As ever, well I suppose it is a rumour forum, there is a fair amount of bunkum being posted. The RAF has had a rejoiner programme for all branches and trades for the past 3 years or so. Pretty successful too. Here is the link to that website:
https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/h...rvice-transfer
So far, as I understand it, the BA BALPA announcement is effectively hanging off of the back of this programme too. So those with previous service as an officer - both as a pilot or maybe another branch with suitable flying experience - which would be a qualified entrant (which other branches already have). Finally there is the true lateral entrant - no mil flying and no military background whatsoever, but injected past the normal training pipelines. That is yet to be done, and in some ways it never will be. If you join an organisation, even BA, there will be induction, indoctrination in company ethos/practices and line training to be done; the FAA, AAC and RAF are no different. So there will just be different qualified entrant pathways, where during selection some accreditation of previous learning, knowledge and experience can be made. Again, that is already with the RAF with the AP7000 Bespoke Training Requirements (BTR) form that looks to the ‘owners’ of various training schemes to make an assessment of the training required, either waive it or reduce the amount required if able. For someone coming to the RAF with zero military experience and zero military flying, then that pathway is going to still be quite lengthy, and then you have to ask - what is the point? Especially when you consider the returns of service required to give the taxpayer the return on the cost of this training, then it is not far off what a traditional entrant would need.
Finally, I understand the bottom line to all of this is that
those currently serving cannot be disadvantaged by this. We have to keep the career pathways and aspirations of those that are currently serving fully intact. I guess the Unions would call that “Workers’ Rights”? So BALPA, the other unions and the commercial companies will be fully
au fait with that too. However, for both the Services, the airline companies and most importantly the poor souls caught up in this, this should be a good news story all round. Even those serving and going through the flying training pipeline right now. This is because many returning, even before this BA piece, are filling some of the instructor gaps and experience gaps, so that we can take more people faster through initial flying training pipelines, OCUs and then CR workups on the front line.
PS. Someone mentioned flying badges. Well QR727 is quite clear on this, that to get one, you have to do a recognised course of military flying training to get one - so just recently a qualified entrant to Voyager received his RAF Pilot Flying Badge having successfully met the standard to graduate from the Voyager OCU. Well done to him too.
