Forum: Future F-16 crew

For starters, I feel a little bit stupid asking this but anyway...

Okay I'm a 17 yr old female in little old New Zealand, have been dreaming about F-16s ever since we got rid of the Skyhawks a few years ago...you know how it is.

At the moment, I'm a third of the way through a social science degree, majoring in Political Science then going on to do a post grad in defence studies when I finish. The recruiters said this would set me up well for a career in military or civvie intelligence. That would be an interesting career but i really really want to go flying. It was my childhood dream even. Hell it's my teenage dream. Razz

I took aptitude tests at school and the guy running it said i should go flying. but my school exam marks left a lot to be desired. Will this matter? I'm reasonably fit but heres the major problem: ive got screwed up lungs.

Am I doing the normal female thing of setting myself up to fail? Should I go for it, knowing that I could get slammed down, and would only be flying Hueys or Orions at best or just let my dream remain forever on its pedestal of perfect jobs?

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We have a Female Viper pilot at my unit and she is great! Go for it and good Luck!

Whats wrong with your lungs? Shocked

You may want to see if you can talk to a physician about requirements for any flight physical you would need before trying. If you got far down your desired path to get disqualified on a medical that would be a real let down.

-Aaron

I agree...get a Flight physical and get a good status of your health condition.......Good luck and sky's the limit.....

I also agree... it would be a good idea to get a physical, but even then that's now reason to give up on your life long dreams. I'd still say, go for it and don't let that stop you! Good luck!

Thanks for the posts Smile

lol don't normally get support like this.

I actually can't remember exactly what I have but its a little bit like asthma apparently. I get wierd bronchospasms when i get put under a lot of pressure, whether thats physically or mentally. It causes hardout dizziness and last for up to an hour although im pretty much breathing normally. It doesn't always happen ie I can sometimes run for 2 hours (which may not sound like a lot but is very good for me) and not have a problem or I can feel almost dead after two minutes.

On your advice though, I had a talk to a friend of my dads, whose a military doc. He said it probably will interefere with it because it happens randomly. Also the really limited places for pilots in NZ (as Im sure it is for everywhere else lol) means they can just drop me.

Had a thought though. Would a lung problem like that affect me working as a technician or anything???? I wouldn't exactly be flying them but close enough is good enough I figured lol.

Last edited by allenperos on Apr 02, 2005 - 05:41 AM; edited 1 time in total

For the Newbie, Lisafer - no one does good in academics at your age, when you get to school, grad, postgrad, the true you will bloom, trust me. Have faith in yourself, college is an extraordinary experience, you will shine and your grades will go up. Good luck to you and your dreams of flying the Viper, it will become reality for you.

If you don't try, you won't be.

I reckon you could get a job on an orion, although that more engineering and its a back seat job i am thinking of. I wouldn't be to concerned though about New Zeland not having fighters. The RAF and The RAAF both have squadrons which are largely kiwi pilots and they are thinking of keeping it that way. The reason for them having kiwi squadrons in that when the skyhawks were retired they are went overseas. The British ones are currently recieving training for eurofighters and the Austrlian ones are now operationial in F18s.

My mum and now dead granddad both had asthma that was random. Best thing for you would be to do 2 person flying if your worried but hey i reckon you could do one person flying as long as you try.

Yeah I could get a job on an Orion and you are right in the sense that two-person flying would be the way to go but I still feel like I would be letting myself down if I got into the RNZAF and was a transport pilot. Call me picky but that's just me.

You know that sole female jet pilot who used to fly Skyhawks. According to the guy at the air force museum she now flies Hercules.

Holy crap... lol, lisafer... you're my type of girl (no offense intended).

Anyways, wish you great luck in becoming a pilot. I'm hoping to become USAF someday, but we'll see how that goes.

Lisafer wrote:

I actually can't remember exactly what I have but its a little bit like asthma apparently.

A little asthma isn't bad, right?

its more like really wierd pneumonia that my body just won't let break so i can get rid of it. considering im getting sick now though it should break soon. you gotta get worse before you can get better right?

antibiotics should take care of it, and you should be fine.

Forum: Future F-16 crew

I'm in a bit of a tangle career-wise