Tests for Airmen/Airwoman - RAF Operations Assistant

[owen purday]

Hello, I am in the process of applying to become an Operations Assistant with the RAF. I have 4 A-levels and 8 GCSES so my grades are more than what I need to do the job however can anyone shed some light on the Airmen/Airwoman tests that I must pass?

Some Advice/tips would be great as well!

Thanks,

Owen

[L1A2 discharged]

With those exam results don't waste your time joining as a junior rank. Assistant is what is says on the tin, get some proper advice from the careers office about commissioning, go to university if needs be.

[speeddial]

No doubt it will be the "battery tests" that ask you for simple spelling, grammar and numeracy tests, all multiple choice from what I remember of doing mine. Without being rude, you have to remember that some people apply having failed all of their GCSEs yet the entrance tests may still show they are clever enough for certain trades, none being mentioned!

[lastmanstanding]

Good scores. L1A2 is right. Aim higher with those results. If you want to come in without the Uni tick then YOU MUST try for Pilot first WSO(Nav) or WSOp(NCO aircrew) next, ground commission then ground trades, in that order. If you have no desire to fly then try for ATC/Ops Support commission if thats you area of interest. I had a few years on the ground:{ before being selected for aircrew. No brainer (£) but its not everyones cup of tea. Get your head into a bit of current affairs (especially on UK military areas) and get some mathematical reasoning type MENSA books to help when you go to OASC for selection. The world is your lobster. Good luck! :ok:

[airborne_artist]

Owen - you need 140 UCAS points (http://www.ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff/tarifftables/) to enter as an officer. 4 x E at A2 will give you 160 points, so that's one hurdle passed already.

Start at the top and work your way down. More than one person has gone to OASC (http://www.raf.mod.uk/careers/nextsteps/officers.cfm) for non-commissioned entry, and passed for officer and pilot.

Flight Operations Officer (http://www.raf.mod.uk/careers/jobs/flightopsofficer.cfm) or Air Traffic Officer (http://www.raf.mod.uk/careers/jobs/airtrafficcontroller.cfm) would be the closest to your choice.

There are plenty of people on here who could help you with preparing for the commission side of the tests/interviews, so read the OASC thread, and then ask away. I am certain you will get some very condsructive help.

Take the challenge - you might be just what the RAF needs :ok:

[c-bert]

Agree with what the others have said. I've done the Flight Ops Assistant thing as a reservist and if you have 4 A-levels you will have absolutely no issues with it at all.

If you have you heart set on Ops (can't think why :E) then go to your local AFCO and ask about Ops Occifer jobs.

PM me if you want more info on what an Ops Assistant does though. :ok:

[Pontius Navigator]

Owen,
I have met several airwomen with the same grades as you and they hd all been steered in the direction of Ops/ATC.
We got one commisioned. Sadly because of that she was killed in the Lynx shoot down in Basra.
All the others are saying the same thing, get a commission.
If you have any doubts do PM me.

Thanks Mole age and senility

[minigundiplomat]

Yep Ops Support commission. Cpl's job, Officers salary.

[speeddial]

I was interested in the Flt Ops Asst role in the RAuxAF, it seemed the most interesting of the jobs I could do, until I heard that it was no more than a glorified photocopier operator from those in the role, the message I heard was any ground role in the RAF is dull, so imagine how dull an assistant's role would be!

[minigundiplomat]

Don't listen to us too much! Pick which branch/trade you think you like best, after that, life is pretty much what you make of it.

Good luck

[c-bert]

until I heard that it was no more than a glorified photocopier operator

That's a little harsh, but certainly working the Sqn Ops desk is really a glorified telephone answering service, although there can be more to it than that. Sometimes. :E

[Pontius Navigator]

Yep Ops Support commission. Cpl's job, Officers salary.

I misread what you said at first.

The Cpl's job has responsibilities too. They are responsible for the shift rosters, training, documents, stocking the ops room and making sure it all works.

The guy with the officer's salary answers the telephone - if the assistant is making the coffee or otherwise occupied.

