In general, once a person gets into their 60s, their mental ability deteriorates. Emanuel Lasker took 3rd place at Moscow 1935, a premier chess tournament, at the age of 66, which was practically a miracle. For example, at age 63 Vassily Smyslov was a candidate for the world chess championship, an amazing accomplishment for a person of that age. Nevertheless, experience can make up for it in some instances. Once a person hits about 60-65 years in age, their mental ability to calculate declines significantly. For complicated missions in enemy territory, it is better to have someone with long experience, rather than a young hotshot. Knowing when to attack, how to attack, how to make your approach, how to do your mission setup, and many other things become the product of long experience. In a dogfight your ability to think fast and calculate your next move is the critical factor.įor combat missions, however, 40-45 may be more optimal, because experience, judgement and knowledge becomes more important. At this age a person has lots of experience, but still maintains their full mental agility, ability to calculate and energy. It depends on what you mean by "optimal".įor a dogfight, the optimal age is probably 30. (I should add a small disclaimer that I know nothing about the military, so hopefully I didn't make any stupid mistakes in pulling or interpreting the data.)ġ To be specific, the search criteria I used were: Active Duty Air Force only (excludes Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and civilians) officers only AFSC 11FX specialty (fighter pilot) only. But we can say that the USAF appears to consider 25-34 to be the 'optimal' age: 55% of their fighter pilots are in that bracket. Of course, this only applies to the USAF and it doesn't tell us anything about other branches of the military or about what other countries do. This isn't very fine-grained, but on the other hand we can immediately see that your example of someone over 50 is really at the extreme end of the curve: only 3.4% of fighter pilots are over 45. I used their report tool to get data on fighter pilots 1 and it shows this breakdown: 17-24 : 43 To learn about these schools, the physical requirements, and more, check out this video from The Infographic Show.I can't directly tell you what's "optimal" because I don't know what that means, but the US Air Force does provide some basic demographic information so we can indirectly see what they consider to be a good age mix for fighter pilots. That's right your journey is just beginning. If you're smart enough, strong enough, and have good enough eyes, then you just might be selected to be begin the training to become a fighter pilot. Fail three times in your lifetime and you're never to be considered again. The test is extremely grueling and if you fail once, your chances of becoming a pilot drop significantly. Navy and Marine pilots must also undergo the Aviation Selection Test Battery and score among the highest. This test gauges whether a candidates body will be able to withstand the insane amount of G-forces a fighter pilot endures. Everyone in the Air Force must undergo the USAF Physical Fitness Test, but fighter aircrews have a different, more difficult one, called the Fighter Aircrew Conditioning Test. Once you've completed your branch's officer training, you can finally submit your flight packet. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nicholas Benroth)Īdditionally, you must already be on your way to becoming an officer in the branch that you wish to fly with. You also need to be able to swim one mile in a flight suit. You must also have a standing height of between 5'4" and 6'5" and a sitting height of 34 to 40 inches. It's also worth pointing out that, at this stage in the selection process, they disqualify those who have a history of hay fever, asthma, or allergies after the age of 12. According to studies from The University of Iowa, a low 30 percent of the population enjoys 20/20 vision, uncorrected. Now, clean off your glasses before you read this shocker: perfect vision is actually very uncommon. You cannot be color blind, which immediately disqualifies about 8.5 percent of the population, and you must have 20/20 vision uncorrected. Most people are well aware of the strict vision requirements of pilots, but it's much more intensive than a regular check-up at the optometrist. They'll check you for the disqualifying factors that apply to all service members and the additional qualifiers that dictate pilot selection. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher Stoltz)įirst and foremost, you begin your journey at the Military Entrance Processing Station, or MEPS. Then resume your pilot training requirements. If you pass these, then you can start your journey at OCS.
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