Originally Posted by
AnakinBawden
Good Evening All,
My Name is Anakin Bawden and I am very keen on joining the Royal Australian Air Force when I am older and becoming a pilot. I am currently in Year 9 and in year 10 will be doing Pre-Specialist and Maths Methods. I will also be doing Physics, Chemistry and some other subjects including English Language. My question today is if anyone on this page has done interviews for the ADF and has any advice on my current school subjects and any recommendations or other advice on my application and interview process and maybe general information on schooling in general that would be highly appreciated!
Thanks A lot
-Kind Regards
Anakin Bawden
Hi Anakin,
Great to hear you're thinking about this from a younger age, really good stuff.
For subjects, check out the defence force recruiting website to see the subjects needed as a minimum - always good to get the official information.
I can definitely recommend getting involved in team sports as well as extra curricular things such as debating, community service etc. These are great to show team work and participation and the interviewers value it highly. If you can go for a leadership position within your school such as a sports captain or prefect even better but if not that's ok, just get involved in activities.
I also highly recommend going down to a flying school and getting at least a couple flights in a light aircraft to see if you like the experience. A lot of people realise they don't once they get to flight screening but they never tried it beforehand. Again the interviewers will like the fact that you have experienced flying to see if you enjoy it.
If you do feel airsick don't worry, several guys I know still get airsick from time to time and it is generally treatable.
Finally one bit of advice that helped me is never take no for answer. It took me 3 years just to get in but there's always a way, you just have to keep pushing. One day you can be strapping on a pc-9 (or pc-21 in your case) and buzzing about.
It really is a great career and very rewarding, but you have to make the system work for you and get out of it what you need. It's hard work and flight training is tough and sometimes it all seems too much, but that's where you fall back on your motivation to get to the end and get your wings. You get to do stuff that civillian pilots could only dream of, and sometimes you find yourself in disbelief over what your doing - it's those moments that make it all worthwhile.
Good luck!