Pilot Physicians

[randomlemons]

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Hi, I was looking at a few old threads about this career field. Currently, I'm only a sophomore at the Air Force Academy, but I'm trying to think about my career choices after I get commissioned. I'm currently a biochemistry major, which would put me on track to attend medical school. But I would also like to fly (C-17s, if I got the chance). I'm not sure if I could get PQ'd (I'd need waivers for height and vision), but I came upon pilot physicians and was wondering if anyone had any knowledge about this field. Would I need to go through UPT and then medical school later on, or become a flight surgeon and then try to learn to fly? Thanks.

 

[DeadCactus]

I believe the only pilot physicians are people who did a tour as pilots first and then went to medical school after their obligations was up. Flight Surgeons might get some time at the controls as a perk of the job, but they are not trained to be pilots.

On a side note, we have a lot of interesting backgrounds and non-traditional students at my school. The only ones that ever really make me wonder if I really should have gone straight through to medical school are the ex-pilots...

 

[Perrotfish]

I asked about this at ODS. At least in the Navy, in the entire history of the Medical Corps less than half a dozen physicians have convinced the Navy to fully train them as a pilot after they finished medical school. At least one of those officers then went on to join the space program, BTW. For everyone else the best you can hope for is a few weeks (or in the Navy, a few months) of flight training as part of a flight surgeon tour, followed by occasional flight time as a backseater.

So, if the AF is similar, it seems like it's WAY easier to go pilot and then go to medical school than the other way around.

 

[jdig]

one way to look at it, if you want to fly, getting your private license can be done for around $7500 and as quickly as 2-3 months.

you can always get your pilots license. anytime, fairly easily..
medicine on the other hand.. 7 years minimum at 200k.. fairly difficult!

IMHO better to be a doctor getting his pilots license, than a pilot wanting to be a doctor.

my .02$

 

[SirGecko]

one way to look at it, if you want to fly, getting your private license can be done for around $7500 and as quickly as 2-3 months.

you can always get your pilots license. anytime, fairly easily..
medicine on the other hand.. 7 years minimum at 200k.. fairly difficult!

IMHO better to be a doctor getting his pilots license, than a pilot wanting to be a doctor.

my .02$

A private pilot's license isn't really the same thing as being a pilot in the military...

 

[AF M4]

Hi, I was looking at a few old threads about this career field. Currently, I'm only a sophomore at the Air Force Academy, but I'm trying to think about my career choices after I get commissioned. I'm currently a biochemistry major, which would put me on track to attend medical school. But I would also like to fly (C-17s, if I got the chance). I'm not sure if I could get PQ'd (I'd need waivers for height and vision), but I came upon pilot physicians and was wondering if anyone had any knowledge about this field. Would I need to go through UPT and then medical school later on, or become a flight surgeon and then try to learn to fly? Thanks.

First, some simple math/logistics. Medical school is 4 years. Then an internship, then you would have to do at least one active duty tour before they would even consider letting you do UPT to become a pilot-physician. So 7 years minimum on the med school track after you graduate the Academy. So if you're a traditional college-aged student at graduation, you would likely be about 29-30 before the AFPC could be persuaded to release you, and that's probably going to take some powerful friends.

(Always be networking)

Anyway, now go look up the cutoff age for entering UPT. Yep, you'll probably be needing a waiver if you try to go from medical to pilot. And that's before navigating the great politico-bureaucratic mess that will likely befall your attempt.

Whereas medical schools love pilot applicants, and there's no age restriction there. So it's much easier one way vs another.

Pick the one that you really want to do, try to get some experience and definitely talk with the active duty people in all the fields you are considering before making your final decision.

Good luck.

 

[inteleric1983]

I'm a pilot in the Army, I am in the process of finishing my pre-req's for med school, and I intend to go into aviation medicine. I new that if I wanted to get some real aviation experience I would have to go aviation first. Getting your private license is NOT the same as being trained by the military. Over 75% of the people I went through flight school with had their private license, many had degrees in aerospace and it offered almost no advantage over someone with no experience, especially after the first month. We had a guy with 1200 civilian hours and everyone caught up to him within a month or two. The rules are more lax in civilian aviation and so is the knowledge retention and application.

Our flight surgeons don't fly, it's not their job, they do get exposed to it, but not nearly enough to get you anywhere in aviation or make you comfortable enough to actually fly an aircraft, as in takeoff, pattern, and land.

If you really want to be a pilot and a doctor think about how important flying is to you. I say this to everyone that tells me they want to go to flight school because it's a pretty intense curriculum, and if you don't want it bad there will be far too many times where you want to quit, especially in SERE school, and primary. (we had a bunch quit) If you have to do it, consider flight school first. The skils you will learn will set you apart in the civilian world and only help you on a med school application.

I had a doctor in my flight school class, he told me that he got bored with it, and just had to learn to fly helicopters. I was surprised because I asked why he didn't just go and get his private license, but he said he wanted to get the experience that you get in the military (million dollar flight training and crazy amounts of flight hours). I asked him how med school was compared to flight school, he said it was about the same except there were times in flight school that were far more stressful and time consuming than he experienced in med school. I'm sure that depends on where you go though.

 

[giuseppe]

just graduated from the zoo in may. i was in your shoes. got a slot to enjjpt and was deciding b/w sheppard, georgetown med, or usuhs. if i had not have met my future wife beginning of junior year i would probably be at sheppard still going the pilot physician route. as it is, i am incredibly happy chugging away at my first semester at usuhs. my only regret is that i did not apply for the umd/mpp program (i was a polisci major), which would have given me 2 more years in DC as a student. not a bad deal. for me, i already had a t38 and a f16 ride on ops so i knew what i was missing. also, i got a lot of flying in as a soaring ip (which is not the same thing, but still something). besides, you'll probably end up flying UAVs, which to me, just the chance of that was a waste of time versus going straight into medicine. one of my close friends at usuhs is an academy grad/ex-f15 pilot. times were different when he graduated, everyone heading to sheppard was guaranteed a fighter. i dont know bro, see where you are and if the flying options change by your senior year. if you have enjjpt but a ****ty med school option, go with enjjpt. if you have med school, but also vance with a start date a year from graduation... go to med school. it's all about timing. you'll be happy with either. just stay on top of your class until then and you'll have more options than you can imagine, trust me.

 

[movax]

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