(The Guard and Reserve have their own 'hiring' process, and will send their own folks to UPT with a garaunteed fighter follow-on. Sounds like yor chances are better out of the gate, right? But hold on there, let's not forget that about 40% of the AF's fighters are in the Guard and Reserve, and you will NOT be going Guard or Reserve directly out of the AFA. We have to fill all those bomber, tanker, airlift, spec ops, and a host of other cockpits each year.īut as others have said,the AF has nearly double the amount of fighters as the Navy and Marine Corps COMBINED. But don't forget, this is the AIR FORCE, and we fly a LOT of more things than just fighters. As others here have said, there are enough pilot slots that come out of the USAFA (about 500 / class, or 50% of the entire class is offered a pilot slot) that if you QUALIFY and want one, you're almost guaranteed to get one. No need to get into a debate with them on this, as it will only tick them off. Your response to this the next time you hear it from non-AF folks should simply be to smile and say 'thanks for the information'. Hopefully, this isn't too confusing.įirst off, the folks NOT IN THE AF that have been telling you that 80% of the pilot slots in the AF are now goig to drones are giving you bad information. OK, there are a lot of 'nuansces' in the question of 'what are my chances of becoming a fighter pilot out of the Academies?', so let me provide some perspective.

Ang pilot slot