Advice Required!

[Trunk_Monkey]

I'm an AAC Crewman, fed up with the corps attitude towards us. I'd like to make the jump to Chinook crew. Can anyone out there give me some good int on whats required etc?

[stickmonkeytamer]

What is their "attitude"? Be aware that you may not get any better from the RAF...

SMT

[wokkameister]

Ok here goes.

OASC Cranwell. Standard Officer and Aircrew selection Centre stuff.

12 or so weeks on NCAITC at Cranwell. Initial type training/welcome to the RAF and some leadership/written and oral comms.

24 week generic course at Cranwell, where you learn a bit of rotary/FW and AEOp stuff. Then you are streamed. With your background, Id be suprised if you didnt go Rotary.

6 Week Rotary stream phase at Shawbury.

42 Weeks at DHFS on the MERW Course. (This may be getting condensed to 16 Weeks in the future). Streamed at the end of this to Type. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE YOU WILL GET YOUR CHOICE.

OCF, which in the case of the Wokka, is 6 Months. Then you make it onto a Sqn as LCR and begin the hard work.

Any of the gaps between the various elements may include a hold of anything up to 2-3 Months.

In short, you are looking at roughly 3 years to CR, and maybe not the aircraft you wanted. I would have a long think first mate, as life is no bed of roses over here either. The turd sandwich may have a sugar coating, but the filling still tastes the same.

Good luck with what ever you decide. If you want to come and visit or chat to the boys....PM me

WM

[Pontius Navigator]

wokka, quite right and what you did not say was that the AAC Crewman gunner job is but a fraction of the RW NCA aircrew job. As you pointed out there is no level transfer.

Then Trunk_Money omitted to say how old he is. He would not be the old AAC reaching timex with the Army refusing to sign him on. That may be the 'attitude' problem. Usually they will then be too old to transfer anyway.

[vecvechookattack]

Goodness me. Are you saying that to turn a AAC Crewman into a wokka crewman will take,

12 weeks +
24 weeks +
6 weeks +
42 weeks +
6 months..... approx 2 years !!!!! Tis no wonder the crabs are short of people. If its gonna take you 2 years matey I'd look at other options.

[PlasticCabDriver]

Goodness me. Are you saying that to turn a AAC Crewman into a wokka crewman will take,

12 weeks +
24 weeks +
6 weeks +
42 weeks +
6 months..... approx 2 years !!!!! Tis no wonder the crabs are short of people. If its gonna take you 2 years matey I'd look at other options.

No it takes 2 years to turn a private/Cpl AAC Door Gunner into a Combat Ready RAF SNCO WSOp.

As Pontious points out, even if he ends up on RW, the two are really not the same, no matter what the Army may say.

I will concede that 42 weeks at DHFS is pushing it a bit though!

[Door Slider]

MEWR course for crewman will soon been tri-service. Furthermore, it will no longer be 42 weeks but around 16 (i think). In theory an AAC crewman having been through this system should be able to jump straight from AAC to RAF. My personal opinion is that they should still do OASC selection the same as everyone else then straight to an OCU. We should open these guys with open to arms, after all, each fleet is cyring out for manpower.
Currently, since none of the AAC crewman (that i'm aware of) have been through the MEWR route OASC followed by MERW then OCF would be the best route.

[Trunk_Monkey]

Many thanks, just one point to add though. I'm not bitter and twisted, the fact is that there is no career past Sgt for a crewman in the army. You don't always get flying pay, and you're limited on how much you can learn. It's strange how there is such a negative attitude towards crewman coming across from the army, but not towards a civviy joining the RAF. I know you like to think you're superior. Amazingly you're not, you just have more of a structure to your training. Most of us have operational experience, most are more than mature enough to take the Sgt rank and not turn into a plank. We also realise there is more to the job than ours, that's why i'd like to transfer. Some of us have already flown as part of crews on Chinook.

Again thanks to those for the relevant points, i'll be PM'ing those who offered for more advice.

[Dave Angel]

Trunk_Monkey,

We don't think we're superior, its just (as you're aware) that our RW crewman have a much more indepth, structured training syllabus. They have to carry out many more tasks on the whole than their Army counterparts.
I honestly believe that providing you come across with the right attitude you will be very much welcomed as the RAF could use all the help it can get and will use the experience you already have. You will definately have the advantage over other entrants and I'm sure that once in the training system you will be fast tracked through some parts of training that cover areas you already have experience in.
I'm not rotary but its worth speaking to the CIO and some of the guys at DHFS to get a feel for what crossing over will entail.
Best of luck mate.:ok:

[Roger the cabin boy]

Best bet is give PMA 33c1 (the ALM/AEng Desk Officer) at RAF Innsworth a call. Think he might be on 95471-6165. The SHY cse will not be 42 weeks.

[Wader2]

Tm, PM please .

[AH Veteran]

"the fact is that there is no career past Sgt for a crewman in the army."

TM,

PM me for some good news (potentially)!

AHV