and think about the F-35...

Cylon

Yeah man listen to Cylon, just screw the ##$raptor.
Go for the 35, its way cooler. Also might even be a little easier to get also.

Work Hard,and good luck bro

ACSHEVA 05

I definitely agree with Cyclon and ACSheva. Althought the F-16 is my all-time favorite jet, the F-35 is really awesome and will be relatively easier to get seeing as the Air Force is planning to buy over 1500(?) of them and roughly <400 F-22's. I too am looking to apply to for a guard slot and if you get one (a slot), you are guaranteed to get the aircraft you want (if you make through SUPT).

Real men only need one engine anyway. Wink

LinkF-16SimDude wrote:

Real men only need one engine anyway. Wink

engines are training wheels, soaring is really where it's at! Cool

The F35 has two engines, one by Pratt the other by ACEs.

Enthusiast Joined: Jan 10, 2005 - 03:27 AM Posts: 29

EriktheF-16462 wrote:

The F35 has two engines, one by Pratt the other by ACEs.

If you're talking about the lift fan, the Air force version will not have the lift fan, but additional fuel storage and electronics packages instead. The Marines, Navy, Army, and probably all the foreign governments buying the F-35 will get the version with the lift fan.

No the ejection seat dude, we always cut up and say the only thrust you can trust is the one under your butt. I have just a bit of knowledge about fighter A/C.

Forum: Future F-16 crew

Raptor pilot slots