Been watching Air Warriors. Can pilots fly anything they have or are they platform specific?

Generally flying is flying, but you need training for the particular quirks of each aircraft.

There are similarities, but big differences too. About 1/3rd of my friends were or are working for the Airforce in either military or civilian engineering jobs.

My friend Gus just retired from designing and tweaking the tolerances on some of our fighter jet engines 4 days ago.

Keith

My nephew flew B-52 bombers in the Air Force then he retired and is flying commercial airline flights currently. You need to retrain for other types of aircraft. I believe he is flying Boeing 737's now.

However there are many Air Force retired pilots that are hired due to their previous flight training as stated.

My best friend from high school retired from military back around time he hit 50 years old which was nearly a decade ago. Dont know the details but he talked about doing instruction and qualifying fighter pilots on specific platforms at certain points in his career. He spends most of his time now doing private contract flying for both military and civilian sector so I gather switching types of planes isnt exactly difficult for the folks that have that level of expertise. I believe as the pilots age there are some impacts on what they continue to fly. I know he went from fighter jets when he was younger and patrolling over the middle east to flying warthogs over there up until a month or so before he retired.

Airplanes are pretty simple to fly. But if you want to be a real pilot< fly a helicopter. I flew both but got my Airline Transport Pilot Rating in a helicopter.

My understanding is that pilots get to pick what they want to fly depending on how they score or are graded coming out of pilot training. Those at the top generally pick fighters. Next is bombers, then cargo planes, and then helicopters. Flight school is specific to each aircraft. Very seldom do Air Force pilots get to a fly a fighter jet without having went through the Air Force Academy.

With that said, I knew some c-130 pilots that were highly skilled and probably scored better than the fighter jet pilots, but chose Cargo planes for an easier transfer into civilian life.

ol dad

My best friend James wanted to be a fighter pilot, but his reaction time wasn't fast enough, so they made him a B52 pilot for 20 years.

Keith

I don't think that's accurate for USAF helicopter pilots. Most USAF helicopters are designated for the special tactics squadrons. There's not much room for error on their missions and in the USAF, rotary wing are a very rare breed.

Is anyone who commented on this thread actually a pilot?

I'm not a pilot, but I used to be on Wright Patterson Airforce Base a bunch and got to try 4 different flight simulators for training. I've also gone through the Airforce Museum with a pilot and a bunch of aircraft at the tiny Urbanna, Ohio Airport, when they had an event, where my friend talked for a few hours about the aircraft with other pilots and mechanics.

Keith

I don't know squat about flying buy I flew with a few bush pilots that had a bigger set then any fighter pilots ever had.

I flew for a living for 31 years, lots of ratings, flew several different airplanes. Put me in a jet and I wouldn't know how to even start it.

Not a pilot. Been around the B2 now for 15 years, same for A-10s, T-38s. Watched the new pilots come in, get certified, lead squadrons and move on after becoming instructor pilots. Not enough B-2s for all pilots to stay current so they get more hours in T-38s. F-15s in yesterday - squadron driving the B2 used to be F15s. Units change and pilots adapt. Our 442nd A-10 pilots likely will be learning F-16, F-15 or F-35s whichever gets here first and replaces the A-10s.
Dad was shot in vietnam in a huey and always said the Navy pilots were much better at hitting targets than the army pilots - he was Army. Lots of good pilots with reasonable heads and others EXTREMELY proud jerks. Likely my favorite B2 pilot was from Alaska, full of common sense and his brother was a pilot for Alaska fish and game.

Pilots are assigned a unit, wing, squadron and fly what that unit or wing has......they learn to fly where they are assigned.

Many of the full Cols or Gens have been assigned numerous installations and thus have flown multiple platforms. Fighters, bombers, cargo, intel, trainers, etc - as they progress in their career, they normally have more aircraft experience as well due to mission needs

I am personally acquainted with 4 F-35 pilots stationed at Eielson Air Force base near Fairbanks, where I live. I believe all Air Force pilots come from the Academy. You can't enlist and get trained to fly. Not sure about the Air guard. Any military guys can correct me.
As to the private sector, you have to train and take paper and practical tests to get FAA ratings. Private Pilot is the first rating you get. There are numerous ratings after that including type ratings. When you get onto Alaska Air, or United, etc. the crew has a bunch of FAA ratings including a "type" rating for that model of aircraft. The major carriers all have their own FAA approved training programs. Type ratings are required for aircraft over 12,500 lbs. gross weight.
I'm a retired aircraft mechanic with FAA mechanic license/authorization. I also hold a private pilot, instrument pilot, single commercial instrument, and Multi comm. ratings. Out of all that the only pilot rating I have ever used is the private. Kinda wasted my money on the other ratings, sorta. One other thing..........most all pilots need a medical. Signed by an Aviation Medical Examiner.
Lastly, at 68 years of age I am amazed at how many English language words I need help spelling.

So for at least Canada our military pilots all have a commercial pilots license. They all have ratings/certificates added on that they acquire. So all have Instrument Rating (IR) and Multi-Engine Rating (ME), Some have Flight Instructor Certificate (CFI).

You than get a type rating for the different airframes. So by the time you graduate basic flight training you might have been qualified on 2-3 "types" of aircraft.

Another example is a line pilot in a F-18 Squadron is qualified on "type" the F-18, they can not go be a captain of a C-130 until they qualify on "type" for the C-130.

Most military pilots are only qualified on one "type" of airframe at a time, with some notable exceptions, like test pilots/experimental unit pilots, astronauts, etc. Some would be qualified on a group "type", like some special operators on helicopters that are similar.

Within these units there would be further specific qualifications you can earn, examples flight leads, mass flight leads, wingman, etc.

For the military specifically to fly the airplane from A-B is not when you are qualified on type. It is when you can operate the aircraft for its intended mission. So for the F-18, being able to take off, fly to a destination and land is not qualified on type, you must be able to fight the aircraft, before being qualified.