[Molesworth Hold]

Some good advice. I have met many overqualified people in the Air Traffic / Ops world over the last 30 years and generally it doesn't take long before they become bored and disillusioned. The under manning in TG9 has prompted a push on recruiting FOA's and it would appear that the AFCO's are more interested in filing their quotas rather than putting the right people into the right trades. Hopefully the training system with remain robust enough to ensure that the end product meets the required standard.

[ProfessionalStudent]

If you join as an ops assistant, then someone tells you to say "No" to the aircrew.
If you join as an ops officer, you'll be the one telling the assistant to say "No" to the aircrew. :E

Have to agree. Join as an officer straight away. It'll save you having to go through 2 lots of training, as your chain of command will almost certainly try to encourage you down the commissioned path.

[Melchett01]

With a string of A-levels under your belt - although you don't mention subjects / grades, you really should consider the commission route.

The AFCO will try and fob you off with the jobs they need to fill to meet their targets / quotas, regardless of whether or not it is the right job for you. Have a very good friend with a good degree in a professional subject (being deliberately vague here) and they were initially steered down the airman route although they quickly saw through the AFCO's game and are now commissioned and doing very nicely for themselves.

That said, there are also guys in the ranks with degrees, so these days a hat full of certificates doesn't necessarily equate to commission; but you really should at least think about it - especially if you have good grades in demanding subjects. If that is the case and you decide to go down the airman route, you will more than likely get very bored very quickly, probably even before your training is over - remember you will be amongst a lot of guys going through trg, and they can't tailor it specifically to the high flyers. Do you really fancy stagging on at the main gate doing guard as an ac goes over head thinking "bollocks if only" or being told to make the coffee again for the third time that morning?

Have a think and at least give it a go, if it doesn't work out so be it, but you won't have lost out on anything and you can at least crack on with life knowing that rather than wondering.

[owen purday]

Wow thanks for all the help everyone - was nice to see such a quick response!

I suppose the reason for not applying for a commission, well to be a pilot or WSO is because I am pretty sure that I wouldn't do well or wouldn't be able to do the leadership tests and I have little leadership experience.

I think deep down I know that this is the wrong attitude to have because I should just try but it is just a feeling that I have that I wont succeed.

By the way my GCSEs included English, Maths and Physics at C or higher and my A-level results were:


English - A
Administration - B
Geography - C
Computing - CThanks for all your help!

Owen

[dallas]

Owen, don't worry, recent experience has led me to believe there aren't any leadership tests - or leadership training - anymore. Also, challenging ideas or asking questions has been rebranded as 'troublemaking' and decision making is put off until astronomical rank is reached or the natural advance of time makes the decision for you.

Looking at your results you should also avoid the Admin branch - you won't fit in if you have any professional qualifications in your chosen branch. Anyway, if you become a pilot, you'll be naturally capable of filling any ground management job.

[owen purday]

Wow thanks again for the great advice.

I had just heard previously how competitive the pilot role is and how low ones chance would be to get the job and thought my lack of leadership experience may get in the way?

Whats the harm in trying i guess for the pilot role!

[Pontius Navigator]

Owen, check your PMs

[Maple 01]

As ex-pondlife (Retired NCO) take my advice - go for a commission! If you've got even the slightest spark Cranwell will find it and nurture it, don't worry about not being the finished article yet - that's what NCOs are for, to smooth off the rough edges when you get to the pointy end. (oh and to take the mick in a sort of kind and caring way!)

Edited to add

Ah the joys of the internet....just for the record I was never commissioned, nor was I NCA, and I've never pretended I was. The pond-life thing was how we described ourselves at the time - has self-deprecation gone out of style in the modern PC RAF?

As for leadership, Me? Are you mad?

Just advising Owen, speaking as someone who did 22 years as an airman, that the commissioning route seems a better option to take if possible

[Lomon]

There are lots of NCO's and SAC's with your sort of qualifications in TG9, the AFCO tend to steer the better educated people (those who aren't interested in a spinectomy at Cranwell) at TG9.

