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RAAF Flight Screening Programme

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RAAF Flight Screening Programme

Old 5th Dec 2017, 03:30
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I take it nobody has heard anything yet?
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Old 8th Dec 2017, 01:46
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Zilch mate.

I had a chat with my enlistment coordinator. No offers, to her knowledge and she assures me she would know, have been made this side of July.

I have medicals to refresh but other than that its the waiting game. @MLED how did you know about the intake numbers btw?

I keep getting told different things regarding intake size, BFTS is backcoursed, an official document addressing the pilot shortage in the RAAF said intakes will go up to 165 per yeah.

Who knows....???
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Old 8th Dec 2017, 02:21
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That’s the same as my enlistment coordinator has said too.

That’s what I was told by two of the guys that I went to FSP with and they were told by their enlistment coordinators. I’m with you though that there is tons of contradicting information.
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Old 14th Dec 2017, 08:02
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To give a bit of clarity

BFTS is closing up shop. The instructors are moving to Sale to convert to the PC21 and thus the courses are being stripped away from BFTS in 2018. The first Army BFTS course next year is in September, until then it is RAAF/RAN courses mainly consisting of ADFA with a few DEO courses.

HATS is opening at Nowra - the same "train the trainer" issue has seen a limited pipeline for Army pilots to go through and this has reduced the intakes.

So what: If you are in the pool it is facetious to think that the lack of candidates going into the pool means you've got an amazing chance - the courses are thinning out next year as BFTS reduces capacity.

To answer a few questions - the course intakes are panelled months in advance. It is fairly common for Army to be recruiting 6-12 months out, and everyone that went to RAAF from my intake got offers on 3-9 months notice. This gives rise to the "OTS is full" idea.

DEO Army - This links in with the "enormous pilot intake" fallacy. Army is currently having issues with the restructuring of its training pipeline. There is a skill shortfall at the QFI level meaning there is a backlog of pilots awaiting conversion. The recent RMC grad had approx 10 pilots. The next class coming through now only has 3 pilots. The so what is that Army is restructuring the training timeline and therefore there is less intake. Eventually all RMC cadets will have the option to test for Pilot as opposed to entering the College on a cadetship.

Medicals - attestation medical is completed on the day of appointment and is relatively cursory to check for any final changes. Your actual medical only lasts 12 months much like it is in service.

I am about to go on Chrissy leave so if anyone has any questions post here and I'll do my best to answer them.

Best,
flyingsoon
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Old 14th Dec 2017, 10:43
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Rules of ASP

FlyingSoon, or anyone else for that matter, would you have any idea about the rules of the new ASP regarding waiting time between failed attempts and number of possible attempts?

At BFTS you could only attempt the flying component of the program twice in your life, and you had to wait 3 years between each attempt. If you were not recommended based on your OSB or other personal factors, they would usually give you 12 months between attempts, or another amount of time up to their discretion.

Trying to decide when to go for ASP, as I was not recommended in Feb 2017 due to my flying scores as well as my 'age and life experience'.
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Old 14th Dec 2017, 19:54
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In your specific case I would hold off until you can demonstrate you meet their other criteria first. Unfortunately being in service now I am well removed from the ASP side of things and speculation won't help.
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Old 14th Dec 2017, 20:55
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@flyingsoon

What are your thoughts for Raaf intake?

I was told by my enlistment coordinator that intake spots have not neen filled. This was then confirmed by flight screening that DP-AF had not finalised the ots intake.

When we speak of intakes i am referring to getting a letter of offer from RAAF/RAN.

Its hard because we keep hearing conflicting things.

I would imagine that seeing as the pilot intake on 2019 will be around 165 that 2018 would be generous to RAAF as they say in official documents they need more pilots.

Ideally, i hope they send offers for OTS soon and then we can just wait for the new OTS.

My mate got an offer for July in June. 4-6 weeks is what i heard in terms of notice period.
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Old 15th Dec 2017, 01:53
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Originally Posted by harrybass3
I was told by my enlistment coordinator that intake spots have not neen filled. This was then confirmed by flight screening that DP-AF had not finalised the ots intake.
I'd go off that. The only problem is courses are being thinned out next year as staff move down to Sale and get QFI on the PC21 which is why courses are being thinned next year.

