Originally Posted by EdM
Jorge,

What are the typical and/or most common degrees of a pilot? I was good friends with a Naval aviator when I was in college. He was math and a serious diving competitor. He flew A7's IIRC out of Lemoore (I was in San Luis Obispo). He was always welcome as he had money, we were just broke college kids. grin


Ed: Hatari's post notwithstanding (it is accurate smile ), it depends on the time/demand. My last tour was as Director Of The Navy's Aviation Training School so I can speak at your question with some knowledge. For Naval Aviation, first and foremost is desire. Without it, I don't care how smart/fit you are, you've got to have that. Now as for what we looked for as the "ideal" candidate, was:
1. Technical Degree from a GOOD school. I can't tell you how many we weeded out with Aeronautical degrees from Emory Riddle, etc.
2. Good AQT/FAR scores (Aviation Qualification Test/Flight Aptitude Review) 9/9 being the highest, but anything above 6/7 was good.
3. Athlete, that is, good hand to eye coordination.
And for the record, we also found those who in addition to the above qualifications, had worked their way through school and not necessarily graduates from the Service Academies.

The highest failure rates came from, non-technical degrees, low AQT/FAR scores (below 5/5) and prior enlisted. I am sure that last one will illicit some rage, but I was former enlisted (USMC) and although I had a BS degree (minor in math), enlisted folks are OLDER and yes the younger one is the better one learns, this is a fact and also, they tended to have families ( I did not ) but you just have to devote A LOT of time to after hours study and having a wife and kids was definitively a minus.
Those with prior civilian time one would expect to have an advantage and they sort of did, up to about their FAM-15 Flight (or thereabouts), but their skills were not "The Navy Way" and after that the younger guys caught up. After Primary, there was the first split in training, those with "Jet Grades" (high) went jets and those that did not, went helos or props (P-3s). Same rules apply to the back seat guys. Lastly, and this is more applicable towards the end of Flight Training, the infamous quality spread. While there were guys who wanted to fly say, Intruders, Tomcats etc (almost all of us did), the Navy always spread the wealth as it were. The #1 guy in the class almost always got his wish and the were selected according to the Navy's needs AND quality spread. I was #2 out of 7 in my class and the first and last guy got Tomcats. I did NOT want to fly Vikings, but guess what? that is where they sent me and in the end I was happy I went. So much so that after my first tour in the Pentagon, I worked for a Fighter Admiral and he offered me a transition to Tomcats and I stayed with the S-3. A bit long-winded, but I hope this gives you better insights as to how the sausage is made.

One last thing. I sincerely hope that comment about Officers thinking ALL enlisted are dumb was not aimed at me. I for one WAS one, and I am proud to say I sent many a young sailor to not only the Naval Academy, but to other Universities and special programs as well. Working with "The Troops" was without question, the most rewarding part of my career and If I gave that impression it was not my intent. One more thing: there is just no way I would have survived as an officer without the guidance, leadership and mentoring of ALL my Chief Petty Officers, from my very first one when I showed up to my first squadron, to when I was last "piped over the side" in Pensacola thirty years later. Cheers, J

A good principle to guide me through life: “This is all I have come to expect, standard lackluster performance. Trust nothing, believe no one and realize it will only get worse…”