The Truth about RAF Flying
Gentleman Aviator
Max
Blackadder: Don't you know what irony is Baldrick?
Baldrick: Of course Sir ... it's like goldy or bronzy but made of iron ....
....the
might have been a clue.......
Blackadder: Don't you know what irony is Baldrick?
Baldrick: Of course Sir ... it's like goldy or bronzy but made of iron ....
....the
might have been a clue.......
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Originally Posted by teeteringhead
Gareth
there is indeed a lot of good advice here; advice that you should heed. (Bl
dy hellfire - a semicolon on the web 
)
You seem to be focussing a lot on the academic requirements, which are not critical for the RAF (or RN or AAC). The academic bar may be set apparently low, but that is because there are other bars set much higher.
As Pontius Nav pointed out in a earlier post, the percentage who makes it from application to the front line is vanishingly small. One can get most jobs from a half-an-hour interview, senior management posts may have a whole day of tests and assessments. The RAF (and the others!) have 3-4 days of assessments, medicals, fitness tests and so on.
More questions will be asked of you about what you have done (community work, Air Cadets, team sports) than what bits of paper you hold or confidently expect to obtain. A maths pass is less important than knowing instantly how long 47 miles will take at 180 knots (and that's an easy one - most aircrew on this forum will have worked it out quicker than I wrote it - and I'm not that slow a typist).
Many of us here have done it successfully - and we aren't demi-gods (apart from the Harrier pilots - and that's more banter )
What about your fitness, (do you know what a "bleep test" is?), what about your health (specs, colour vision, asthma?). More people fall by the wayside for those than for insufficient exams!
But go for it! If successful it's the best job in the world (whatever the capbadge). And if you don't go for it, you may just spend the rest of your life wondering "what if".
And by the way - the answer is 15 minutes and 40 seconds. 180 knots is 3 miles a minute or a mile in 20 seconds. So 48 miles would be 16 minutes, and 47 miles will be 20 seconds less. That's the kind of maths we're interested in, rather than A* at GCSE!
there is indeed a lot of good advice here; advice that you should heed. (Bl
dy hellfire - a semicolon on the web )You seem to be focussing a lot on the academic requirements, which are not critical for the RAF (or RN or AAC). The academic bar may be set apparently low, but that is because there are other bars set much higher.
As Pontius Nav pointed out in a earlier post, the percentage who makes it from application to the front line is vanishingly small. One can get most jobs from a half-an-hour interview, senior management posts may have a whole day of tests and assessments. The RAF (and the others!) have 3-4 days of assessments, medicals, fitness tests and so on.
More questions will be asked of you about what you have done (community work, Air Cadets, team sports) than what bits of paper you hold or confidently expect to obtain. A maths pass is less important than knowing instantly how long 47 miles will take at 180 knots (and that's an easy one - most aircrew on this forum will have worked it out quicker than I wrote it - and I'm not that slow a typist).
Many of us here have done it successfully - and we aren't demi-gods (apart from the Harrier pilots - and that's more banter
)What about your fitness, (do you know what a "bleep test" is?), what about your health (specs, colour vision, asthma?). More people fall by the wayside for those than for insufficient exams!
But go for it! If successful it's the best job in the world (whatever the capbadge). And if you don't go for it, you may just spend the rest of your life wondering "what if".
And by the way - the answer is 15 minutes and 40 seconds. 180 knots is 3 miles a minute or a mile in 20 seconds. So 48 miles would be 16 minutes, and 47 miles will be 20 seconds less. That's the kind of maths we're interested in, rather than A* at GCSE!
Not really necessary for any more replies I’ve got what I came here for.
Hellbound
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lol - if you can do 12.9 you will be fine - maintain that and work on other areas where you may not be as strong. While it is dangerous to speculate about the average, I guess it is not that high...
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All these grades are starting to make me quite dizzy. I'm 17 and just finished my AS levels and still can perfectly spell. I got 7B's,1A and 1C and was pleased with that and therefore applying for aircrew.
