AdamLT
I was told that the RN looks for candidates that are more mature because they *can* operate in a more challenging environment.
Imagine it is night, bad weather, you are low on fuel and there's an enemy sub in the area so no radio / radar / lights and the ship is damaged and has changed course. And, once onboard you have to carry on fighting the ship, you have no where else to go so very much Officer first, pilot second.
I believe the pass mark in the Flying Aptitude Tests for RN is higher than RAF (RAF 80 percentile, RN 90 percentile) so you need to do better in the FATs.
The RAF has fast jets (the RN doesn’t anymore) and these require you to do better for certain aptitudes but you won't get streamed until after Elementary Flying Training anyway.
I am not trying to start a flame war, just relating what I was told...albeit by the RN
