# Highest rank at which someone would still be a military pilot **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-rank-at-which-someone-would-still-be-a-military-pilot/800044 "2017-10-28T02:49:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ntsallfour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c68b51/32.png) [@ntsallfour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ntsallfour)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-rank-at-which-someone-would-still-be-a-military-pilot/800044/41 "2017-11-02T01:04:57Z")
I work in a USAF Major Command (AMC). The 4-star MAJCOM Commander position is a flying billet. He can fly in any aircraft type in the command, but always with an instructor pilot. Same goes for the MAJCOM Director of Operations, a 1-/2-star flying billet, but always with an IP. Several divisions in the MAJCOM also have one or more flying billets (O-3 to O-6): Aircrew Stan/Eval, Aircrew Training, Tactics, Test & Evaluation, etc. As a C-130 Squadron Commander (O-5), I only flew a couple times a month. However flying training hours were tight then, and I had many young pilots in the squadron that needed the flight time more than I did (I was very experienced in the plane). ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-rank-at-which-someone-would-still-be-a-military-pilot/800044/42 "2017-11-02T14:02:08Z")
Coming back to the OP’s question, it really depends on what OP considers “a flying military pilot”. A flying billet that can get an officer into the cockpit of a military aircraft for qualification, refresher, cross-country transit, training, etc. (i.e., peacetime flying)… any rank, up to 4-star general. Flying a combat mission? In the current US military, I’d be surprised if anyone with a star on a shoulder does it. O-6s may, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-rank-at-which-someone-would-still-be-a-military-pilot/800044/43 "2017-11-02T17:00:13Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Coming back to the OP’s question, it really depends on what OP considers “a flying military pilot”. > > A flying billet that can get an officer into the cockpit of a military aircraft for qualification, refresher, cross-country transit, training, etc. (i.e., peacetime flying)… any rank, up to 4-star general. > > Flying a combat mission? In the current US military, I’d be surprised if anyone with a star on a shoulder does it. O-6s may, it seems. Right, combat was what I had in mind with the question. Not a 4-star general flying a few times a year over Nevada in peacetime. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-rank-at-which-someone-would-still-be-a-military-pilot/800044/44 "2017-11-03T14:42:09Z")
A little tangential to the question, and I’m sure most people here know this already, but the abilities needed to fly in combat degrade significantly with age, and since rank is correlated with age, even though general or even colonel So-and-so may have the certifications and permission to fly in combat, it might not be a good idea. Maybe someone knows a better cite for this, but here’s part of the summary of a [Navy study of pilots’ vision and reaction times](http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a178485.pdf): > [@Morris and Hamilton](#): > > Older pilots had higher thresholds (poorer vision) than younger pilots for all vision tests, and correlation between age and threshold was significant in three tests (spot detection ability, high contrast acuity, low contrast acuity with glare). A reduction in acuity with increased age is well known in the general popultion (e.s. Allen and Vos, 1967). The relationships between reaction time variables and age are less clear. The simple reaction time for the suprathreshold target got significantly longer with increased age, which is a frequently documented result (Welford, 1980). It is unclear, however, why the threshold stressed reaction times for several tests became significantly shorter with increased age for these pilots. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-rank-at-which-someone-would-still-be-a-military-pilot/800044/45 "2017-11-03T20:39:31Z")
I have a navigator friend who’s an Air Natl. Guard lieutenant colonel (now retired) and kept flying as a navigator in KC-135 tankers for several years after making that rank. Here’s a Wiki chart on officer pay grades in the U.S. military: [Uniformed services pay grades of the United States - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_pay_grades_of_the_United_States#Officer_pay_grades) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-rank-at-which-someone-would-still-be-a-military-pilot/800044/46 "2017-11-03T21:02:36Z")
> [@Yarster](#): > > While I am taking him at his word, when I worked for a prior Air Force Major General, he told he took an F-15 out for a spin during the Gulf War “just because he could”. If this were Star Trek, he would have taken a doctor with him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highest-rank-at-which-someone-would-still-be-a-military-pilot/800044.md?page=2)