How to Become a Helicopter Pilot in the Coast Guard
While the Coast Guard is often overlooked, it is one of the most active of the armed services. Coast Guard units patrol around the U.S. and the world, devoted to the safety of those at sea. A career as a Coast Guard helicopter pilot is challenging, but can be immensely rewarding.
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Instructions
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Become a Coast Guard officer. While flight crews of Coast Guard helicopters can be enlisted men and women, only officers can be pilots. This will require a college degree and acceptance into the Coast Guard for officer candidate training. There are a variety of ways to accomplishing this, including the Coast Guard Academy, the College Student Pre-Commissioning Program (similar to ROTC) and some direct commissioning programs (such as for trained aviators and officers of other service branches).
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Attend flight school, either Coast Guard, civilian or another branch of service. Coast Guard officers selected for flight school attend Naval Flight School in Pensacola, Florida. Pilots who attend other flight schools will need 500 hours of rotary-wing flight time, apart from initial training.
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Develop time- and risk-management skills. The primary duty of Coast Guard helicopter crews is search and rescue. As such, these crews must be highly cohesive, working well together under stress. A Coast Guard pilot must be able to make quick, accurate decisions and show initiative.
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Tips & Warnings
Flight school has stringent physical requirements for applicants, including vision and dental screenings. Eyesight must be 20/20, or correctable to 20/20, and applicants should have no cavities or other dental problems.
References
- Photo Credit red coast guard helicopter image by Xavier MARCHANT from Fotolia.com
