Civilian Ratings That Military Pilots Should Care About, Part 1

If you aspire to a lifetime career as a professional pilot, you almost can’t beat getting your start in the military. Whether you fly tankers because size matters, you decide to fight both wars and forest fires in the C-130, or you give in to your inner Maverick and fly fighters, you can’t beat the experiences you’ll have as a military pilot.

If you’re smart, you’ll follow the Ultimate Military Pilot Career Path, earning free college and four years of credit toward retirement in the process. Then, when all’s said and done, you’ll be eligible to move on to the airlines where the pay is more than...well...just read this post and see.

The Federal Aviation Regulations have a section (14 CFR 61.73) that gives you credit (and a Commercial Pilot’s License) for your military pilot ratings, which is nice. For the most part, you don’t need to know or care about most of the rules for civilian pilot ratings. However, there are a couple of critical points in your career when you will need to obtain civilian ratings the hard way. We’ll discuss those situations here today, then take a look at some ways to get that done next week.

(For what it’s worth, if you do care about sounding intelligent when you talk to civilian pilots, I’ve written a handy translation guide for you here.)

Table of Contents

1. Private Pilot for UPT Applicants
2. Extra Credit for UPT Applicants
3. Mil Comp - What is it Good For?
4. Airline Transport Pilot (ATP)
5. Restricted ATP (RATP)
6. ATP for Helicopter Pilots
7. Conclusion

Private Pilot for UPT Applicants

Whether you’re following the Ultimate Military Pilot Career Path by applying for a UPT slot directly with a Guard or Reserve unit, or you’re just trying to get into the USAF Academy, you will increase your chances by showing up with a Private Pilot’s Certificate in hand.

While this might only score you a couple of points on your USAFA application, I personally wouldn’t dream of applying for a Guard/Reserve UPT slot without already having my license. I don’t care how good you do at rushing the unit, the hiring board ultimately needs some proof that you have some piloting ability in you.

You’ll need to fund this rating on your own. You must be 17 years old to officially earn a Private Pilot Certificate; however, you can start at any age and solo as early as 16.

You can do this with old fashioned hard work, through parents or other benefactors, with scholarships, or some combination of the three. I’ve written about ways to save money by just being smart about how you approach flight training. I’ve started putting together a website that lists flying scholarships here, and with a reasonable amount of pilot knowledge you’re fully capable of starting up a side-hustle that can more than pay for your flight training. (We’ll quantify those costs in a moment.)

For your flight training, you’ll have to choose between two types of schools: Part 61 and Part 141. A Part 141 school (governed by that section of the FAA regulations) is a large, structured operation. They should have several aircraft and permanent staff. Appendix B to Part 141 explains that a pilot in this type of program could theoretically earn a Private Pilot’s License with as few as 35 hours. This is potentially a good deal for you, although national averages show that most pilots need more hours than this to build the skills required to pass a check ride.

The structure and resources of a Part 141 program mean that you’re more likely to get your training done on schedule. They should have spare aircraft in case (or more likely when) the one you normally fly goes down for extended maintenance. The downside is that all their aircraft, staff, and other infrastructure cost a lot of money - meaning you’ll probably have to pay more to complete this program.

The other option covers any other flight training operation under Part 61. This could be a single instructor who owns a single aircraft, or an operation the size of a Part 141 school that just doesn’t want to deal with the extra certification headaches. You’ll need at least 40 flight hours to go to your check ride if you’re training under Part 61, though again, the national average is closer to 55 hours.

Part 61 training has several potential upsides. It’s usually cheaper than a Part 141 school, and the pace is more flexible for pilots who are busy with school or work. You may also have the option of doing ground school at your own pace, rather than in a structured classroom setting at a Part 141 school.

The biggest downfall of most Part 61 operations is that they tend to have a small number of aircraft. Frequently, they’ll only have one of each type of aircraft. If the one you’re flying breaks, you either have to do a lot of extra training to transition to another type, or sit and wait for it to get fixed. I’ve seen this take weeks or months.