Originally Posted by harrybass3
Its hard because we keep hearing conflicting things.
This is part of the game, and it is going to be a frequent feature of your career, especially whilst in a training environment

Originally Posted by harrybass3
I would imagine that seeing as the pilot intake on 2019 will be around 165 that 2018 would be generous to RAAF as they say in official documents they need more pilots.
As above, I would not be too hopeful for a large intake next year given the movement to Sale. Once this has completed I imagine it would pick back up. Keep in mind the new screening is going to qualify a larger amount of pers for the job so it will only become more competitive.

Originally Posted by harrybass3
Ideally, i hope they send offers for OTS soon and then we can just wait for the new OTS.

My mate got an offer for July in June. 4-6 weeks is what i heard in terms of notice period.
Courses are usually booked a while in advance but numbers change which is where you get the late notices from. Notice varies. The best thing to do is keep regular contact with your EC and ensure you ask specific questions about the next course dates, if they have been panelled yet and if the offers are out.
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Old 16th Dec 2017, 12:55
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The new Aviation Officer career plan consists of only GSO pilots. The idea is that no one will be able to test before entering RMC. Testing will be conducted approx six months in and open to anyone at RMC who meets the specialist medical requirements. The exact implementation of this is still unknown. Last I heard ADFA were still filling cadetship due to the further extension of their training pipeline. There is still two years of ADFA av cadets yet to come through the college. I have no idea what the recruiting picture looks like at this stage.

There are still a number of pilots in the pipeline both on conversion and awaiting either basic or rotary qualification. I would not bank on the amount of pilots Army will need at any given time especially in this timeframe. At the moment we have the ARH issues & mid life, MRHs soon to start to go to 6AVN, EC at HATS and the Chook acquisition. It's simply too hard to pick.

It takes longer for Army to acquire aircraft at the moment than to train pilots so I wouldn't concern yourself about a war scenario

Last edited by FlyingSoon; 16th Dec 2017 at 12:58. Reason: Didn't staff check my work
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Old 16th Dec 2017, 23:13
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Hans, I wouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. If I learnt anything in my time dealing with DFR, it was that anything can happen at anytime and if you want to be a pilot it pays to have all options open.

No, we are not moving MRH from TVL, we are moving 6AVN off Blackhawk over the next few years. It's a change that is being resisted so wait out on how long that takes.

I'd imagine the lower intakes at the moment would lower the backlog but as above there are still two years of ADFA cadets coming over on cadetship. I'd wager it would be smoothed out by that point yes. The Army has not quite turned the tap off.
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Old 17th Dec 2017, 01:46
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I couldn't say with any degree of certainty. I think they won't recruit direct entry, if they have spots they'll fill by testing pers in II Class at RMC
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Old 17th Dec 2017, 04:40
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But what about RAAF?!

Surley they have intakes?
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Old 17th Dec 2017, 15:04
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My nephew has been aiming for a RAAF pilot career for many years. I spent many years as a RAAF pilot and I’m now flying with Qantas. Following in my footsteps it seems.

He was given a top 25% recommendation from flight screening earlier on this year. His HSC results came out on Friday and, as expected, he got a very good result.

What he wasn’t expecting was a phone call on Friday afternoon from the Navy offering him a pilot position for next years ADFA intake. It was a “take it or leave it” offer. Giving him till 1500 Friday to give his answer. He’s never shown any interest in the Navy and is not really interested.

He was told that all the RAAF courses were full and that if he didn’t take the Navy offer he’d miss out in ADFA next year.

My many years in the RAAF have given me a healthy scepticism of recruitment so this just doesn’t ring true to me. I’d suggest all services would have been waiting for the HSC results to be released before offers could be finalised. It just sounds like the Navy trying to secure strong candidates before the RAAF makes an offer.

