RAAF Flight Screening Programme

[CoodaShooda]

He must have had great instructors.
I could never teach him anything.

[harrybass3]

I was just so shocked that I managed to get through. The initial lady who told me I failed gauge reading repeatedly told me that I was unable to go through. I then asked to speak to the head psychologist making the decisions. He must have seen my determination and given me the waiver.

I have 2 degree, a science and an arts degree. Science degree is in Biochem and psychology and arts is in English. Heaps of leadership experience, Mcdonald's crew training, Air Force Cadets, current leadership position at work. I suppose He valued this more than the few marks I was off in gauge reading.

He also said that the fact I did not have second or third preferences was a motivational risk. He said applicants should want to join as an officer no matter what. Officer first, pilot second.

My last flight with my ppl in command was Anzac day, so recency is not even a real issue.

It may seem cheesy but how do you answer "why do you want to join the ADF?" without sound super patriotic or super cliche?

[flyinghigh2002]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know when the next lot of RAAF distributions are for letter of offers? august/september?

Thanks

[JBWings]

FlyingHigh,

I spoke to FSP admin awhile back so i'm not sure if this info is current however, at the time they intended to do a distribution in September & Novemeber.

I haven't spoken to them recently though.

[josephfeatherweight]

He said applicants should want to join as an officer no matter what. Officer first, pilot second.

Yeah, they do tend to say that... It's true from a recruiting point of view, but, once you've started Pilots' Course, doesn't matter a hoot! The way to get around it is this:
Your primary motivation is to fly an ADF aircraft (fighters first, then whatever tactical aircraft next) and you are thrilled that this will present you the opportunity to also be an Officer in the ADF. But, your primary motivation is to fly ADF AIRCRAFT.

Anyone post the recruiting centres (eg staff at FSP) will be on-board with this. Remember, the ADF is currently looking for aircrew to fly fighters, tactical and strategic transport aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft - don't tell them you've got a real passion to fly the pollies around in a BBJ (even if you do!).

It may seem cheesy but how do you answer "why do you want to join the ADF?" without sound super patriotic or super cliche?

I understand the conundrum - I found this difficult to answer many years ago and had the same concerns as you. I would put it back to your primary goal being to fly ADF aircraft:
"The ADF offers the opportunity to fly advanced aircraft in an ever-changing, challenging and tactical environment. The teamwork involved, the cameradie that will foster and the opportunities to lead others sets aviation in the ADF apart from aviation in the civilian world. And, you get to do all of this whilst providing a service to the nation."

Good luck!

[Toriki]

Tamworth Flight Screening

Hi everyone, I'm a new poster here and I'm departing to Tamworth Flight Screening in 3 weeks (21st August, 2016 - DEO).

I'm just looking to pick up and tips / areas of study / personal anecdotes that might assist me in my dream to becoming an F/A-18 / E/A-18G / F-35 Pilot (and give me a chuckle too!).

I'm barely 18 years old, finished my HSC last year and got an ATAR of 79.55 (no bonus points included - elligbile for +5 at some universities and +3 at others that don't support local / isolated schools). While I'll admit its not exactly a great score, there were many factors that contributed to this - primarily, a family tragedy (my sister died - twice - and then came back but with serious disability) and social obligations (gf had depression, spent alot of time with her instead of studying). I did pursue mathematics seriously and managed to get some decent scores in that respect however other subjects suffered to neglect.

I'm not trying to gain sympathy and I don't regret anything from high school, if anything, it strengthened my resolve to success in military aviation.

At this point in time I've passed all the tests first go and I'm getting pretty nervous about flight screening. As a note, I have zero previous flying experience.

The main, singularly most important question I have for this thread is - what can I do to increase my chances of passing flight screening and the officer selection board.

