Hello pilots. I am posting today because I had the idea that serving in the reserves as air traffic control or aircraft maintenance might be a good idea as a part 121 pilot. I have not started training yet but would like to know if this would be a good idea since I heard many pilots in the airlines are also in the military reserves. I’d also like to know if airlines look favorably on ATC or maintenance experience down the road at majors and what the best military reserve career may be.
Also, since I haven’t started training yet, I’d also like to know if military reserves are typically acceptable in pilot cadet programs.
Being based in HNL, MANY of the pilots I fly with are in the Reserves. They have no issues with any of the programs and all the airlines are very accomodating when it comes to Reserve schedules and leaves.
That said the airlines hire well trained pilots with pilot ratings and experience, not controllers or maintenance personnel. Neither of which will give you any type of leg up at the airlines (or even mean you can fly), but may help you personally as far as benefits and pay go.
Many airlines have military duty policies that allow those serving, to continue to serve. I know many fellow colleagues here at Piedmont that take a month at a time to fulfill duties as a serviceman.
Like Adam mentioned, given that you receive quality training with passing checkrides (minimal to null busts), be in good standing with your former flight school and have a reputable resume, you should not have an issue getting hired. As for being an Air Traffic Controller, there is an age cutoff at which you cannot apply, I believe it is 30. However, the military has their own ATC personnel that I am sure have different requirements and limitations, if you decided that route.
My question to you, have you ever sat in a small trainer and taken flight?
I never said “nothing in the reserves can actually make a pilot better at his job”. What I said was when you apply to an airline, whatever skills you may have aquired will not be considered during the hiring process.
There is a common misconception that jobs in other areas of aviation will somehow contribute to a pilot’s knowledge and skill level. The reality is that being a pilot is very separate and distinct from just about any other job. Let’s take a mechanic as an example. While it might sound that knowing how to fix an airplane will be beneficial, it really does not matter to a pilot. As pilots, we have a surface level knowledge of aircraft systems, we certainly do not know how to fix them, now would the knowledge be helpful. I do not even know how to add oil to the engines on my airplane and have no need to. I have actually flown with a few pilots that were former mechanics and often find that they over think mechanical situations and sometimes find problems where there are not actually any.
The bottom line is that being a pilot is a very distinct skill set onto itself and there really is not much outside of piloting that applies to it.