Anyone care to offer an insight into the process or to enlighten me what’s at play here?
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Old 17th Dec 2017, 18:10
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Raaf intakes

@isdon

I was told my EC that the 2018 courses for pilot had not been panelled yet and fsp told me that my file was with DP-AF being considered a february intake.

This is for DEO and adfa may be different. There is so much conflicting messaging its not funny.
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Old 18th Dec 2017, 00:31
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Originally Posted by harrybass3
@isdon

I was told my EC that the 2018 courses for pilot had not been panelled yet and fsp told me that my file was with DP-AF being considered a february intake.

This is for DEO and adfa may be different. There is so much conflicting messaging its not funny.
Thanks Harry.

Lack of information seems to be a recurring theme. How can anyone make a judgement call on the next 15 years of their lives without all of the facts.
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Old 18th Dec 2017, 03:05
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So i just spoke with my EC.

Raaf intakes have gone out and I missed it. 12 were gone out for Jan.

Navy can still come out in January for a FEB intakes but there will be limited spots.

At this time its either Navy or sitting ASP in march/april.
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Old 18th Dec 2017, 03:30
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Originally Posted by harrybass3
So i just spoke with my EC.

Navy can still come out in January for a FEB intakes but there will be limited spots.

At this time its either Navy or sitting ASP in march/april.
The Navy intake is 25th January so I'd be hoping offers will be out this week rather than waiting until the new year
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Old 18th Dec 2017, 04:21
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ASP. Sorry for my ignorance but is that the new simulator assessment system that’s coming in?

I know there’s a new way but what are they going to do with everyone who’s missed out on the small number of RAAF ADFA Pilot slots available for males? Do they just go to a hold file for direct entry courses or is their whole application binned and they have to start again? Seems like a huge waste of time and money to reassess people that have already been deemed suitable.
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Old 18th Dec 2017, 10:32
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He was told that all the RAAF courses were full and that if he didn’t take the Navy offer he’d miss out in ADFA next year.
Smells a bit suss to me too, IsDon.
Problem is, not really an easy way to find out, which is a bugger.
Got any (now) 1 or 2 star mates still in??
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Old 18th Dec 2017, 21:28
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Originally Posted by josephfeatherweight
Smells a bit suss to me too, IsDon.
Problem is, not really an easy way to find out, which is a bugger.
Got any (now) 1 or 2 star mates still in??
Yes I do actually, and I spent yesterday on the phone to various contacts.

What I can say is that the general comments here are correct.

Apparently all of the RAAF ADFA Pilot positions have been selected and my nephew wasn’t one of them. I was surprised to be told there was only 10, yes 10, RAAF ADFA Pilot positions open for males. I don’t know how big the intakes are now, in my day there we’re around 30. So 20 females, 10 males. Should make TOGA parties fun for the 10 but I despair for the future of RAAF aviation if political appointments under a social agenda trump aptitude.

I certainly wouldn’t want to be a QFI at 2FTS. Stand by for much hand wringing and naval gazing when the traditional 50% pass rate plummets to 30%. Unless politics comes into play and the standards hurdle is lowered to avoid embarrassment. From mates still instructing scrubbing a girl takes almost an act of Parliament.

As for my nephew, he’s decided to use the Navy offer as a potential back door into the RAAF. To reject the Navy offer would require him to go through the complete ASP selection process from the start. All previous aptitude testing is thrown out in favour of the new system. With any new system it may take a year or two to get right so there’s a very real possibility that he may not go as well with the new system. Service transfers are quite common these days and if he does well on pilots course there’s the very real prospect of putting on a blue uniform and going straight to fighters. Seems as if the competition won’t be as high as it should be. He may even like the Navy and elect to stay. Flying an embarked helicopter would be a hoot. My previous life included RAAF Iroquois and P3Cs among the seven RAAF types I flew. Combining the fascinating world of maritime flying with a helicopter would be very rewarding flying.

Good luck to all of those still in the pipeline. Thanks for all of your assistance and support.

Last edited by IsDon; 18th Dec 2017 at 23:46.
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