From what I see coming through the OCU at the moment, most Uni grads are 30 before they start their first Typhoon frontline tour. Disappointing!
Nah, if they start IOT at 22 then they will be about 27 when they finish on the TyF OpCon. That’s at the moment but once the hold lengths reduce to what they should be then they could be as young as 25. Even at 27, then promotion to Sqn Ldr should be by 34 (roughly average age), followed by age 40 for Wg Cdr and Staff College before direct to refresh for Sqn Cdr tour. Staff at OF-4 would come next and by their mid 40s they could be CO at CGY or LOS. Don’t forget that aircrew retire at age 60 these days, so that leaves plenty of time for the Air Ranks if they are uber ambitious.
A couple of years of holding pales into insignificance these days when average career lengths will be 39 years - yes, that’s 2057 when there might not even be much AVTUR left!
LJ