Pontius Navigator

funkyt, the hard facts are that there are plenty of applicants who are fully fit so why take the risk of accepting someone who is proven not to be fully fit.

What should you do?

Sort your non-RAF future out and go for it but, at the same time, prepare for an application in 2 years time. It that fails then you are already 2 years down your alternative career. You cannot put life on hold for 2 years.

Who knows, you might enjoy the alternative so much that you change your mind.

FNU_SNU

I am glad to say that I finally have a November date for OASC after initially being told June/July. I know things can slip to the right but didn't think it would be by so much!
Away, it doesn't matter now, I have my date, I just have to make sure i am properly prepared, have the right attitude and give 100% and I'm sure I'll be ok.

funkyt111

Pontius, thankyou for your response.

Its a shame I have to be classed as "not fully fit". I can guarentee im fitter than most people out there. I fun 6km 3 times a week with no problem at all. Im in the shape of my life. If i were to perform exceptionally well on the fitness tests, would they take this into consideration at all?

Pontius Navigator

funky, not a chance. The super-fit also die - Jim Fixx was an icon, OK he started unfit and then died aged 52. There are plenty of other cases though where actual fitness does not equate with good health.

Lots of cases where total unfitness still does not hinder one's ability to perform well for 9 hours or more.

funkyt111

Ok Pontius. Thankyou for your advice.

I suppose Ill just have to wait 2 years and apply and see what they say eh. What a pain!

ATCAdam

Hello everyone
Next year after subsequent completion of my A-Levels I intend to apply to the RAF as a direct entrant officer.However I am a little concerned over my height, after hearing that all applicants are streamed for fast jet and being 192cm is bordeline on the 6"4 limit.

As I understand it I can't apply untill I have recieved my A-levels in August of next year... how long after my inital application would I have to wait for filter interview dates and OASC? Is there an influx due to the economic climate? ( causing longer waiting times ect.)

What is the current demmand for for aircrew like? Would I be able to resolve any height queries before August 2010?

Regards

Adam

EOSM37

Good evening adam. It's good to see somebody with an ambition ask sensible questions like yours. It shows that you are serious about your future career. I wouldn't worry about how tall you are, let the experts at OASC determine whether you are too tall or not. In the mean time to give us an idea if you will fit into a cockpit of a Typhoon, why don't you ask your mum to measure your arms. If they are longer than your legs but shorter than your torso then you might be out of luck. You could of course then consider a career in the RAF Regiment or maybe another Ground Branch. If on the other hand they are shorter than your legs but longer than your torso then you sound like you will fit into a Typhoon.

Please let us know what the measurements are and we can give you a more detailed explanation.
Good luck and let us have those numbers soon.

BUPA

Hi Adam,

1. Current ‘size’ restrictions for Pilot are as follows;

Functional reach (FLAT back to thumbs) – 720mm Min
Sitting height – 865-990mm
Buttock-knee – 660mm Max
Buttock-heel – 1000-1200mm

Pretty hard to get accurate measurements with a tape measure, but it will give you some idea. Weapon Systems Officer measurements are slightly different.

2. You can apply before you get your a-level results (age dependant), and potentially get an offer pending acceptable results. A friend of mine actually started IOT in July when results were published in August. I believe this is a rare exception.

3. The timeline for application varies depending on the time of year you apply, which AFCO you use, and loads of other variables, etc etc. Filter dates can come pretty quickly, and it’s the filter-to-OASC date that can be the long haul (weeks to months). And yes, there is an influx of applications due to the ‘economic climate.’ Don’t let this put you off – if you’re good enough you’ll be OK. It has however lead to a vast number of branches being closed due to over subscription, although this will keep changing, and pilot, I imagine, will be open indefinitely.

Hope this helps,

PS: Try using spell check

Aerouk

Bupa beat me to it, it's not your height thats the problem it deppends on other measurements as shown above.

Pontius Navigator

The other problem is your age. Not your age as such but that you may not have stopped growing. 17-18 is about the earliest and you may have just got to that point but equally you might grow some more as late as 21.

In other words an answer now may be different next year.

Thick Blue Line

A mate of mine is applying for an officer role in RAF, he's been told he will have to do a mile and a half run in under 12 minutes and to practice press ups/sit ups for the preliminary fitness test.

They gave him no further detail than that and the RAF website doesn't seem to offer much more.

Anyone been through the preliminary fitness test recently and know what to expect?

Apologies if this is answered elsewhere, I did look but couldn't find!

Its much friendlier on here than the other wannabe forum by the way!

Wader2

Seems pretty clear. Get running fit; do pressups and situps. As a young man we would be looking for a reasonably high level of fitness. For pressups the figure for a 17-29 year old would be 20-39 in a minute and situps 35-40.

