Which is harder to become, a USAF pilot or a Navy pilot

They are equally hard.

Except the navy fighter jocks are the only ones who have to land on a moving ship. And they even do it sometimes at night (and high waves).


Good Luck.

Navy, since there are fewer openings.

USAF. My two sons had a hard time getting a flight training position, but the Navy was easier to enter flight training. Could be a ring knocker thing, you know, the AF academy.

Nichole -

They r both challenging in slightly different ways. To label one as more difficult than the other would, l think, be to oversimplify & trivialize the process, which is designed to be rigorous & disciplined regardless of the initial choice. My choice was USAF & l never regretted it. Difficult? Certainly. Worthwhile? Absolutely.

You should probably base ur decision on which mission u would prefer, assuming that ur assignment could be in any aircraft within the service inventory that u choose.

This is a huge generalization, but what I've always seen is that the Air Force has higher standards academically than the Navy (college course of study/grades/test scores/etc.). It seems the Air Force would rather hold its standards high even if it means they run out of pilots while looking for the golden boys. They probably would not have picked me! So getting selected is tougher for basket weavers & artists in the Air Force. There r plenty of French majors flying next to the aero-engineers in the Navy. The Navy does more of picking the best that r available at the time on a broader standard than the Air Force & weeding the rest out if necessary. Also, both service academies no longer have the influence they once did within lower-level decision-making in the services. ROTC-source officers r now the dominant force in military leadership.

As far as platform, tactical jets r the pinnacle choice in both services & there r grade cut-offs in flight school that define them as a goal. The Navy is not pulling any punches when it comes to landing on the boat -- that is a deadly serious feat of airmanship to put ur head through a 4-foot box in space at 140kts, think well ahead of the jet, & employ numerous complex systems in a tactically demanding environment. Heavies, bombers, & helicopters in the Air Force & maritime patrol (VP) & helicopters in the Navy share the same flight school grade cutoffs; i.e. at or near the minimums, so selecting into those communities is merely the same goal as graduating in most cases.

Either way is perfectly doable, but fitting into the culture is half the battle. I've also noticed more of a cowboy/jock culture dominating tactical Naval Aviation, whereas the corporate/geek culture dominates fighters in the Air Force after having seen both up close.

With the exception of have to land on a runway that is moving on three axis, both are very demanding. l would say Navy pilots have the harder flight training.

they are both hard but l think they navy is a bit more hard because being a pilot and landing on a ship moving away from you and swinging up and down is kinda tuff where in the air force you have a runway ther is no room for error wen landing on an aircraft carrier