If you want to be a controller, there will shortly be a direct entrant SNCO method of becoming a controller (allegedly from summer 08)

Getting a commission means more money and responsibility, if that is what you want then go for it.

We got one commisioned. Sadly because of that she was killed in the Lynx shoot down in Basra.

Don't blame yourself, if she hadn't been commissioned who knows what else might have happened?

It was a terrible thing (I was in BAS at the time, and knew her from Shawbury too) RIP Sarah

[NP20]

Owen,

Message below written by Mrs NP20 who is a serving SNCO Flight Ops Manager, who has been in the trade since 1988:

Bottom line, as has already been stated - Aim High (i.e. go for a commission).

But failing that... The comments posted thus far, whilst accurate, are predominantly from Aircrew, and therefore, it is a Sqn Ops perspective. However, it is a very diverse trade; I've only recently been posted to my first flying squadron after 19 years in the RAF. Be prepared to serve in 'other' posts such as: Area Radar as a Support Controller; an ATC Tower assisting local controllers and manning the switchboard; or working on the Low Flying Bookings Carousel, to name but 3 (there are many other jobs).

If you initially join as an airman any good line manager should recognise commissioning potential, support an application, and help you to prepare to go down that route. So it's not necessarily an either or; you will not have burnt bridges becoming an airman first, but the argument then becomes why waste time; it took me 14 years to reach a management position - if you are ready to accept that responsibility now why wait?

I've enjoyed my time and taken advantage of developmental opportunities that the RAF has had to offer, but the bottom line is that the airman route to management & responsibility is relatively slow.

You may wish to pose your original question on E-goat, which is a predominantly Airman focussed forum. Check www.e-goat.co.uk (http://www.e-goat.co.uk), then go to main forums / trade related / ops bods. It pains me to say you may find a less balanced argument there, but it is straight from the horse's mouth!!!

Good luck; keep asking pertinent questions outside & inside of the institution!

[fantaman]

I was interested in the Flt Ops Asst role in the RAuxAF, it seemed the most interesting of the jobs I could do, until I heard that it was no more than a glorified photocopier operator from those in the role, the message I heard was any ground role in the RAF is dull, so imagine how dull an assistant's role would be!

On the contrary speeddial, maybe you should have gone out and seen what the job was like for yourself before you came to that conclusion. FOA's have one of the most varied jobs in the ground trades. I have been involved in some really interesting stuff, most of which can't be discussed without a DV clearance.

working the Sqn Ops desk is really a glorified telephone answering service, although there can be more to it than that. Sometimes.
If I had a £1 for everytime I pulled a pilot out of the sh*t when I worked on a squadron. All that training you go through and you still can't fill in and address a flight plan :}

[ProfessionalStudent]

You'd have £2 fantaman!:E

Filing and addressing flight plans isn't our job. It's yours. All that training you go through. Can you fly a helicopter or a jet?

[fantaman]

I think I could :}

Your right, it is our job to file and check them. Good job really as you guys would all be trying to fly the wrong way down the airways lol!

[Pontius Navigator]

NP20, I think the aircrew amongst us latched onto the Ops Assistant bit and focussed on Operations and not ATC or Flt Planning.

Professional Student, while it is the Flt Planning Clerk's responsibility for addressing and filing the flight plan it is the aircrew job to actually write out the content of the flight plan.

We once nearly came to grief when a flt planning clerk wrote out the whole flight plan and filed it. We then flrew the route that we had planned. It bore a slight resemblance to the one that was filed.

At Goose bay the US ATC would not accept a handwritten CA48; they all had to be typed. The evening before we had had a conversation over a beer with the DetCom about routes. His preference was to fly a northern track within 30 miles of Greenland for a good radar fix. We were happy to fly one track to the south and get a less accurate fix.

He thought he had presuaded us and duly got his route filed. We dully followed our route without checking.

Usually however you flight planning clerk will pick up your errors and hopefully you will fly the correct route.