RAF application with NATS in mind

[speedbirdzerozeroone]

Can anyone offer some guidance on this?

Having just graduated university last year at 21 years of age I am currently in the process of applying for an RAF commission to Cranwell with a view to joining NATS in later life. At the moment I am trying to decide which trade would satisfy me the most whilst at the same time giving me the skills which NATS find the most desirable in those they decide to train as future ATCOs

My dilemma is that whilst I cannot be a pilot, I can be a Weapon Systems Officer and fulfil my love of flying. However this would not teach me the skills that I would need as an ATCO.

My question is to what extent NATS would look as favourably on a WSO as they would on an RAF ATCO and whether they would even consider training a middle aged WSO?

Although the trade of Fighter Controller is appealing and in some ways a positive compromise, it actually removes both the possibility of living ‘up front’ and also the visual contact an airfield ATCO might experience in the tower. And I would suspect in "simulated conditions" if the guys in the back of an E3 ever came close to ‘making visual’ with an F3 or anything else for that matter, then some serious questions would have to be asked…. the guy sitting in the tower at Coningsby on the other hand……

If anyone can offer an informed view then please go for it..

Cheers

001

[Ops and Mops]

Hi there,

First things first, I think you really need to sort out where your priorities lie. Joining the RAF as a commissioned officer is not something to be taken on lightly, and in the current service climate should certainly not be used as a stepping stone to something else!!!! If you are not fully committed to the RAF when you go to OASC you will not be selected, simple as that.

As far as NATS goes, you can apply for their Trainee ATCO scheme up to age 29, during which you get paid a salary and they pay for all your ratings and CAA licence. If you were to join the RAF as an ATCO, none of the training that you undertake is transferrable to NATS (Apart from a couple of written exam expemtions). You would then, upon leaving the RAF, have to fund your own CAA Ratings courses (not cheap!), unless you can convince NATS to partially sponsor you and offer you a job. (Again not a walk in the park)

My advice would be that if you want to join NATS, do it now and apply for the Trainee ATCO programme. If you want to join the RAF, none of the branches that you would be looking to go into will be taken into account you when it comes to gaining a CAA ATCO licence.