Army aviator here. It’s often claimed on our side that when y’all graduate your respective flight schools you are a Pilot in Command. Is that true, and is it upon pinning wings or is it when you’re finished your time at a “T” squadron (or AF equivalent)?

I did 9 years enlisted in USMC aviation before I made the switch, but it was never something I would have thought to ask any of the pilots back then.

For Army, we get wings leaving flight school but generally have to do another 150-250 hours at a FORSCOM unit (in the “fleet”) before we stand a PIC board.