Please help me, I would like to join the NAVY

[Shed360]

Hello there, this is my first post on this forum and I must say thankyou for making this site possible.
To my point, I am 16 and have just finished my G.C.S.E examinations and i have always aspired to a career in the Royal Navy as a pilot. I have not joined the Sea Cadets and do not intend to for various reasons. I am in training for my P.P.L.

What I would like to know is what is the best way into the Fleet Air Arm for a person like me, i mean how do i do it. I have become aware of the A-level sponsorship that the R.N offers, am I too late for this as i have just completed my G.C.S.E's or can i apply next year?

What are the basic odds of getting into the navy, i mean, sponsorship wise, is it like Civil when there are like, 1000 people trying for 1 place??

All info on any aspect is greatly apreciated, thankyou very much

P.S, is there any hour cut off limits for a trainee P.P.L like there are for B.A and so forth, i.e 150 hours TT and too experienced?

P.P.S, I have aplied for the R.A.F schol/sponsorship and i am yet to find out, so please dont say, "NOOO Join the R.A.F",I want to fly Harriers. I told the R.A.F that i had Atshma six years ago, when i was not aware that it was not actually Asthma, bugger eh! So hopefully i can make a fresh start with the Navy, another bonus.

Cheers, Shed360

[Gimme300]

Well to take each of your points in turn, -
the best way in is to talk to the recruiting office! One word of caution - dont let them steer you in any other direction than aircrew - you know, like 'oh yes pilot, well if you join as a chef then....' They probably will try it, but dont have any of it - you will not ruin your chances at all They have the latest gen anyway on scholarships etc - its all changed since us silly old sods went through that mill!

The odds of getting in are - if you are good enough your in - if youre not then you arent. Sure there are numbers to fill, however gaps are accepted in preference to dropping the standards.

As for PPL, in my experience, those who have them when they join tend to be the first to get chopped from training - either think they know better than the instructors or have bad habits ingrained - or both. Once you start training, you are not allowed to do civvie flying anyway until you are fully qualified - for the above reasons, so I wouldnt go too overboard getting a PPL :-)

As for past medical problems the medical boards do contact your GP, and as for wanting to fly a harrier - to be honest you would be better off joining the RAF (spit!) if you want to do that sort of thing as the chances are you will end up with a helo strapped to your bum in the Fleet Air Arm.

[minimid]

Shed360 -

Gimme's right about the recruiting office. Try to find your local liason officer who will probably visit your school, but take note of the warning - one of the favourites is "join as an engineer and in 5 years transfer to Maintenance Test Pilot - it's easy!". Insisting on aircrew does you no harm whatsoever.

Regarding the sixth form scholarship, you're not too late. If you get the sponsorship before the end of the academic year, you get the money back-paid for the whole year. Haven't got a clue about the PPL I'm afraid, but if you're determined to join then go for all the sponsorship you can get, school and university (if you decide to go).

Good luck with it all.

[Ganf]

Just to make sure you got the message, definitely definitely definitely do NOT sign up for anything other than pilot. The guys above are right - if some bu**er tries to get you to join in another trade "to cross over in a few years", he is a lying git and just trying to fill another quota - DON'T DO IT!! I'm not particularly up to speed with exact Navy quotas but they are getting desperately short of pilots; however, as also mentioned above, they have a lot of helos and not many Harriers. The RAF are also getting v short of pilots and they have 3 sqns of GR7s plus an OCU where they need to man 15 instructor places. Without wishing to be unreasonably biased, the GR7 is a much better jet - it's newer and has got loads of updated avionics including night kit with a new, bigger engine and other avionics stuff due to arrive over the next few years. True, it doesn't have a radar, but if you really are interested in the going-to-sea bit, you can expect around 6 weeks per 18 months aboard with the GR7s anyway, since the integration of the SHARs and GR7s into 3 Gp as of Apr this year. As far as the asthma bit, I wouldn't worry about your declaration of 6 yrs ago - you were 10!! If you don't have it now, it shouldn't be a problem. Whatever you decide to do, you will need to work bloody hard; but persevere, keep going through the bad trips and one day you'll get there. Flying Harriers is awesome and it's worth the effort; good luck.

[Shed360]

OK i will be honest, since i was about 2 i wanted to fyly in the R.A.F, but When i went for sixth form scholorship, (witch i botched up) i said yeah Asthma 6 years ago, and the bloke said sorry any history of it and you aint gonna be aircrew, what do i do now!!! and can i stil fly for R.A.F if i left the A.T.C and dont get the sixth form scholorship???

[Grey Area]

Don't f*(k around, if you thought you had asthma but didn't then get a note from your doc and start again with the RAF (or just get him to sign the note anyway!) I'm not totally convinced that the RN would take you either but I'm sure I'll be corrected. Whatever go for what you want not what you think you'll get, there is nothing worse that a "if only" merchant, make sure you can say "I did EVERYTHING I could to acheive my dream"

[Gimme300]

Grey Area - what did the docs say about that funny grow on your face then!!! LOL :-)

[Welsh Flyer]

I'm just going through my Navy selection as a pilot. I have also just graduated from Uni.

Anyhow, i was told i had asthma when i was a kid, but like you i never actually had it. So i went to my G.P. and told him that having asthma on my medical records could prevent me from entering the services, so he just took it off the computer, as easy as that. So try that, it worked for me.

Oh and by the way, Navy pilots are better!!

[Swept]

Shed

It's already been said by several sources and I will repeat it.If you want to fly fast pointy things the best chance you will have is in the RAF.Yes the Navy are v short of Harrier mates but the frank facts are that the training is f*$^ing tough and you will only end up on rotary.If you don't make the single seat standard in the RAF at least you can get a stab at the mighty tornado or if it floats your boat the multi-engine world before they relegate you to helos.

I thnk WF's point is valid.Get the asthma stuff off your record and just tell them you made a mistake.Oh and if they ask you about hayfever,allergies etc deny everything! I know too many guys who have had the door closed on them just by admitting they had a bad headache once or wheeze a bit when they run to the bar.

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

I am Archiving this thread in the Wannabes Archive for future reference.

I am placing most Military Wannabe threads there so that over time you guys can just point young hopefuls to the Wannabes Archive where they will find answers to all the stock questions.

This will free up space for non-wannabe threads.

Cheers,

WWW