Here is some of the stuff I have done so far:

Study Section (Relatively in-depth):
-Fixed-wing Aircraft Structure
-Fuselage
-Wings
-Airfoils
-Powerplant (engine + propeller for prop-driven aeroplanes)
-Landing Gear
-Empennage
-Newtons laws (already did these at high school but general brush-up)
-Flight theory and the flight envelope
-Axes of flight
-Primary and secondary flight controls
-Flight instruments
-Basic flight maneuvers
-Climbs, turns, descents, power & pitch
-Rotary wing aircraft
-Airport and runway information

I know it may be a bit over the top but I want to know as much as I possibly can and hence make-up for gaps in my knowledge and skills (such as actually flying an aeroplane) that other candidates will surely have. I've also been adjusting my personal wake-up time to 0500 and have been exercising. I've also purchased a Basic Aeronautical Knowledge (BAK) book and plan on going through that too when it arrives.

I'm thinking of scheduling a visit with RAAF Base Richmond (closest base - also has the C-130 too so I could check that out hopefully).

Is there anything else I can do / things YOU might have done to get through this next section?

TL;DR Any tips / Advice to help me pass Tamworth Flight Screening?

Thanks Guys (and gals), I really appreciate anything you might have to share. If your going to TFS on the 21st of August feel free to PM me and we can share ideas / exchange some notes. (lame joke incoming) It would be cool to get in touch with somebody before lift-off!

Thanks again,

Toriki

[AnythingIsPossible]

Education Requirements

Hi all,

First post but I have been following the thread for a while. Thanks to all for the helpful information.

I am about to start my application process so apologies that this isn't related to flight screening. Does anyone from Queensland knows if Maths A is classed as "Tertiary entrance level, not modified"? It is definitely tertiary entrance level but I don't know what 'not modified' means. I haven't been able to get a confirmation from ADF recruitment.

I expect I'll be in touch throughout the process so I look forward to speaking and possibly meeting some of you.

Cheers.

[ARJM]

Hey Toriki,

Congrats on getting the call for flight screening. Just out of curiosity, when did you complete your assessment day? I'm currently waiting on the call for flight screening and just wanted to know what the wait time is like. Cheers

[djmp92]

Hey gents.

Congratulations to everyone making FSP and being recommended. Hard work pays off

Just wanted to ask a quick question about one of the forms we fill out as applicants. The pilot selection form completed at DFR at the YOU Session or Assessment day regarding the preferences amongst all the services.

I believe the options were "I would not accept an offer from this service", "I would consider an offer from this service" and "I would immediately accept an offer from this service".

Can anyone shed any light on the implications of our responses to these? I imagine if they need candidates quickly for a certain service they choose the ones who have indicated that they would immediately accept, however I believe that would deny you any sort of choice amongst competing offers.

Any opinions on this from those in the know?

To those that are curious about the process, I had my Assessment Day roughly 4 months ago and was only medically cleared 3 weeks ago. It's a waiting game to be sure.

Cheers and beers!

[JBWings]

Djmp92,

Its important to do a hell of a lot of research into each service and figure out exactly what you want fly for a living if given the opportunity.

What you put down on that sheet is just to give the defence interviewer at assessment day a service to primarily focus on during questioning.

You are able to change where you rank each preference all the way up until your sitting in front of the board. Therefore, you can change without incident even when your on FSP.

Whilst on FSP you have the opportunity to rank each service from 1-5. If you put a service as 1-3 you will NOT get an offer - even if you are an ACE. 4-5 you will get a look in.

The way the board explained it was that your overall score on FSP is combined with your perfs for an individual service. That combined score is then put into the pool for distribution.

So you do need to ask yourself. Do I want to fly for the ADF or just fly for an individual service.

Sorry for the long response. Hope it helps.

Only a couple of courses left for the year. Coming up to crunch time now.

[FlyLowFlySlow]

What you select on those forms is not set in concrete. The preferences between DFR and FSP aren't quite on the same page, so whatever happens at FSP will trump anything you've put down in the past. Like JBWings said it is a 5-1 score on which service/s you most prefer and he is right in what he said about what each score means.

It will all be explained on day 1 of FSP and you'll be able to change your preferences anytime up until OSB on the last day, even then the first question asked will be "These are your preferences, do you wish to change them?"

