Originally Posted by
hobbit1983
No worries. Go for it. Bear in mind, it is INCREDIBLY competitive, more so than I think you know. You will be up against super high achievers who have lived and breathed wanting to be RAF aircrew since primary school (probably). It is doable, but it is also very, very hard. There are very few places for lots and lots of wannabes.
Passing selection tests are likely to be a bit harder than the bits you can use a cheat sheet and an app to practise for.
Sounds like a good plan.
No one joins the RAF as aircrew because of the pay. This is not a motivating factor. Do not mention "I want to join the RAF cos you pay for living expenses," in any interview. Remember - the recruiters see hundreds of wannabe pilots every year (when recruitment is open). They will easily be able to tell what your motivations for joining are. If they realise you're joining up to get your training paid for, you will not be getting in.
Do your research (the other parts of PPrune are a good place to start). You can expect to take years from joining up to actually getting into a jet. You are talking about the officer training. This is seperate from aircrew flight training. The RAF will expect you to be an officer before you're a pilot.
The RAF training pipeline is a delayed mess, and it's not getting any better. Aircrew trainees have spent years holding (i.e. not flying) recently.
Good move; a gliding scholarship is a good move no matter which route you take later. Go for it.
Ok. It doesn't count for a class one though; you can't substitute something else for it. Before you spend any money on (civilian) flight training, get a class one. Worth finding out if you can pass RAF/RN aircrew medical standards now though.
While selection is definitely difficult, the bits that I can prepare for I will prepare for and the rest is down to aptitude (and luck). It can't hurt to apply, I'll do it as often as I can if I get rejected.
If my main motivation was pay, I'd go and sell cars
My biggest motivation personally would be that I love flying and have a passion for aviation, and I think that RAF is a good way to do my duty to my country and fly at the same time.
Yeah, I've heard that it takes up to 2 years to go do further training after your basic flying and that the RAF is a bureaucratic mess. Won't stop me though.
I was just going to get an opinion before sinking money into a class 1 to see if it's a big deal (which I don't see it being, but anything can happen). RAF medical looks all fine, just need to work on the fitness (I can do the pushups and situps fine but the 1.5m run needs worked on. I've improved over the past few days though, I started at 15 minutes 30 and my time today was 13 minutes 50 which is not nearly enough but I'll just have to keep training). RN might be more difficult, I'll have a look later.