Hello there and thank you for your question.

The simple answer is you can be an Army Helicopter Pilot with or without a private pilot licence. There have been plenty of historical examples of this but the key thing here is that holding a Private Pilot Licence (already) makes absolutely no difference at all.

For example, an individual could simply join the Army Air Corps as an Officer or as a Soldier and work their way up to the rank of LCpl and then apply for the Army Pilots Course... From application, selection processes, flying grading and selection boards all the way through to the Army pilots course PPL's have absolutely no influence or bearing at all.

Also, please consider that learning to fly a military helicopter and to then go onto manage and fight with it in a military environment/context is completely different from flying a civilian aircraft?

Hope this answers your question. Should you wish to pursue a potential career in the Army Air Corps as a pilot or just interested in getting more information on this topic please do let me know. I work in the Army Air Corps Recruiting and Aircrew selection branch and I'm happy to assist?

Good luck!

10 June, 2020 19:12