Hope this helps!

FLFS

[djmp92]

Thanks for the responses guys! Really cleared things up.

I initially put down RAAF as definite and Army and Navy as considered seeing as I wanted to keep all my options open. The last few months I've become excited about all three services and would pick any of them in a heart beat.

[harrybass3]

UPDATE

OK guys,

Thanks for your help before. I smashed assessment day. The interviewer cut my interview short because he was so confident I would make a good officer and future pilot. Really pleasing.

So now I have to clear up my Medical stuff (apparently every pilot has to apparently) and wait for the phone call.


Does anyone have any idea how long the wait times from a recommended Assessment day to the call for OSB?

He also said my handwriting was atrocious. Not sure if that will be a huge impact.

[clevortrevor]

Hi Everyone,

A little about myself: University graduate with a few years work experience. I recently applied to be a pilot and after having read through this thread numerous times I passed my assessment day yesterday. However, apparently the acuity of my eyes is borderline (i'm short sighted but thought i was better than 6/12). I'm going to the eye doctor (as everyone does) and hopefully i just make the cut; if not, i'll be looking into laser surgery options. If all goes well there i'll have the dentist and blood test prior to flight screening.

Harrybass3,
Please keep me up to date with how you're going in the process. After reading your posts i assume you're a DEO candidate and if all goes well we might be on the same FSP.

[harrybass3]

I have heard that the eyesight requirement can be pretty strict. Hope it all goes well for you.

Does anybody know if the Assessment day score is actually a score with a measure of just a pass/fail. My assessor said I gave him 50 reasons to put me through and no reason not too. He complimented my motivation and said i had a huge amount of potential. This was all coming from an Army warrant officer.

I was chuffed. So the question is, will my great performance in the assessment day speed up my application for flight screening? Hoping for the October course.

Also, I have heard that the ADF is screaming for pilots because they have bought so many new planes and have had a drop off in applicants. Can anyone confirm this?

[JBWings]

Harry,

My understanding of the process from assessment day to Flight screening is that once your medical is cleared up your dossier is sent from DFR to FSP. FSP admin grades, then pools, all of it's applicants for positions on an FSP course. Grading is done based on DFR's findings and their own opinions of your dossier. Three weeks or so before a course starts the top 6-9 applicants from that pool are contacted.

Well done with your assessment day. Means that DFR will make a good recommendation on your behalf.

I've spoken to a couple of blokes that are in at the moment and they have confirmed what you've said. I wouldn't say screaming for pilots, but the demand is certainly there compared to a few years ago (apparently). Still bloody competitive to get through.

I check this thread way to often nowadays. The waiting game is killing me.

EDIT: does anyone know of people getting offers more than a month out from a course start date?

[FlyLowFlySlow]

There is definitely a need for quality pilots at the moment so while there may not be as many applicants as years past, it is just as competitive. The current situation means you have a better chance at standing out from the masses.

Trevor don't stress too much over your eyesight, you'll find out in good time whether it is up to scratch and there's nothing you can do about it until then. I can confirm that the Aircrew Visual Requirements have just changed (this week in fact!) so this may work in your favour. I don't have a link or a copy of these new standards though unfortunately.

Good luck with your (hopefully) upcoming FSP boys!

[Okiedoke]

Those who receive an invitation to FS (October intakes) should meet in their respective states if possible, before heading to Tamworth. Team cohesion is an enormous factor in individual performance and overall success. Being familiar with each other will no doubt help this happen, not to mention they will be looking for this the moment you arrive.

[harrybass3]

JBWings,

My enlistment coordinator said that she will send my file once I returned the aircrew preference selection form. A mate of mine who is now at OTS said you can go to flight screening before medical clearance but you can't enlist, just as long as you make class 3m in the assessment and You day medicals.

Really hope I get a spot in the October FSP. The only thing holding me back may be my gauge reading test scores, which I failed but the head psychologist gave me a waiver because I have a PPL.

[JBWings]

ahh, I stand corrected. Good luck with getting a spot