oldpinger,
Ask and you shall receive. These questions aren't specifically geared towards FJ pilots but more so any ADF pilot (certainly including RAN QFI's - if I was to make an educated guess
) as I would be ecstatic with an offer from any service.
- How much flying to you actually do, how does it differ from what you expected and does it affect your job satisfaction?
- What are the various secondary duties you undertake as a pilot and what do they involve?
- Does the officer side of the job not completely take effect as a junior officer? As far as I am aware in every case you are an officer before a IO/engineer/ACO/Air traffic controller etc. Is this the same for pilot or is it the only position where job>officer?
- What is the actual career progression like post wings? For example: for Hornet would the posting be 76/79 SQN -> 2OCU -> 3/77/75 SQN with 2-3 years at each stage?
- What are the toughest/most rewarding points in your career? Have you been on a flying tour of duty and if so, how was that experience?
Also, with regard to motivation I am quite keen to fully apply myself to any service and any aircraft, I would love to become a QFI and hopefully progress to a senior officer in the future. Now, would this approach get slammed for motivation as it doesn't entirely follow the 'I love FJ' script? I would certainly love to fly the JSF (when it eventually gets here) but, if I was a better asset to the RAAF in a Herc then I would definitely prefer to be doing that.
I apologise for how personal some of the questions are, any insight would be greatly appreciated though. Feel free to PM
Cheers
Kyll