Job Security - Which airlines?
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Luke SkyToddler and Wee Weasley Welshman.....
Whilst your advice is appreciated, is it impossible for you to reply without the repetitive negativity? WWW, I see that your very knowledgeable in your profession. However, I'm sure a lot of wannabes would appreciate your comments a lot more without the arrogance in your posts...This isn't an insult. Its just something I've noticed constantly throughout a lot of your posts..
People have said many times on this topic that it is unlikely that I will get be pass the selection for the RAF. Ive taken that on board. You don't have to keep re-enforcing what they have said. Also, I've said many MANY times that applying through the military is not a way of gaining a commerical airline career. Its one OR the other. I'm just a little undecided which route to take.
Luke SkyToddler....
A lot of the comments you have made my mother has also made. Why should the RAF choose me over somebody that has shown an interest there whole lives etc. Well your right. However, do you mean to tell me that people who have shown an interest in the RAF in early adulthood have never been selected??
Also i was in the cadets for a period of time when I was younger and my father was in the RAF. Not a pilot but as an aircraft engineer. Unfortunately he passed away when I was 11. Maybe my interest would started at a younger age if he were still alive.
Is there really any need for the sarcastic, patronising comments? Or is it something you guys cannot help? 
You ruin your posts my doing so...
Whilst your advice is appreciated, is it impossible for you to reply without the repetitive negativity? WWW, I see that your very knowledgeable in your profession. However, I'm sure a lot of wannabes would appreciate your comments a lot more without the arrogance in your posts...This isn't an insult. Its just something I've noticed constantly throughout a lot of your posts..
People have said many times on this topic that it is unlikely that I will get be pass the selection for the RAF. Ive taken that on board. You don't have to keep re-enforcing what they have said. Also, I've said many MANY times that applying through the military is not a way of gaining a commerical airline career. Its one OR the other. I'm just a little undecided which route to take.
Luke SkyToddler....
A lot of the comments you have made my mother has also made. Why should the RAF choose me over somebody that has shown an interest there whole lives etc. Well your right. However, do you mean to tell me that people who have shown an interest in the RAF in early adulthood have never been selected??
Also i was in the cadets for a period of time when I was younger and my father was in the RAF. Not a pilot but as an aircraft engineer. Unfortunately he passed away when I was 11. Maybe my interest would started at a younger age if he were still alive.
Save yourself the heartache and go buy tickets in the euro millions lottery mate, it's a more viable plan than your current one.
You're making them wince; then sneer.
You ruin your posts my doing so...
What you fail to account for is that I respond to your post so as to address a wider readership. You're just a passing piece of flotsam that allows me to talk about the issue of wannabes thinking the military is a viable route to being an airline pilot.
Anyway. Your specific points about arrogance, insult and negativity are fatally undermined by my comments
If you think its arrogant of me to explain how I failed to become an RAF pilot but have friends like you who did not fail then you need to recalibrate your arroganominameter...
WWW
Anyway. Your specific points about arrogance, insult and negativity are fatally undermined by my comments
Do apply though.
You may be just the ticket and often they do look the find people that they otherwise would not. Whereas I was sponsored through A-levels and Uni as a RAF pilot and placed in UAS I have good friends who were not any of those things but now fly Typhoons. Really.
Its brusque but its true to say you have very little chance of succeeding with a military flying career.
You may be just the ticket and often they do look the find people that they otherwise would not. Whereas I was sponsored through A-levels and Uni as a RAF pilot and placed in UAS I have good friends who were not any of those things but now fly Typhoons. Really.
Its brusque but its true to say you have very little chance of succeeding with a military flying career.
If you think its arrogant of me to explain how I failed to become an RAF pilot but have friends like you who did not fail then you need to recalibrate your arroganominameter...
WWW
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Like I said, I did say your post is appreciated and I thankyou for sharing your experience of how you failed to become an RAF pilot. But sometimes your posts come across insulting and arrogant and I'm sure a lot of people would agree with me...
However, sometimes posts can be mis-interpreted.... Anyway, im not on these forums to argue. I just wanted some advice.
You say to me
But please tell me how you can make this judgement through a few posts on the forums? Is it because I am not knowledgeable on the military? If this is the case, then this is something that can be improved. You have no knowledge of my intelligence, academic achievement etc. Like I said in my post above, are you telling me, that the RAF have NEVER selected people who have opted for a military pilot career in early adulthood?
On exactly which part of the RAF selection did you fail on? (if you don't mind me asking)
However, sometimes posts can be mis-interpreted.... Anyway, im not on these forums to argue. I just wanted some advice.
You say to me
you wouldn't be selected
On exactly which part of the RAF selection did you fail on? (if you don't mind me asking)
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You have nothing to lose by applying. In fact, attending OASC, even if you are rejected, may be a very valuable experience.
People on PPrune often advocate joining the RAF as a means to becoming an airline pilot. This is quite simply wrong. A candidate will not succeed unless they are 100% dedicated to a military career. Primarily, an individual who is aspiring to a career beyond the RAF and sees the RAF as merely a stepping stone, will not stand up to the rigours and hardships of training and military life. Secondly, recruiters will sniff out such people a mile off.
