Additional Information
To become a fighter pilot, you have to become an officer first. Here is
how you can become an officer in the air force.
You can enroll at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Or you can join the Air Force
Reserve Officer Training Corps while you are in college. Or you can join the
air force after college and attend the officer training school to win your
commission.
After you earn your commission and are deemed to fit to fly, you have to
go through several stages of flight training. From the moment you are commissioned
and begin pilot training, it may take up to two and a half years before you
are a fully qualified fighter pilot if you can meet the various standards
set throughout flight training, says Dave Smith. He is the chief of media
relations at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.
Note that you cannot apply for a specific type of aircraft before you enter
pilot training. And once you are done with primary training, you will undergo
a selection process that puts you into an advanced "track."
There are four tracks -- fighter and bomber, airlift and tankers, turbo-props
and helicopters. And the number of the students selected into each track depends
on what the Air Force needs, says Smith.
You can express a preference, but you may not get your wish. It depends
on your performance, recommendations from training supervisors and the availability
of training spots, says Smith.