I won’t say that either type of program is better than the other - they’re just different. If you live somewhere that gives you a choice of program type, interview both like you would someone applying to work for you. Ask to talk with references (current and past students) and look up articles and accident reports about them online. Visit the facilities and look at their aircraft. If you, as an untrained pilot, can tell that the aircraft look dingy, walk away because their maintenance is probably not up to par.

Ultimately, you need to go with the school that fits your scheduling availability, mentality, and finances. Whatever you choose, I cannot emphasize enough that you should have at least some flight training logged before you apply for a UPT applicant slot at a Guard or Reserve hiring board. If you want to be a professional pilot, you need to show them that you’ve taken the first step.

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Extra Credit for UPT Applicants

Although I feel like earning your Private Pilot License (PPL) is the minimum acceptable standard for a Guard or Reserve hiring board, it technically isn’t. Many pilots have landed UPT slots with nothing more than a few flight hours. Frequently, having soloed in a powered aircraft is a more realistic minimum. However, why would you ever leave a career opportunity like this to chance?

If you’re serious about your bid to join a military flying unit, why not do as much flying preparation as your budget allows? (If you’re funding your training with scholarships, you may find yourself with a lot of options here.)

If you already have your PPL, the next logical step is to work toward your instrument rating. This could be beneficial in a couple of ways. First, it shows that you’ve pursued and succeeded in some advanced flying training. Skill and dedication? Check. Second, you will do better on your instrument flights in UPT if you already have an instrument rating. The requirements for this rating are listed in 14 CFR 61.65, and really the biggest limitation is that you need 50 hours of cross country time. It’s possible to obtain this rating with relatively few hours after earning your PPL.

A few years ago, the FAA even decided to allow a new type of training that combines the Private Pilot and Instrument Ratings into one course. It allows you to complete both with 70 total flight hours. While this probably won’t save you too many hours, it could be useful if you can do the whole course as a package deal. Shop around before you commit to something like this, and be sure to talk to both flight instructors who teach it, and students who have gone through it to find out what they think.

You could also potentially impress a UPT hiring board by obtaining ratings for other categories and classes of aircraft. You could earn a PPL for gliders, seaplanes, airships, or helicopters. The glider rating is relatively inexpensive while a helicopter rating necessitates a high-paying job or some serious scholarships. (I did my seaplane add-on rating at Jack Brown’s in Florida. A proficient pilot can complete the course in two days for a total of $1,600.)

You could also do some aerobatic or mountain flying course, or pursue endorsements for tailwheel, high performance, complex, or high-altitude aircraft. Most of these could be accomplished in as few as about five flight hours. If you’re interested in logging a few extra hours anyway, this flying is more valuable than just taking your friends up to see their house in a C-172.

While any of this extra flying will look great on a Guard or Reserve hiring board application, remember that it’s not necessary. If it will hurt your ability to get good grades, a good PCSM score, or it will break the bank, then don’t do it! In that case, focus on those other things and stop once you earn your Private Pilot License.

This covers all of the pilot ratings that a Guard or Reserve UPT applicant should be worried about. The goal here is to earn some military pilot wings and do some amazing flying. However, in order to move on to the most lucrative civilian aviation jobs (primarily the airlines), your military pilot wings aren’t good enough. We’ll look at what a more experienced military aviator needs next.

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Mil Comp - What is it Good For?

As we mentioned, there are some rules that award extra civilian pilot ratings to military aviators based on our experience. These are a good deal, and 14 CFR 61.73 explains the details. Basically, you can receive a Commercial Pilot Certificate with an Instrument Rating for any category and class of aircraft that you’re qualified to fly in the military. In this case, category/class combos are:

• Airplane - Single Engine Land (ASEL)
• Airplane - Multi-Engine Land (AMEL)
• Rotorcraft - Helicopter
• Powered Lift (Tiltrotor)

If the FAA recognizes a type rating for your aircraft, then you also get that as well. (B707 for C-135 series and B200/350 for C-12 series aircraft are common.)