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Amazing.... 4 pages of this thread, and most of it has been an utter waste of webspace 
. It has to be said, the spelling nazi's are out in force, havn't any of you got anything constructive to say rarther than just flaming the poor lad? He admitted he made a mistake, now stop being pedantic old gimmers . As I have often been told, unless you have somthing nice to say don't say anything.
Not checked for spelling or grammer, as I really don't give a flying F***
No wonder the forces are struggling to recruit with attitudes like this.......
. It has to be said, the spelling nazi's are out in force, havn't any of you got anything constructive to say rarther than just flaming the poor lad? He admitted he made a mistake, now stop being pedantic old gimmers . As I have often been told, unless you have somthing nice to say don't say anything.Not checked for spelling or grammer, as I really don't give a flying F***
No wonder the forces are struggling to recruit with attitudes like this.......
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How badly do you want it -
If you really, really, really* want to fly in the RAF so bad that it hurts, you can taste it, smell it, you dream about it and you are ready to give up women for it, the realisation will come that you "must put aside the childish things and become a man".
Character adjustments, personality modification, psychometrics, discipline, education, mathematics, physics, even grammar and spelling are just hills to climb over on the way to reaching your dream but they have to be done.
Get past them quickly and move on to the real reason for living like doing 450 kts in your personal pocket rocket through the valleys at low-level on a gin clear day.
(*Yes I know but I'm trying to get a point across)
Imagegear
Character adjustments, personality modification, psychometrics, discipline, education, mathematics, physics, even grammar and spelling are just hills to climb over on the way to reaching your dream but they have to be done.
Get past them quickly and move on to the real reason for living like doing 450 kts in your personal pocket rocket through the valleys at low-level on a gin clear day.
(*Yes I know but I'm trying to get a point across)
Imagegear
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Gareth 123
Ignore 95% of what has been posted on this thread since your initial post. IF you REALLY, REALLY, want it then you will go for it. Bear in mind that, even if you fail at the first hurdle; then, as far as the RAF is concerned, you are still one of the top 10% of young men in the UK at this time: if you were not you would not be interviewed.
This has been posted by someone who was born in Commercial Road, Limehouse, (just down from Wapping Steps), and went on to fly Royalty.
Course, I could be telling Porkies!!!
Go for it, you may fail - but you will never forgive yourself in later life if you did not try
Ignore 95% of what has been posted on this thread since your initial post. IF you REALLY, REALLY, want it then you will go for it. Bear in mind that, even if you fail at the first hurdle; then, as far as the RAF is concerned, you are still one of the top 10% of young men in the UK at this time: if you were not you would not be interviewed.
This has been posted by someone who was born in Commercial Road, Limehouse, (just down from Wapping Steps), and went on to fly Royalty.
Course, I could be telling Porkies!!!
Go for it, you may fail - but you will never forgive yourself in later life if you did not try
"Get past them quickly and move on to the real reason for living like doing 450 kts in your personal pocket rocket through the valleys at low-level on a gin clear day."
Sums it up nicely.
Beats the crap out of ferrying corgi owners about....
Sums it up nicely.
Beats the crap out of ferrying corgi owners about....
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Hilarious! Gareth is a retired ISS tutor letting rip after years of "grammatical correctness". Kengineer-130 is his OCC (or whatever it's called these days)alter-ego specializing in not bothering to check anything. Why? Because he can't be ar*sed. Not a great trait in an engineer, I would propose.
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Once when I was at IOT...
There was dude on my IOT course who failed the defence writing exam three times. He was given all the help he needed but he just could not write proper. He went back to being a RAF chef I think...
Oh yeah, all exams I have taken in the RAF, have had a pass mark ranging from 70%-100%.
Be prepared to work hard, believe in yourself and don't take it too seriously. Never give up; never surrender!
I've got wings dude and no matter what the cynics on this site say about the state of the RAF, I f g love it!
Look, I know its a weak comma, but I couldn't figure out how to write the sentence.
Oh yeah, all exams I have taken in the RAF, have had a pass mark ranging from 70%-100%.
