Officer

A Navy pilot prepares to take to the sky for Carrier Qualifications (CQ) in an F/A-18 Hornet Strike Fighter.

Aviation

Job Description:

The Navy offers some of the world’s most advanced and comprehensive training in the field of aviation. Navy pilots, Naval Flight Officers (NFOs) and Aviation Maintenance Duty Officers (AMDOs) are part of this adrenaline-seeking team, which maintains and operates more than 6,000 aircraft. If you’re a physically fit individual who excels academically and possesses leadership qualities and a love of aircraft and flying, join one of our country’s most powerful aviation forces as a Navy Aviation Officer.

What Will You Do?

Pilot

As a Navy pilot, you’ll fly from land bases and ships, often at a moment’s notice, to perform missions across the globe. Pilots can fly in a number of Navy aircraft, including jet, helicopter, turbo-propellor, and other tactical aircraft. While training as a pilot, you will have the opportunity to request the training pipeline you would like to pursue upon completion of primary flight training. During advanced flight training you will learn skills specific to your aircraft such as air-to-air combat, bombing, search and rescue, aircraft carrier qualifications, over-water navigation, and low-level flying.

Variety is the order of the day as a helicopter pilot. You’ll have the opportunity to fly different missions from the decks of several types of Navy ships with such missions as anti-submarine warfare or tracking potential enemies. Helicopter pilots search for underwater mines, fly vertical replenishment missions, and conduct emergency search and rescue missions.

As a turbo-prop pilot, you may fly a multi-engine E-2C Hawkeye early-warning aircraft on a radar-surveillance warfare mission from either a carrier or shore station. Turbo-prop pilots conduct some of the Navy’s most important missions including tracking submarines, surveillance, and collecting photographic intelligence.

Naval Flight Officer

Imagine the skills and concentration needed to track a submarine while flying just 200 feet above stormy seas. Naval Flight Officers (NFOs) are the key to successful mission accomplishment. A select group of individuals have the combination of talent and dedication it takes to be an NFO. NFOs receive specialized training on the advanced tactical systems and complex communications systems found in Navy aircraft. You’ll study aerodynamics, aircraft engine systems, meteorology, navigation, flight planning and aircraft safety. NFOs train and specialize in specific aircraft including:

• Strike: EA-6B Prowler electronic countermeasures aircraft
• Strike Fighter: F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet jet fighters
• Advanced Radar Navigation and Airborne Early Warning System: E-2C Hawkeye early warning and control aircraft
• Advanced Navigation: P-3C Orion antisubmarine aircraft

Aviation Maintenance Duty Officer

Aviation Maintenance Duty Officers (AMDOs) play a vital role as the managers of the Navy’s aviation fleet. As an AMDO, you are responsible for ensuring that all aircraft maintenance is executed correctly so that the crew is provided with a safe and operation-capable aircraft on each and every mission. AMDOs also manage all material and manpower needed to support flight operations. In this aviation profession, you will receive formal technical and managerial training, which you will use to provide support to your squadron’s personnel and aircraft.

Special Pay/Bonuses

Naval Aviation Officers (Pilots and NFOs) receive aviation career incentive pay in addition to their regular salary. Student Aviation Officers receive $125 per month flight pay during flight training. As an Aviation Officer, your monthly flight pay depends on your time in service and increases by hundreds of dollars within a few years to the current maximum of $840 per month. In addition, you may be eligible for continuation bonuses at the end of your initial commitment.

Skills and Training

The U.S. Navy offers the world’s most advanced and comprehensive aviation training to individuals who demonstrate academic and physical aptitude and a potential for leadership and responsibility.

Aviation Officer candidates must have a bachelor’s degree before attending Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Newport, Rhode Island. OCS prepares you for the roles and responsibilities expected of, and afforded to, U.S. Naval Officers through academic and military courses and physical fitness training. All Officers entering aviation programs also complete a six-week air indoctrination course at Naval Aviation Schools Command, also in Pensacola. Prospective pilots and NFOs then attend primary flight training.

Upon completion of primary flight training, pilots and NFOs request an aircraft pipeline and enter the intermediate phase of flight training, which builds upon the prerequisites of basic flight and navigation training. Advanced naval flight training is tailored for mission specifics and upon completion, both pilots and NFOs are awarded their wings of gold and report to their respective Fleet Replacement Squadrons (FRS) for training in their specific aircraft.

AMDOs attend Aviation Maintenance School in Pensacola, Florida to learn leadership, logistics, and operational support of the Naval aviation fleet.

Career Outlook

Navy pilots fly the most sophisticated combat and transport aircraft in the world. The flight hours, precision, and flight expertise you will gain as an Aviation Officer will undoubtedly afford you a prestigious career in the Navy or in the civilian sector working for a major airline, as a private aircraft operator or as a pilot or aircraft maintainer for corporations or government agencies.