Hi Phil,
I left the mob the best part of two years ago now. Spending time in Lossie, Odiham, Basrah etc etc, and was very much the same as you, spending just under 6 /12 years in.
You'll find majority of airlines will jump at the chance to employ you with the experience you will have in different aspects to the rest of the guys. Ive been in Ops for a cargo outfit for just over a year now, and its pretty enjoyable. To be fair, i dont feel tested in the officers seat, but im biding my time till i jump up as a controller, to do all the airlines flight planning etc etc, where the responsibility / time scale it takes up, is a massive leap from the Officers seat.
The company has put me through a basic jetplanner course, which basically enables me to work the flight planning system, unfortunately its slightly different to the tools we used in the RAF, but overall, its a hell of a lot easier, and more visual with jetplanner, its just a case of learning the programme/company routines, as you'd expect
Near on all Ops positions in the civvy world will outpay what we got in the RAF for the responsibility you have/work rate. I find the moral in the Ops rooms is actually very similar to what the RAF used to be, the banter is pretty much the same what i used to live with, youve just got oversensitive women out of uniform, instead of in uniform
With the promotion as it was about that time, i presume you got CPL, so you shouldnt need to take a pay cut for a hell of a lot easier time / less responsibility, till you gain your feet in the commercial/cargo world
Any question, feel free to ask, i probably know a few of the guys you used to work with at Lyneham, its a small world afterall.
And aviationjobsearch is your friend, as you already probably know
All the best,
and congratulations on seeing sense at becoming a civvy
