fishy: Hows that desk job in sunny CBR going ol' mate?
Don: yes direct entry pilots are still taken by the bucketload - you can keep him in the will for now
not all ADFA grads wear rings you know, me being one of them... you would never catch me wearing something as tacky as that.
FTI: its a hard decision with regards to the hours deabte. Many say to get as many as you can, some say to get 0 because you will learn bad habits. From experience, i can say 0 is bad - i really struggled in the first 20 hours of pilots course up to GFPT as i really didn't have any knowledge of even the basics - ie all these guys had 20 hours under their belt and radio calls and emergencies etc were the norm for them - my first emergency went something like this "and practice (throttle being retarded to idle)" - (me shpeeling cxlists but not flying the aircraft) - mate, you will be glad to know your mum will see you soon - at your funeral.
I recommend 20 hours - if you get too many then yes, you will learn habits in flying techniques that will hinder you on pilots course. Seen plenty of guys go through with 500 hours+ civvy but get scrubbed for using "incorrect techniques" ie, they couldn;t get out of their civilian flying habits.
There is only one way to fly in the military, and if you do it any other way you will fail.
In terms of your age, to put it simply, i don't see it as a factor at all - my best mate on course was 28 - an ex techo who re-roled - and he did very well.
As for dealing with the AIRCDRE in Amberley, i think it will be very beneficial to you. I flew with a WGCDR QFI briefly for 3 flights (family friend) before i got in - i didn;t learn how to fly off him but i certainly did get a grasp for 1) the QFI 'quack' and how it sounds and what they expect you to do 2) the no nonsense approach to military flying.
I highly recoomend you do it if you can.
Cheers.