kingfisher said:
..... what's your opinion of Pipeliners going onto this airplane as a first tour?
In my opinion there is no problem at all in pipeliners coming to the C-17 as a first tour. I also see no issue with them going to the Airbus nor the Challenger as well for a first tour. You come onto the aircraft as a copilot and you spend 3 years or more learning the role, the aircraft and everything else you need to know. I do not see what the issue is .....
The whole "sacred cow" thing of making the Airbus and Challenger "second tour only" for guys who have had heavy, multi engine experience is nothing more than the relics of old school thinking, and preservation of the old boys club .... the old Boeing pilots who would walk of the aircraft with bifocals, peak caps and oxfords ...... well, times have changed.
But that is just my opinion. I have learned that if you ask 6 pilots for an opinion, you'll end up with 7 totally different answers ...
I flew in Iraq in 2003 with a very young 2Lt who was on first "dollar ride" ... his very first mission out of the unit after his initial qualification training. So, he sat in the right seat .... just a handful of hours on the machine .... with a set of NVGs on ... going blacked out onto a covert runway. He did just fine, but his main job is not really "flying" in the combat zone ... he runs the checklist, sets the gear, slats and flaps, monitors the energy state of the aircraft and yells at me if I do something wrong. He did just fine but he began to panic now and again when he saw tracer fire reaching up at us .... then, when we're on the more mundane legs of the mission I let him fly and try teaching him on those more benign routes.
Pipeliners will be just fine on the C-17 and the training system is set up for pipeliners.
FACT:
Pipeliners WILL be coming onto the C-17 ... and due to the shortage of pilots that we have right now, and with the unexpected amount of open training slots that have just come out of Boeing and Altus AFB ... pipeliners will be coming to the C-17 very quickly ... very soon. In fact, our first pipeliner was just named this past week out of Portage ..... he'll most likely be coming through for his training fairly soon on the C-17. It's happening and pipeliners will be/do just fine.
kingfisher said:
....... is this the best A/C and job platform to begin a military pilot, career with? I was talking to an experienced Herc guy the other day who said that a young pipeliner should be out flying low level in a Herc or something else medium sized. I too see the logic and advantages to this, even though the C-17 would awesome for a first job....Your thoughts?
No.
Flying a CC-130 around at 200' and 240 kts is a great job, no, actually it is a fantastic job .... but flying the "heavies" is quite different. One is not better than the other and one is not a requirement or a prerequisite to be better on the other. They are apples and oranges .... they both have slightly different training and performance objectives. I would not recommend one over the other because they are not really the same ... and they are both great jobs ... and now that the J model is coming on-line, well life just gets better and better for the young pipeliners coming up through the system right now.
With the Airbus, the C-17 and then new J model .... then FWSAR .... Air Mobility is going is going to be a fantastic place to be for young up and coming pilots who are either "in" the training system right now, or about to enter it. And, with the Chinook and Cyclone just around the corner the rotary wing side also looks very exciting as well ... hopefully we will see the Cormorant return to full service very soon as well.
We'll have modern technology and glass cockpits coming out the wazoo pretty soon.
I would not recommend one airframe or job over another ... they're all different and information and knowledge are your best allies. Just try to find out as much as possible from people who have operated the airframes in their roles and then make your own personal choice from that.
The C-17 as a first choice would be a great career choice, but then again so would the Herc ..... Tac Avn ... flying helicopters on Nogs nap of the earth doing covert insertions with the SOR guys in Pet sounds pretty damned exciting to me ..... or doing the very noble SAR job ..... it all boils down to personal choice .... and you're the only guy who can make that choice.
Good luck .... pick what is going to make you happy and prove to be an exciting and fullfilling career to "YOU".
Globe, Since you're one of the few guys in this country who have actually flown the C-17, what's your opinion of Pipeliners going onto this airplane as a first tour?
Globe, Thanks for the great and very comprehensive answer! 
