1: Is the FAA more or less competitive than the RAF?
FAA may well be more competitive for pilot entry than the RAF. About 15-20 months ago a Ppruner scored 120 on pilot aptitude and was unable to make it into the FAA (130 is a realistic min score), but got into the RAF. The actual pass score is 112, by the way. Anything below 125 is looking dodgy for the FAA, though there have been a couple of 118 P scores through to BRNC in the last couple of years.