Australian Army Heli-pilot question

[Aussiedude]

Hi all,

I'm looking at joining the Australian Army as a Helicopter pilot. I meet the fitness/height requirements, but I am 29 years old. I know that is well within the age limit for entry, but I'm curious as to how I would be received by other entrants - does anyone know the average age for heli-pilots?

If someone joined straight out of school or even university, they'd have nearly ten years on me. Is this going to be a severe disadvantage at all or should I still go for it?

Also, I'm short-sighted but glasses/contacts bring it up to 20/20 vision and I'm likely going to get laser surgery for it within a year so it shouldn't be a problem but does anyone know of any complications in that area?

Cheers!

[Cougar]

Your age should not be a problem. People significantly older than you have joined before. But regardless of your age, you will still be a student and treated exactly the same as every one else.

LASIK is allowed now IIRC. As long as you can get your eyesight corrected, you should be right.

[Winch-control]

If someone joined straight out of school or even university, they'd have nearly ten years on me. Is this going to be a severe disadvantage at all or should I still go for it?


I would suggest if you want it, go for it! Lifes extra 10 years worth of experience are not a negative! If you've kept yourself fit etc, then you will run rings around the young guns.

At my sons 'swearing the oath' ceremony (only 5 weeks ago) there was a range of ages from 18 to 40. Made me think about signing up myself (then I had a reality check and decided...nah! 22 years in the RAF was enough!)

Might I suggest you get yourself down to your local recruitment office, or give them a call? I'm sure they get these type of questions frequently.

Good luck!:ok:

[Aussiedude]

Might I suggest you get yourself down to your local recruitment office, or give them a call? I'm sure they get these type of questions frequently.

That's what I'm planning to do, but wanted a non-recruitment officer answer (a friend in the navy told me to always remember that the recruitment officers act like sales people) :-)

I've got an appointment booked in for mid-July (am in the UK at the moment) so we'll see how it goes then. I wouldn't mind if the Army paid for my eye surgery.... :-D

[Edthedruid]

My youngest son, 29 this year, has just passed the initial testing for ADF pilot. He's currently still a NZ citizen, but has permanent residency.

[Trojan1981]

A bloke on my RMC course was 30 when he went through, no problems with age:ok:

[Hyun-cheol Kang]

Hi! I am South Korean soldier, actually army aviation officer. My rank is Captain and I am UH-60 instructor pilot here. I have worked in Korean Army for 10 years and my flight hour is 1,000 in helicopter. I wanna apply for Austrailian Army aviation helicopter pilot. BUT I don't any Austrailian citizenship or permanent resident. And I am 33 years old. I am thinking of join the Austrailian Army 10 years later from now after the retirement. If there is age limitation to join it. I will apply for it ASSP. so I wanna know if I can do this. If you know something, please let me know....