RAF recruitment

[Allbore]

Ok, not sure if this is a good place to post this but anyway.

I've signed my initial registration for the RAF, i have a P2 presentation in June. i am applyig for pilot and so just wrote 'pilot' on the form, the guy at the desk said 'is that all you want to do?' i said 'yes' and then he says 'if you dont get in as pilot then thats it, you should put down a ground based position as well, so i put down WSO and ATC as 'backup', should i have done this? i'd have thought that i'd be offered a job im suited to regardless of wether i just put down pilot on my application form.

Any advice would be very much appreciated, I know about the slection procedure so its just this bit about the form im concerned about, will it sway 'their' desicion at all?

Kind regards

ALL

[oxford blue]

The reason that it matters is because the selection board are going to have to make a decision about your motivation. They are going to have to ask themselves "Does this lad just want to be a pilot (with anybody, including an airline) or does he really want to be an RAF officer?" In general, they want people who really really want to be RAF officers, but would be even happier if they could be pilots as well.

That said, much will depend on the board you happen to get on the day. But you need to have thought about it deeply (mainly to know your own mind) but partly to have an answer prepared. Be in no doubt, the interviews will be very searching, particularly on this issue of motivation.

[teawhite1]

Allbore,
If you want to be an RAF pilot, then only put "pilot"! So many guys I flew with had tales of mates being pawned off with postings such as ATC, MTO or Fighter Controller, with the parting shot of..
"start off there, and then once you have learnt the ropes, we'll push you on for flying training......."

Yeh, right. Never happens, believe me. Only when the Flying Pig is spotted over Daventry corridor. So, if you ONLY want to be a pilot, ONLY put "pilot".
Oh, and a quick tip for you. I'd brush up on your spelling and grammer if I were you. :rolleyes:
Whatever, good luck and get your head in a quality paper and try to formulate some opinions on world and current affairs.

[BEagle]

Put 'First choice - Pilot', 'Second choice - Chaplain'! It'll get their attention and you can then tell them that both are sky pilot jobs! But it won't be your lucky day if there's a God-botherer on the board!

[Dimensional]

I put First and Only Choice "Pilot", and when asked about what I'd do if I failed said "Come back next year, and apply for Nav and Air Traffic as well".

Seemed to impress them enough, so even if you've got no intention of sitting back seat then think about it.

(It worked for me... got my GD(P) 6th form scholarship!)

-D

[Wholigan]

Long, long, LONG, LONG time ago -- at interview at Biggin Hill for RAF entry, all seemed to go reasonably well until last question:

Board Member: - "You say you'd love to be a Hunter pilot, what will you do if we offer you anything else, such as navigator for example?"

Me: - "I'd be very disappointed and go and find something else to do!"

Board Members (unanimously and simultaneously): - "Thank you, we'll let you know in a few weeks."

Me (after walking out and thinking about it): - "Sod it, I've really screwed that!".

Letter through door 5 days later telling me to go to South Cerney for officer training!!!!

(edited for typographical error :D )

[spekesoftly]

teawhite 1,

Quote:- "I'd brush up on your spelling and grammer" !! :rolleyes:

[teawhite1]

Speke,

"touché" !!

:rolleyes:

[Hertz Van Rental]

As others have said just put pilot. OASC has to fill quotas and they find it harder to recruit say, Fighter Controllers than they do pilots. Therefore if you were to put down Fighter Controller as your second choice, what do you think they would offer you?

PS Some of my best friends are Fighter Controllers, top chaps the lot of them, I just wouldn't want to be one myself.

[J.A.F.O.]

I wish we'd had PPrune back in the days when digital watches were thought to be fairly nifty - PILOT, PILOT and PILOT.

[keiysersaucy]

go for what you want. Don't compromise. As you can see they won't be honest with you so don't feel bad about lying your rump off to them

[Klingon]

Dear keiysersaucy

Sarcasm and wit are common on this billboard but bitter and twisted chips on shoulders (your comments on commissioning only add to the impression you give) do little to add to constructive comment.

Are you still in the service, if so I recommend PVR, an arrangement which will make us all happy!:cool:

[Allbore]

Thankyou all for your replies, the contructive ones and the not so constructive! I appreciate you all taking the time to post.