WWW is being harsh but fair. The standard of selection and training is exceptionally high and brutally competetive. Those who think one day 'I know, I'll be an RAF pilot', stand little chance against those whose knowledge, commitment, motivation and ability is flawless. Don't be discouraged, but be under no illusion just how high the standard is. I believe that something like one in five thousand initial applicants will make it to a frontline squadron. The figures may not be exact but that's the order of magnitude we're talking about. In training for my commercial licences, I didn't break a sweat. I have never been as stressed as I was during RAF flying training.
Unfortunately, to pick up on another point, every military pilot knows pilots who have been killed and many more who have had lucky escapes. The RAF is NOT just another FTO for the airlines.
People on PPrune often advocate joining the RAF as a means to becoming an airline pilot. This is quite simply wrong. A candidate will not succeed unless they are 100% dedicated to a military career. Primarily, an individual who is aspiring to a career beyond the RAF and sees the RAF as merely a stepping stone, will not stand up to the rigours and hardships of training and military life. Secondly, recruiters will sniff out such people a mile off.
WWW is being harsh but fair. The standard of selection and training is exceptionally high and brutally competetive. Those who think one day 'I know, I'll be an RAF pilot', stand little chance against those whose knowledge, commitment, motivation and ability is flawless. Don't be discouraged, but be under no illusion just how high the standard is. I believe that something like one in five thousand initial applicants will make it to a frontline squadron. The figures may not be exact but that's the order of magnitude we're talking about. In training for my commercial licences, I didn't break a sweat. I have never been as stressed as I was during RAF flying training.
Unfortunately, to pick up on another point, every military pilot knows pilots who have been killed and many more who have had lucky escapes. The RAF is NOT just another FTO for the airlines.
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Torque...
Thankyou for your response.
First of all, I don't know how many times I have to say this. BUT I do not see the military as a stepping stone to becoming a commercial airline pilot. Its one or the other. Once I have done some thorough research for a good year or 2 then I will decide whether the military is for me. But I guarantee. If I opt for a career in the military, then I will be 110% sure it is for me. If not. I won't apply..
Is it this hard for all officer careers in the RAF or just pilots? If it is a figure similar to 1 in 5000 applicant then you have to remember that the a large amount of these applicants will not be prepared and some of them will just one day think "hmmmm I wouldn't mind flying them fast planes. They look awesome in topgun" 
Thankyou for your response.
First of all, I don't know how many times I have to say this. BUT I do not see the military as a stepping stone to becoming a commercial airline pilot. Its one or the other. Once I have done some thorough research for a good year or 2 then I will decide whether the military is for me. But I guarantee. If I opt for a career in the military, then I will be 110% sure it is for me. If not. I won't apply..
Don't be discouraged, but be under no illusion just how high the standard is. I believe that something like one in five thousand initial applicants will make it to a frontline squadron.
funky,
I have been on the recruiters course. Despite what might have posted, OASC are after a substantiated interest in the RAF. You don't have to have been a cadet or dreaming/planning your career for years. On the other hand nor should you have applied on a 'that seems like a larf' whim. What you should do is substatiate your interest. You can do that in months. It the same thing you do when you apply for a good job at a big company. You prove that you know what you are applying for and why, getting out and about visiting stations off your own back, research, learn and generally get a feel for the job. Pprune can give you some pointers, but you should pick and choose your advice then be prepared for some serious work.
Despite assurances time is not on your side. Good luck.
I have been on the recruiters course. Despite what might have posted, OASC are after a substantiated interest in the RAF. You don't have to have been a cadet or dreaming/planning your career for years. On the other hand nor should you have applied on a 'that seems like a larf' whim. What you should do is substatiate your interest. You can do that in months. It the same thing you do when you apply for a good job at a big company. You prove that you know what you are applying for and why, getting out and about visiting stations off your own back, research, learn and generally get a feel for the job. Pprune can give you some pointers, but you should pick and choose your advice then be prepared for some serious work.
Despite assurances time is not on your side. Good luck.
Last edited by mr ripley; 10th Oct 2009 at 18:09.
You're clearly pissed off that I am willing to hold the opinion and write it on the internet that you will not be selected.
You won't be. I don't need to know you or anything about you that isn't already evident. You're an earnest young man who aspires to a career in commercial aviation but is now aware of the alternative career of RAF pilot.
The odds are thousands to one. You've not made the best start against others who will be on your selection board. You're not going to get selected.
You might. But you won't.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than in 2014 to receive a rude and abusive email from you with a picture of your Wings Parade attached. I'd hope that my bluntness spurred you to achieve the very very very difficult.
But you won't be selected.
WWW
You won't be. I don't need to know you or anything about you that isn't already evident. You're an earnest young man who aspires to a career in commercial aviation but is now aware of the alternative career of RAF pilot.
The odds are thousands to one. You've not made the best start against others who will be on your selection board. You're not going to get selected.
You might. But you won't.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than in 2014 to receive a rude and abusive email from you with a picture of your Wings Parade attached. I'd hope that my bluntness spurred you to achieve the very very very difficult.
But you won't be selected.
WWW