Be prepared to work hard, believe in yourself and don't take it too seriously. Never give up; never surrender!
I've got wings dude and no matter what the cynics on this site say about the state of the RAF, I f
g love it!Look, I know its a weak comma, but I couldn't figure out how to write the sentence.
what is actually required - summary
you must be able to take 'banter' - whether it is as a means of a debriefing or because you happen to have 'goofy' teeth or puke after only your 12th pint of finest.
You must be able to shag for Queen and Country - in any country which you happen to be deployed too - without 'force' protection.
In summary - you need to be a do'er (?) rather than a procrastinator and someone who can get along with the best and worst that society can throw at you - you could be bombing tail-ends of civilian convoys or helping to load mutilated babies onto Hercs (they'll be around for a while longer).........
Take the banter in your stride and dish it out (dishing-out Banter only works if it comes from a credible source -ie YOU CAN ACTUALLY SPELL.
Good luck in your quest to join the finest fighting force in the World - RAF, RN or AAC - but do not expect to get paid on performance, overtime, weekends or other such bollox that eats into the MOD way of life.
You must be able to shag for Queen and Country - in any country which you happen to be deployed too - without 'force' protection.
In summary - you need to be a do'er (?) rather than a procrastinator and someone who can get along with the best and worst that society can throw at you - you could be bombing tail-ends of civilian convoys or helping to load mutilated babies onto Hercs (they'll be around for a while longer).........
Take the banter in your stride and dish it out (dishing-out Banter only works if it comes from a credible source -ie YOU CAN ACTUALLY SPELL.
Good luck in your quest to join the finest fighting force in the World - RAF, RN or AAC - but do not expect to get paid on performance, overtime, weekends or other such bollox that eats into the MOD way of life.
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The Fun Police are coming!
A2QFI - the people that wear their hearts on their sleeves tend to be the s t magnets. Not my bag really but that doesn't mean I don't know the difference between relaxed and reckless - Flight Safety is (grammar?) not a pair of dirty words (huh?)! Perchance you have some cheeky pearls of wisdom for the guys that want the career you enjoyed and I am just starting on.
Oh no; could somebody extract this hook from my cheek please? It really hurts...
t magnets. Not my bag really but that doesn't mean I don't know the difference between relaxed and reckless - Flight Safety is (grammar?) not a pair of dirty words (huh?)! Perchance you have some cheeky pearls of wisdom for the guys that want the career you enjoyed and I am just starting on.Oh no; could somebody extract this hook from my cheek please? It really hurts...
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Oh Dear...
To the guys who are still in, shame on you - I trust you don't remember how worried you were when you applied. (All who protest are probably the worst affected)
To the guys who have left, find something better to do with your time - we know you miss it, grass is greener etc, but picking on people who want to join just shows how bitter you can appear.
To the guys who have never been in - keep trying. Its not the RAF it was, but then in 10 years it probably won't be what it is now.
To those who can't get in, don't be bitter.
Gareth. Work hard at it. Don't rise to the banter. Its not what it was, but its still a bl dy good time and if you strike the right balance of confidence, interest and teamwork at OASC (not forgetting the Sunday times for 8-12 weeks before) you'll be laughing. Buy a MENSA book - cover to cover will help.
Come on guys - we've no idea what this bloke's like in person, lets give him the right encouragement and let OASC make the decision.
To the guys who have left, find something better to do with your time - we know you miss it, grass is greener etc, but picking on people who want to join just shows how bitter you can appear.
To the guys who have never been in - keep trying. Its not the RAF it was, but then in 10 years it probably won't be what it is now.
To those who can't get in, don't be bitter.
Gareth. Work hard at it. Don't rise to the banter. Its not what it was, but its still a bl
dy good time and if you strike the right balance of confidence, interest and teamwork at OASC (not forgetting the Sunday times for 8-12 weeks before) you'll be laughing. Buy a MENSA book - cover to cover will help.Come on guys - we've no idea what this bloke's like in person, lets give him the right encouragement and let OASC make the decision.