I will now go off and make my decision :D

To be honest i just want to be in the RAF, if i end up ridin in the back seat then that's OK, all that worried me was if i just put pilot but didn't fit the specific criteria, would they then offer me a suitable job even though i had not specified any others?

thanks

AB

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

Klingon you pompous git, have a look at ALL the comments of your brethren above and then apologise to "ksy".

He was merely summing up their opinions by stating go for Pilot ONLY and avoid being fobbed off with some other tat job.

By the way what do you do for a living?

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

[teawhite1]

Klingon,

What makes me think you recently joined the Service, and still consider it to be the best job around? Something to do with your total lack of sense of humour, me thinks. Ever heard of "having a laugh" ??? Wouldn't this site be such fun if all comments were,

"oh, please, let's tow the line 'cause my assessments are coming up"

All the advise so far to Allbore has been constructive and honest. It's a very long time to be enrolled into a job-spec that you genuinely didn't want.

And banding around comments like "put in your PVR to make us all happy etc" sounds rather defensive and immature.


So there.........na na na na naar

:rolleyes:

[keiysersaucy]

My thanks for the (unpredicted) support, and understanding. I do support a man who wants the best for himself, and did (I thought) recommend the young man goes for pilot. Accept no substitute. When Klingon has been in 14 years and has been lied to by so many senior officers, including his posting officer, been witness to reports being altered after being signed for.... ect ect THEN he can advise me to PVR. Sorry to bore people but it helps me see out my few years left by letting off steam. I honestly don't think anything I or anyone else says will alter anything, as my view is that we all join for reasons other than pay or conditions. I just let off steam and hope to help people steel themselves for the corruption and self serving hippocracy (sp?)they will encounter. The adverts and publicity the RAF pushes out is grossly different to the real position.

[Klingon]

keiysersaucy

I see your 14 years, double you and some!

Done staff/PMC tours and written more ACR's than you will ever see in two lifetimes. Know all about self-servers and have been victim to one or two.

I think your last post has justified my comments!:cool:

[Aynayda Pizaqvick]

I also put only pilot for the above reasons and they specifically got in touch with me to get my second career choice. At cranwitz they test you for all officer trades and will give you good careers advice should you not get offered a window seat. At the end of the day, if you display good pilot aptitude they will not fob you off to admin or nav.
Good Luck!

[keiysersaucy]

Klingon, as you have done staff tours, and have been in more than 28 years then we are just two sides to the same coin and we are not going to change the other's views with a few jibes methinks. I can only speak from my own experiences. I am glad yours have been rewarding. The only rewards for me are now financial. This was not what i joined for, and would wish it were different, but it is the service that has made me cynical. At first I was as keen as mustard. Too many self serving politicians and liers have seen to that. I do hope we can agree to disagree, but I hope your success in the service is not making you blinkered to what is happening to it.

[scroggs]

Allbore,

I went to Biggin Hill (OASC at the time) with 'Engineer (ground), Pilot, Navigator' as my three choices. That was because I wore glasses, and doubted that I would be accepted for aircrew. For some reason I still don't understand (it was along time ago, and I've had plenty of time to think about it), I cheated in the eye test and passed the medical to aircrew standard. As it happened, I also passed all the aptitude tests.

Before the second-stage intervies, they asked me if I would like to change my choices. I'd been thinking about it all through the previous night and, with my heart somewhere near my tonsils, I said yes, pilot only please! In the interview, they asked me why had I withdrawn my other two choices and I told them that I really couldn't envisage myself being happy in either trade and really only wished to join as pilot. A naiive answer, but honest at the time! They seemed to accept it for what it was worth. Their reaction when I told them that I wanted to fly VC10s suggested that I may have been about to take honesty too far, however, especially as I had just corrected one of the interviewers on his misidentification of a Lightning F2A as an F6!!

The problems caused by my genuinely inadequate eyesight are another story, but I survived 22 very happy years in the RAF and now fly for a major airline. I never did get to fly the VC10, sadly!

You put on your application anything that you feel you could live with for the next 12 - 16 years. Don't put on anything you couldn't.

All the best!

[Setright]

RAISE THE SHIELDS SCOTTY!!!!!:D

[BEagle]

WHAT? Trust an engineer to defend us from hostile action? Might as well trust someone from the Phone Answering branch!!

No doubt the Enterprise's IPT are still discussing the cost/benefit of putting her in for another major - whilst polishing the chairs at the Bull$hit Pavilions with their inert posteriors!!