Navy Flying Club

[Creflo]

Hi, pod student here strongly considering Navy HPSP. I read that there are "Navy flight clubs." Does anyone have any experience with this? Is there time to get your pilot's license through this? Is it less expensive than private lessons? Are these located near most Naval hospitals?

Is this the only way to get flight experience if you are a Navy officer with corrected vision and no aspiration to be a flight surgeon?

Thanks for any info

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[IgD]

Did a recruiter tell you this? No way...

 

[BigNavyPedsGuy]

I don't think there is any sort of Navy sponsored mechanism to get your pilot's license. Flight surgeons don't even get one. They don't have the extra time and funds to offer lessons to whomever wants them.

 

[Creflo]

Did a recruiter tell you this? No way...

http://www.mwr.navy.mil/mwrprgms/fleetreadiness.htm

 

[notdeadyet]

Did a recruiter tell you this? No way...

No, there are military flight clubs at lots of the major bases with flight capability. They do instruction from private pilot up to ATP.

That said, it's just for the flying hobbyist and has nothing to do with your military career. I checked the prices of the local one and they seemed a bit cheaper than the privates in the area (especially for wet plane rental) but not hugely so.

 

[IgD]

Navy Medicine uses a couple computer systems AHLTA and DMHRSI to closely monitor/micromanage workload output. You will be expected to have 40 hours of face-to-face time with patients. There is never any downtime. You could learn how to fly or do other extracurricular activities but it would have to be on your own time. I've been at all three Naval hospitals and am not aware of any "flight club". I worked at an Air Force base and I think they had something like that. However my Air Force physician counterparts had the same if not more stringent workload expectations.

 

[notdeadyet]

You could learn how to fly or do other extracurricular activities but it would have to be on your own time.

Yeah, extracurricular = own time to me. Anyone who thinks you're going to do hobbies on the company dime is kidding themselves.

I've been at all three Naval hospitals and am not aware of any "flight club".

Well, do the hospitals have air strips and aircraft? That would be a prerequisite for a flight club.

I did a quick hunt. If you're looking, there's a flight club at Lemoore, which is a bit of a drive from Balboa and Montgomery Field, which I believe is in San Diego. There's one at Patuxent River (which I think is near Bethesda, no?) and one at the Naval Safety center which is near or in Norfolk.

I don't go to the gym because I don't have time, but I'll grudgingly admit that it's there.

 

[Kingfisher]

Hi, pod student here strongly considering Navy HPSP. I read that there are "Navy flight clubs." Does anyone have any experience with this? Is there time to get your pilot's license through this? Is it less expensive than private lessons? Are these located near most Naval hospitals?

Is this the only way to get flight experience if you are a Navy officer with corrected vision and no aspiration to be a flight surgeon?

Thanks for any info

Is the Navy offering the HPSP to podiatry students now?

 

[Creflo]

Is the Navy offering the HPSP to podiatry students now?

yes, for the first time i believe

 

[NavyFP]

Is the Navy offering the HPSP to podiatry students now?

There are 3 spots for 2009.

 

[NavDOman]

The first rule of Flight Club is - you do not talk about Flight Club.
The second rule of Flight Club is - you DO NOT talk about Flight Club.
Third rule of Flight Club, someone yells Stop the plane, goes limp, taps out, the flight is over.
Fourth rule, only two guys to a flight.
Fifth rule, one flight at a time, fellas.
Sixth rule, no shirt, no shoes, no flying.
Seventh rule, flights will go on as long as they have to, or until you run out of fuel.
And the eighth and final rule, if this is your first night at Flight Club, you have to fly.

Ok - I'm painfully bored and not tired and couldn't resist... hope this was enjoyed.

 

[grotto]

I finished my instrument license at the club at North Island in San Diego. Cheap, pretty tight group, and you have the rarely used runways of NASNI to practice on. Plus, they used to have T-34's for aerobatics, although someone flew one into a box canyon and killed himself, so I don't know if they rent them. San Diego and SoCal (they are controlled by the same organization) probably has the most complicated airspace in the country, so its a great place to get good fast.

That all being said, unless you are extremely passionate about flying, don't waste your money on a pilots license. It is a money pit, even if you don't own an aircraft. The two times I flew a couple friends to Vegas were fun, but not in anyway economical. You know how gas is 1.50 a gallon now, well 100LL and Jet-A are still over 4 dollars a gallon, and a cessna takes 50 or so gallons. I haven't been at the controls of an aircraft in 18 months and have let my certs expire.

 

[Creflo]

That all being said, unless you are extremely passionate about flying, don't waste your money on a pilots license. It is a money pit, even if you don't own an aircraft. The two times I flew a couple friends to Vegas were fun, but not in anyway economical. You know how gas is 1.50 a gallon now, well 100LL and Jet-A are still over 4 dollars a gallon, and a cessna takes 50 or so gallons. I haven't been at the controls of an aircraft in 18 months and have let my certs expire.[/QUOTE]

good point on the money issue, time is hard to find right now too. i'll stick with my rc planes for now...maybe down the road will get into the real ones

 

[goodjuju]

The first rule of Flight Club
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.
.
Ok - I'm painfully bored and not tired and couldn't resist... hope this was enjoyed.

I liked it.