# Why are military pilots only officers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148 "2008-11-11T02:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/41 "2008-11-12T02:22:28Z")
I came across this blog post some time back: [Honoring the last enlisted Coast Guard aviator.](http://www.cgblog.org/2008/03/honoring-enlisted-coast-guard-aviator.html) A little digging turned up this look at the enlisted pilots of the [Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard](http://www.bluejacket.com/sea-service_nap_index.htm). Interesting stuff. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/42 "2008-11-12T02:27:00Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > I’m pretty sure that some Huey pilots were enlisted. [Robert Mason](http://vera.cals.lib.ar.us/search~S0?/dHelicopter+pilots/dhelicopter+pilots/1%2C6%2C13%2CB/frameset&FF=dhelicopter+pilots+biography&1%2C%2C2), author of _Chickenhawk,_ was a warrant officer. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/43 "2008-11-12T02:35:52Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > [Robert Mason](http://vera.cals.lib.ar.us/search~S0?/dHelicopter+pilots/dhelicopter+pilots/1%2C6%2C13%2CB/frameset&FF=dhelicopter+pilots+biography&1%2C%2C2), author of _Chickenhawk,_ was a warrant officer. …and apparently that ranks an enlisted man. Never mind. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/44 "2008-11-12T02:41:12Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Nice platitude. Must be a hell of a thing to try and fly on instinct alone. “Check my instruments, calculate distance to… Oh fuck! I thought something -” DEAD. Jesus Christ, you think I’m reckless? When I fly, I’ll have you know that my crew and my plane come first. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/45 "2008-11-12T03:19:25Z")
Some of you guys need to apply the old “grain of salt” rule to stuff you see on "The Unit, NCIS, and similar entertainments. This includes Tom Clancy novels. 😉 A pilot, of course, needs to think while flying, even in combat. He/she decides what to do, then training and reaction take over, I’d think. Remember, most of the actual flying of modern aircraft is done by computer. The pilot tells the plane where to go, and the computers take it there. F-4 Phantom pilots likened that jet to a “flying rock”. 😛 It, IIRC, was the first such fighter. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/46 "2008-11-12T03:54:46Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > F-4 Phantom pilots likened that jet to a “flying rock”. I thought that term denoted an aircraft that didn’t fly well without engines, usually “flying brick”. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/47 "2008-11-12T04:34:23Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > Every so often, we would get a new watch officer who was all bright eyed and full of pep, and wanted everything done perfectly by procedure. We protested this in a remarkably simple, and incredibly effective way… By following those orders to the letter. When stuff takes 5x as long to do, and the officer is constantly being harassed for permission, orders, signatures, reviews, etc, it gets old quick, and within a short time they would relent and let us get back to doing our job. > > As an example.. There was a valve that I opened in order to fill a reserve water tank. Simple thing. Open the valve, then close it when they called down and report that it was closed. The procedure for this, however, involved calling 4 or 5 different stations and verifying valve lineups, plus a few checks of my own, and would take half an hour or more to do. Stupid, since we operated that valve ten times a day, and nobody had any reason to operate the rest of the valves(and even if they did, worst case, no water would flow, at which point I would of course investigate). > > Keep this up, order after order, procedure after procedure(which filled gigantic volumes and represented 40 years of bloat), and they would relent. A smart officer does not have that problem. After I graduated from the Maritime Academy and was a green Third I realised the oiler or fireman could bury me if I developed an attitude. I heard a story from one of the men in the class before me. His first at sea watch as a senior watch officer the fireman walks back to the engineroom throttle flat and tells him, by the way third I lost water levels (in the boilers) a few minutes ago. He walked back to the firing flat looked at the control board saw the feed water pressure sitting at 0 psi. He then went down to the lower level and restarted the feed pumps. He then went back up to the firing flat and told the fireman his levels should be comming back. He passed the test and that was the last problem he had with the fireman. If he had failed they would have ran him off that ship. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/48 "2008-11-12T04:36:55Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Oh boy, we are getting into some serious concepts here. A 40 year old NCO has to salute a 22 year old 2nd Lieutenant and respect his or her authority. . And the 22 Ensign or Lt required to return the salute. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/49 "2008-11-12T04:52:03Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought that term denoted an aircraft that didn’t fly well without engines, usually “flying brick”. That could be. Details escape my poor old addled brain. What I _think_ I remember is that without computer help, the F-4 had the glide ratio of a rock, or brick. At (relative) slow speeds it had to ride it’s engines (ride it’s tail?), and couldn’t do that with computer control. I guess dead engines would make for pretty slow speeds.😉 ---
