Originally Posted by
Wensleydale
Still waiting for a your course date?
Lol! Wensleydale, from your sense of humour I would guess you have spent some time in the services?
I passed both the RAF and (a few years later) the RN pilot selection and never started training for either.
I was close to the RAF upper age limit (23.5yrs late 1980's) and was told I had 'good pilot aptitude' but was being marked down to reflect my age (stats showed 'older students had a lower probability of completing training'. I was thus put forward as having an 'average chance' of successfully completing training and didn't get in; too old to reapply after the mandatory one year waiting period.
The RN had a higher age limit (26) at that time, I finished my degree and applied to the RN when I was 25. Passed the selection with one other person. I was told the RN would 'have no problem training you to be a pilot' and I was told on my letter that I 'have a good chance of selection, congratulations'. I had suffered from conjunctivitis in both eyes about a month or so before hand and living in a cold dingy damp flat meant lack of sleep over the winter of my application. I failed the eyesight as I expected, but was told the condition was classed as permanent, which I didnt expect. My eyesight returned to normal shortly afterward (20/10 as I later discovered). That was that. Been a pedestrian ever since, walking the earth and never sailing above it (not under my own steam anyway). Often wondered how the other person who passed got on.
There is a bit more to that eyesight story that may help at least one person who is in a similar position to me then. As a site newbie I need to get posts under my belt to bump up my PM allowance of a single PM. At some point I will scribble a post of that story.