Is it hard job/life to work as jet pilot on aircraft carrier?

[frenchn00b]

Hi,

How many miles you fly a year? How tough is it?

Luckily Guys you can take retirement earlier, well deserved.



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High-tech carrier:
http://weblogs.dailypress.com/news/local/military/blog/nimitz9.jpg

[Paqman]

I've heard night landings can be interesting. Pilots log their number of hours btw, not the distance they fly.

Not everything that flies off carriers is a jet btw. Plenty of whirlyhead helicopter types and more than a few prop-driven aircraft in carrier aviation.

[dca]

Have a friend of the family who's been doing it for almost twenty years. He says it kinda' gets to be like driving a car after a while... Depending on airlines you work for, regardless of most of the plane being computer automated for take-off/landing you still have to go in for remedial training and test to fly manual.

[mbgaski]

No clue on how grueling it is, but I think personally it would be a good choice IF you can make it. I'm just a regular private pilot (PPL-ASEL) and if you ever hope to transition into commercial aviation the road is LONG and hard in the private sector. Getting your private, complex and high performance ratings, multi-engine rating, instrument rating, commercial rating, etc. Plus figuring out the chicken and egg problem of someone letting you fly a turbo-jet without time already on one.

Military training will help if you want to ever go that route. Since you'll come out of the military already with jet experience, high flight hours, etc, you'll be good to go.

Just realize though that being a military pilot - ESPECIALLY on fighter jets - is a very competitive field. A lot of guys who go in hoping to be pilots end up as aircraft mechanics. When I was going for my private there were several other students from the nearby Air Force Base who were taking private lessons in their spare time because they didn't make it as a military pilot but they still wanted to fly.

[MaxIBoy]

I'll try to get my dad to write something about the experience later, but no guarantees.