**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 12, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/50 "2008-11-12T05:01:45Z")
IIRC, most Imperial Japanese Navy pilots during WW2 were warrant officers, as are the coxswains of U.S. Coast Guard motor life boats today - with responsibility at least equivalent to that of USAF aircraft commanding officers. Is it possible that the U.S. military is just so top-heavy with officers that we can afford to limit piloting to officers? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/51 "2008-11-12T05:08:44Z")
Has it been mentioned that planes have crews, and that somebody has to have the authority to boss them around. Okay, pilots don’t do a lot of “bossing around”. But they have the responsibility for the aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/52 "2008-11-12T05:09:27Z")
Yeah, I think I mentioned that. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/53 "2008-11-12T05:45:27Z")
I think Shagnasty had a point when he said that lots of people want to be pilots, and requiring applicants to have degrees is an easy way of whittling down the pool. Much like any job where you put basic job requirements – must have MIS degree. You may lose your best guy because he doesn’t have an MIS degree, but at least you won’t be inundated with resumes. I think any other points about responsibility for a $50 million aircraft are silly. All you need to become an officer is to have a degree in _anything_. You can get a degree in general studies from the University of Phoenix Online and you can’t honestly tell me that suggests any sort of meaningful measure of responsibility. Beyond that, everyone has to pass the pilot tests, and then make it through pilot training, and at that point, notions of “responsibility” are of minor importance compared to how well you can fly the plane. I’m currently enlisted in the AF, doing comm work for personnel, and based on things I’ve seen on this side of the fence, I think at least part of the answer is that the AF likes to promotes leaders from the operations side. Single easiest way to become a pilot is to go to the Academy. After that, they start looking at ROTC, and finally OTS. Are Academy people better at flying planes or something? Not really, yet they select a disproportionate number of fliers from that commissioning source. It’s because Academy graduates are bred to be generals from day 1, and they want their generals to have flying experience. You want your ops group commanders to have flying experience, you want your squadron commanders to have flying experience, etc, etc. Wasting flying slots on enlisted guys who aren’t legally allowed to command anything is counterproductive to development of the force as a whole. That’s my guess at least. I haven’t seen anything more concrete during my time in. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/54 "2008-11-12T06:17:35Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > . > > I think any other points about responsibility for a $50 million aircraft are silly. All you need to become an officer is to have a degree in _anything_. You can get a degree in general studies from the University of Phoenix Online and you can’t honestly tell me that suggests any sort of meaningful measure of responsibility. Beyond that, everyone has to pass the pilot tests, and then make it through pilot training, and at that point, notions of “responsibility” are of minor importance compared to how well you can fly the plane. That was my point, and you misunderstood it - I wasn’t saying that officers are more responsible because they are college graduates, I was saying they are more responsible because they’re officers: granting them that added measure of honor and authority makes them more inclined to act in a responsible manner. Personally, I believe that requiring all officers to have college degrees is stupid and pointless and reeks of classism. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/55 "2008-11-12T10:52:54Z")
^ And the Israelis don’t do. So it must be wrong. Most militaries based on the UK military and navy don’t have that requirement as well/ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/56 "2008-11-12T11:15:15Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > ^ > And the Israelis don’t do. So it must be wrong. Hey, it’s no worse than “America doesn’t do it, so it must be wrong”, which is often the prevailing sentiment on this board. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/57 "2008-11-12T11:28:56Z")
Being sarcastic. Anyway there are advantages to having university graduates as officers as israel or rather the Jerusalum Brigade learnt in 1973. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/58 "2008-11-12T12:02:37Z")
Actually, seeing as the Jerusalm Brigade was a reserve unit, chances are that many of its officers (and enlisted men) were in fact college graduates, or at least students. Not that their education helped them all that much, considering what they were up against. ---
**Author:** ![Shecky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/59 "2008-11-12T12:55:37Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > You don’t have time to think up there. If you think, you’re dead. Thanks, Mav. I could tell you what else happens, but then you know what I’d have to do. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148/60 "2008-11-12T13:23:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Actually, seeing as the Jerusalm Brigade was a reserve unit, chances are that many of its officers (and enlisted men) were in fact college graduates, or at least students. Not that their education helped them all that much, considering what they were up against. They did pretty well all things considered, pity can’t say the same about S Command. Until Sharon showed up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-military-pilots-only-officers/472148.md?page=4)