Naval Pilot Selection Advice Please!
oh god its him again.......
Hi guys,
First off I'd like to thank everyone who replied to my last post. It gave me a lot of food for thought about which of the services would suit me best and how to go about making myself a more ideal candidate for selection. I decided to start this new post to attract FAA pilots.
I have decided to give it my all to become an officer pilot with the Fleet Air Arm. All things considered, I don't want to be behind a desk after a few years and in my opinion the Navy comes out top for the variety of flying that they can offer to heli pilots [ducks for cover from AAC and RAF pilots] and for its history. My plan so far is thus:
Read up all I can regarding the Navy, stay abreast of current affairs, and enhance my leadership skills. I've bought the Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy, a book called "men against fire - a history of battle command" - this might be a little OTT but it was cheap and may be useful somewhere along the line. I've also blagged a place on a leadership course with work and am borrowing a book about the history of the FAA. I can also get a full medical and fitness check at work to see where I need to improve physically.
Visit Naval stations and squadrons. I have the contact details of Yeovilton's CRO and will be making contact as soon as i know how much time I can get off work in the next month. As Somerset is a bit of a mission from here oop north, I was hoping to visit Yeovilton in the afternoon and either Devonport or Portsmouth in the morning to make a full day of it. Is it possible to get a look around either of these two and can anyone give me a contact no.?
I was also going to sit the GAPAN tests [similar to the RAF's pilot aptitude tests that give you a rating on how suitable you are to become a pilot]. Do you think this is worth having? Its certainly a lot cheaper than a half hours pleasure flight in an R22 and will at least give me an indication if i'm kidding myself.
Get fit!!!!!
Once I have done a bit of reading and looked round the bases/asked the CRO questions, I am going to go to Manchester's recruitment office to start the ball rolling.
As I mentioned in my other post, I believe my main weakness lies in that I am 23 and even though my main ambition is to become a pilot, I have taken until now to express military interest. For those of you who didn't read my last post, I have only 3 years as an air cadet as a military background and gave that up when I started sixth form. There was an RAF UAS squadron at my university [Manchester] but I didn't attend as my course was quite intensive and I worked evenings and weekends to pay my way through uni as I had no parental support. As far as I am aware, there was no Naval equivalent of the UAS at Manchester. My coursemate was sponsored by the Navy at sixth form and didn't attend anything at uni either.
How much do the Navy rely on a history of interest when selecting pilots? How do I get around it? My career choices so far have been dictated by my financial circumstances [i.e. I was crippled with debt on graduating and took my first firm job offer] and to some extent by family matters [mother's serious illness]. I can explain my choices on these terms but I reckon they'd still have me on not applying when I came out of uni. If there turns out to be a Naval Cadet thing in Manchester then I'm doubly screwed.
How far will I get with honesty regarding this? I.e. I've only been giving it serious thought recently as I've discovered how unchallenging and uninspiring a career in industry is turning out to be? I can honestly admit that I'm not in it for the cheap ATPL and would give anything to be flying the kind of missions you guys do [I mean I could be a civvie heli instructor or charter pilot, or be flying low level NVG with a helo full of marines. no contest!].
I understand that there are literally thousand s of people in my situation with the same end goal. If I pass officer selection and am chopped from a flying course for not meeting the standard then, although I would be kicking myself for not working harder, I could understand it. Not getting to that point in the first place would be gutting.
I know I have a habit of rambling on, but please tell it to me straight and give me some honest advice. Anything you can tell me that may help is most gratefully received. My last thread led me to research areas that I would have never have thought of, and am no doubt confident that this one will too. I would be particularly interested from hearing of from FAA pilots who were once in a similar situation to mine, and how they managed get through the selection process.
Lastly, any idea of the no. of pilots recruited each year and a rough estimate of applicant numbers??
Thanks again guys, if you want to contact me directly PM me and i'll give you my email address.
Phil.