Harrier pilots and Rotorheads

[teapoo]

gday i am about to start or hopefully about to start a career with the australian army flying those machines with all things spinning.

out of interest i was wondering if there was any ex chopper pilots flying harriers or sea harriers in this world. and if the transition is an easy or a painful one with a #%&* steep learning curve.

cheers

[Tourist]

Yes there are, and its way too steep for me!:{

[Training Risky]

I know of at least one Puma mate who did a tour in NI, then crossed over to the GR7.

Needless to say, he found the hovering bit of the OCU fairly easy.

[Magic Mushroom]

TP,
Somewhat further back in time, I believe that the top scoring pilot from the Falklands Conflict, David Morgan, was a former Wessex pilot. At the time, he was an RAF Harrier GR3 pilot on exchange with the FAA flying SHARS. Subsequently, he transferred to the RN permanently.
Regards,
M2

[teapoo]

cheers guys. harriers are a dream of mine, in the future i will have to find out if there is some way to exchange from the auzzie army into one of those beautiful mechanical marvels. anythings possible i suppose.
cheers once again.

[Ascend Charlie]

I think you will find that an exchange to Harriers would only come from the high-speed (knucklehead) end, not the low-speed. The only exchange i know of was an RAN pilot from Skyhawks. he turned out to be a genius, but wasn't allowed to attend the Falklands show because Oz had no grizzle with Argentina. (his father being a state governor didn't help either!)

A high-speed already knows about weapons delivery, and the hovering bit is pretty easy. But for a low-speed rotarian to move to high-speed fixed wing and learn all the air-to-mud and air-to-air stuff is a bit expensive for our cheap charlie gummint.

[Pub User]

I personally know of 3 pilots in the RAF who have transferred from helicopters to single-seat jet, 2 of whom flew or fly harriers, the other being a Jag-mate. There are also a couple of crewmen who went pilot and ended up on harriers.

I suspect the RN have a few examples too, as their 'pool' of fast-jets consists only of harriers.

[MightyGem]

Teapoo, as a member of the Australian Army, you would not get an exchange with the Royal Air Force. The Army Air Corps has an exchange programme with AAAvn, usually at QHI level.

[Mach the Knife]

Teapoo, sadly if you continue and become an Army rotary pilot you will never get to fly a Harrier. There have been fast jet cross overs from the RAF and RN rotary world, but they are rare and would not be considered as an exchange post. However....... if it is a dream of yours and you are still young enough, there is no reason why, as an Australian citizen, you could not apply to join the RAF or RN. It would mean, of course a long term commitment to live in the UK (when not on a ship or in the desert that is). I can give you an address for the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre for the RAF if you are really interested.

[Arm out the window]

Good on you, Teapoo.
There's more than one way to skin a cat, and a number of Aussie Army pilots have joined the RAAF over the years - don't know if there are any who have gone to jets, but it could happen. From there, you could apply to join the RAF; or as others have said above, just apply straight away.
As an approximately half and half rotorhead and fixed wing dick by hours, I'd agree with you that the Harrier would be an absolute top machine to have a go at, so by whatever convoluted path you may end up there, good luck!

[teapoo]

match the knife, i would be greatful to find out if that is at all possible. i have sent you an email and a private message an am extreamily interested i what you have to say.

cheers

teapoo

[John Eacott]

Back when Pontius was a pilot, Soapy Watson and a few others went from Sea Kings to Sea Harriers, and seemed to make a reasonable job of it, IIRC.

[Growbag]

Teapoo,

The Royal Navy has a system in place called AIR 309 which is the established method of converting from Helicopters to Sea Harriers, (although when some don't get the required grades they go to the F3 or the GR4), and even though the Sea Harrier is about to be scrapped the Navy is still looking to continue this due to it's success.
The process involves a board and then a grading on fixed wing on the Hawk and then up to Valley to join the RAf courses when they finished BFJT on the Tucano.
Previous advice on the advantages that a helicopter pilot has during the conversion are correct from what i've gathered, the hovering being similar but easier and a lot higher, but no-one can take away the advantage of experience in the air, whatever you fly. The ability to talk on the radio, fly and be comfortable with your surroundings and the air traffic control are invaluable and being able to take that to your conversion makes a huge difference.
There is the speed aspect I am told, but once you get your head around the difference and just 'realign your scale of speed' then it's all possible.
I know of many people within the Air Force and the RN who have done this conversion and they are flying several different types and if you put your mind to it then almost anything is possible. They set out as helo pilots and managed it, but if you have the goal to be a FJ pilot, and you have the ability then why not go for it straight away, otherwise you'll just start from the bottom of the pile again which can be very frustrating when you already have a couple of thousand hours on helicopters!
Good luck anyway.

[Chinook]

Teapoo,

'Fish your feet first' ..... old Otago wise man say.

Meaning: Fly the course you are on old mate, you will find enough hurdles on the AAAvn pilot course without dreaming of your 'next' job. If you really want to fly FJ, !@#$ off and do it, don't waste my or my colleagues time and training effort.

If you want a helo military career, come on in and give it a go. You never know where you may end up.

Hook in mate, 101% every day..... an old East Coast wise man saying.

[Chris Kebab]

Blimey Chinook, bang your head on a rotor this morning?

[Chinook]

Thought I did SHM. How are you by the way?

No, didn't hit my head or stub my toe.

The lad wants to be an aviator (assuming it is a lad). Hat's off to him. But is it a crime to be direct?

If he hits the course and starts to announce his long term intent to his trainers and peers, or worse still after passing the course he arrives at his Regt with that sort of 'I'm doing this now so I can do something better later' idea in his head it will be difficult for him.

I believe the chap has a need to know about that. I should say though that '@#$% off and do it' was meant in no way to be a discouragement from his AAAvn ambitions. Come on in and good luck mate. Put it down to antipodean vulgarity if you like .... it's been done before.

Kia Kaha