Royal Navy Aircrew

[WAFU07]

Hi there,

I am about to join the Navy as an Air Engineering Tech. A job I am really looking forward to. I have a question that I hope you can answer! How do you become an aircrewman in the Navy? Obviously I want to make a real go of my AET career otherwise I wouldn't be joining however, its something that I would like to do further down the line in my career. I thank you in advance for your replies.

[Ping-in-sh]

Hi all first time poster long time reader !!!

Advice on joining aircrewmans branch. Great job , you will have to do about 2 years in present job. Then get manning clearance to come across, which can be a bore.

However if crewman is the job you want to do then what about the RAF ??

[WAFU07]

I have wanted to join the Navy since was very young. Plus Iactually do want to become an AET, Im talking in 5 or 10 years. Thanks for your reply

[Ping-in-sh]

Good on you. You will have a great time in the Andrew !!! And when you have finished giving the aircrew **** about flying pay etc ,you can go join them.

Enjoy.

[Talking Radalt]

when you have finished giving the aircrew **** about flying pay etc ,you can go join them.

And then when you've finished giving the Light Blue **** about being slightly less gash and actually following Regs occasionally etc. you can go and join them too.

[Oggin Aviator]

And then when you've finished giving the Light Blue **** about being slightly less gash and actually following Regs occasionally etc. you can go and join them too.
Mate, don't kid yourself.

[Talking Radalt]

Mate, I'm not. More ex RN than you can shake a stick at at our place. Hardly head and shoulders above to be brutally honest. Sorry if that disappoints.

[vecvechookattack]

Blimey....didn't take long before it developed into a Navy V's Crab slanging match.

Fella, if you are looking to become an Aircrewman then avoid Fixed Wing engineering at all costs... go for jungly or SAR and then you can see what aircrewman do for a living. If you get streamed FW you will end up in the middle of nowhere and never see an aircrewman.

[WhiteOvies]

Congratulations, always Fly Navy!

First off -get through Raleigh and Sultan.
As soon as you see your Divisional Officer mention you would like to consider going aircrewman. This is probably not worth mentioning til you're at Sultan though as not many FAA people are at Raleigh. The info on how to do it, what courses and tests need passing are all available from your DO and the better ones might even be able to sort you out with
an aquaint visit.

Second - As recommended by Vec - avoid Harriers, you'll only see an aircrewman if you embark with the squadron on Lusty (HMS Illustrious) (not that often) or when you bump into Junglies etc in Afghanistan (more often than you'd like!). The Jungly Squadrons (845/846/847) based at Yeovilton are prob the best place to see the aircrewman at work, before you decide whether to leave the engineering to someone else and don a growbag. Again the DAEO or AAEO should be able to point you in the right direction and talk to the aircrewmen on the Squadron to find out how and what they did.

Hope that helps, good luck with everything.:ok:

[WAFU07]

Thanks, I wanted to be on the rotary side of things anyway, do you get a choice? And can you chose to go on a Junglie Sqn? I thought the Junglie aircrewmen were Royal Marines?

[Dan07]

Like the above thread, what about RAF Wsop? Im not sure about Royal Navy staff being on the Junglie sqns. Come over to the light blue side!!!

[WhiteOvies]

I believe you can express a preference but in the end it's totally up to your drafting desk (drafty) who is looking at requirements first and preferences second. Not all Jungly aircrew are marines, when I was at VL a couple of years ago they were short on numbers and looking to recruit more matelots. That may not still be the case though, I think several marines had to drop from the course due to being sent to Afghanistan. I haven't been a Jungly myself although a couple of posters on this thread have so it might be worth asking them. (JunglyAEO is one who springs to mind)

[Chimp Boy]

You don't have to be a Bootneck to be Junglie Aircrewman. At the moment I would say that about 40% of our Crewmen are Matelots. I applaud your decision to be an AET first and then move across, it is a fairly well trodden path.

Although it pains me more than you will ever know to say it..................

From a strictly Aircrewman point of view, you would do better to look at the light blue, yes they are all a bit gash, yes their banter is pathetic (see above), and yes they are in the main devoid of any personality.

They do however have a better long term career for the Aircreman/Loadmaster branch the we do. Hopefully someone here can give you a bit more info on the crab side.

Also, you will spend more time at sea as a crab than as a Junglie.

Hope this helps

CB

[nunquamparatus]

WAFU,

Hate to back up these comments but ...... RN is a bit limited in what you can actually hang out the back of, and we don't exactly make it easy for you to get there in the first place. That said - the quality of personnel within the Fleet Air Arm is outstanding (even the baggers). But then again aircrew in the RAF and Army aren't exactly duffers either. One imagines being an aircrewman in any service these days (particularly SH force) will keep you busy - especially if you like sand and people in turbans. Get yourself up to Yeovilton (sadly no longer Fighter-town, Somerset) and speak to some of the Junglie types about the rea;ities of life in the JFH world - I get the impression its a lot of hard work and not much fun these days. Don't forget the Pongos though, they aren't exactly short of wocka-wockas either.
Sadly, the light-blue fraternity do have a reasonable selection of things to go flying in - but then again so does Richard Branson. I'm sure there are worse things in the world than being a truckie-loadmaster.......they just don't spring to mind at the moment.:E

[samuraimatt]

Im talking in 5 or 10 years. Maybe you should re post in 5 to 10 years.:rolleyes:

[WAFU07]

So reply in 5 years when I'm in and I have no options, best to ask questions first don't you think?