Joining the RAF?
 

ok this may sound silly but there is some logic,

would i be able to join the raf with a frozen atpl and go straight into flying?

and before you all going why did u just join the raf in the first place the reason being when i chose to become a commercail pilot the economic climate was not in the state its in now therefore joining the raf i will be flying and earning money!

any one applied to the raf with an atpl?

cheers, Tom

You'll still have to go to Cranwell for their OASC selection. If you get in then it'll be initial officer training before you have any hope of getting onto any aircraft.
No guarantee you'll make it through and it'll be mandatory to sign up for the 12 years as usual.

The good thing is selection isn't the nightmare that people say it is. The tests are good fun, fitness test should pose no problems to you, group exercises are a great laugh as long as you have a good bunch of other applicants. You may have a bit of trouble explaining your situation in the interview but why not give it a go? If you're prepared to commit yourself and genuinely want to do it they'll give you a chance.
You might want to consider how volatile things are and the likelyhood of you going to war to start with....

Make sure you get an eye test (with anyone doesnt really matter) and send it off to cranwell. I was starting to prepare for my P2 when i got my eye test back to say they wouldnt accept me as pilot because my eyes were not perfect.

Ok not a great result but im glad i found out earlier then later after i had done all my research and revision about the raf etc. Saves you alot of time if you know before hand.

An Air Transport Pilot Licence is completely irrelevant to gaining an entry to the Forces - I know having done both.

The RAF - or any other of the Armed Forces - look for more than just somebody who wants to fly for money. It is a career that they offer and they are unlikely to accept applicants that are less than passionate about being a member of the armed forces.

This may - and often does - change after several years of service and then people who want to stay flying will often then study for their ATPL. The CAA currently recognises some of their skills by reducing the number of subjects required for an ATPL.

Anne :)

Anne has it right: a PPL or even ATPL will not get you any shortcuts when it comes to flying in the RAF. Military flying is not well covered by the fATPL syllabus!

You will need to come up with a very robust answer to the obvious question of why you want to join the RAF. You have pretty much said above that you only want to join because civil aviation is not working out for you - you'll have to think of something far more convincing than that to get past the interview board.

Finally, try to get on top of your English Language. I'm not just being a pedantic old 'grammar police' :mad:- it is one of the things you will be judged on. If your SHIFT and CAPS LOCK keys are broken then accept my apologies.

Remember in the RAF your an officer first and a pilot second. So as said above, you need to have more than just the desire to fly.

Don't join if it's just money you're after, you'll end up regretting it, though I doubt you'd ever get that far.

And yes, your English is horrible, sort it out. If I saw that myself I wouldn't employ you.

This is nothing personal against you at all, by the way, I'm just being honest. You have to really want to join the RAF to get in and like someone said above me "you're an officer first, pilot second".

"you're english is horrible"

Beautiful. You can't teach that!

Hahaha, what an arse! :O :O Changed it now!

'nuff said!

I think the OP has enough information now.

Thread closed!

HWB