Before you go oof, excellent would be 60+ and 55+ respectively. You can find the full tables on the RAF web site through our friend Google.

Edited to add:

With the help of a friendly PTI I found the details buried in an intranet P Ed document.

Your "mate" may also like to check his BMI and ensure he is in the green zone.

Thick Blue Line

Thankyou kindly, I'll pass that on to him.

stegriff

Hi guys...

I am new to PPRuNe and this is my opening post. I have read at length through the threads and they are invaluable in terms of information that you can acquire. I am now collating a list to prepare for OASC. I am due to attend on the 15th of December. I don’t want to fish for answers or be told the way in which to revise. I would just like to have a bit of guidance from more experienced members of the forum, who have knowledgeable information of OASC from a first hand or similar situation. So far I have looked at.....

The terminology and abbreviations of the RAF (BFJT, EFT, MELIN, DHTS etc)
Stations and Sqns (including all OCU and training Sqns)
The Training pipeline for my chosen branches example...

Fast-jet being...

• IOT 30 weeks
• 6 week CCGS course
• EFT, Tutor RAF Cranwell 16R sqn. 26 weeks 62 hours
• Streamed fast jet
• BFJT, tucano RAF Linton-On-Ouse 72R Sqn and 207R Sqn 40 weeks 124 hours.
• Wings
• AFJT, RAF Valley 208R Sqn 28 weeks, 70 hours.
• TWU, RAF Valley 19R Sqn 16 weeks 45 hours.
• Possibility of being creamed off or going on to an OCU.
• Example...
• 15R Sqn RAF Lossiemouth tornado GR4 etc..

This is just an example of how I know the training for each section of my chosen branches. For pilot I have revised all the different variants such as fast jet (as above) Multi Engine and Rotary. I have also done the same for WSO and WSOp.

Current Equipment
Future Equipment
Current deployments, Operations and detachments
Branch Training
Branch Roles
Branch progression
When the RAF was formed and why
RAF Motto
Role of the RAF and Airpower
MOD/RAF mission and Vision
CAS (Sir Stephen Dalton) and CinCs

Nato, When Why and Where questions

Current affairs 6 UK topics and 6 International topics.

However this is just a brief list that I trust will be evaluated and your feed back will be deeply valued. Along side this I am also training hard to achieve deep blue scoring on all fitness areas. Also practicing Speed Distance Time calculations to base 60 and working on my basic mental arithmetic, any advice and suggestion would be noted and taken on board.

Thanks

airborne_artist

Here's my top tip - read the OASC thread - it's a sticky on the top of this forum. Threads/forums on studentroom.co.uk may also help.

stegriff

thanks, Is the infomation upto date on OASC as i understand there have been alot of changes recently?

Pontius Navigator

SG, that list will be good enough. As for the accuracy of the sticky, where things are changing it is inevitable that there will be differences between the offical information and what is on a public and 'unmoderated' forum (Unmodrated in the sense that it is unofficial).

In broad detail the advice there will be 99% accurate. As for that last 1%, I can assure you that even amongst those in the system there will be difference of opinion or understanding of the latest details.

stegriff

Thanks PN, i have a little more to add to the list but you get the idea of what sort of heading i have in term of revision. I have been searching the thread to find out what sort of questions i would be likely to expect from the SDT questions? Whats sort of level of maths to expect? I have done a little revision...

www.thatquiz.org/ and www.speeddistancetime.info/oasc.php for basic maths and SDT revision. Are these sites of the correct standard?

Sam TC

For officer, at OASC the minimum standards are level 9.10 on the bleep test. More than 20 press-ups in a minute, and more than 35 sit ups in a minute. The 1.5 mile run is conducted at the IOT familiarisation and is timed so they can sort everyone into differnet fitness groups, group 1 being the fittest guys, group 2 less so, etc. But getting as fit as possible before hand is obviously the best way to go about it.
Hope this was helpful

BUPA

Hi Stegriff.

I got back from OASC recently (having passed :oD…now the long wait). I was totally surprised by my interview as there was very little on the RAF, compared to what I had been told and revised. This was the norm for the rest of my board, even with varying branches and boarding officers.

I had;
0 future capabilities,
0 “what does this aircraft do and where is it based”
0 overseas bases,

Had a lot on Pilot/WSO training and IOT, as well as NATO and current affairs. They seemed to be much more interested in Me as an individual, what I had done, etc, etc, and not how much I could cram in the weeks leading up to OASC.

Although, I am in no way saying scrap the current revision, just giving you a heads up. Ultimately, the more you know about the RAF as a whole, the more detail you can weave into answers, thereby indirectly demonstrating you knowledge. Good for ‘brownie points.’

Good luck, and enjoy OASC – it was awesome!

BUPA