Kiwi Recruitment
 

Having some nostalgia for New Zealand, I learned that the RNZAF is currently recruiting from the UK - in particular, pilots navs, supply officers, engineering officers, AEOps & Doctors. The deadline is 31 March 2005.

see www.airforce.mil.nz/careers/overseas/intro.htm

Good Luck!

CC

Thanks old bean . . . ..I hear there is more than a little interest from ISK at the moment. May have something to do with the recent Fincastle comp. Good luck to all those interested, at least there will be somewhere for me to holiday in the future!:cool:

... should be choice, eh bro?:cool:

A bit of a kick in the teeth for all those RNZAF aircrew who were forced out when they threw away their FJ ac just 6 years ago! Makes you wonder why, with a bit of foresight and some cross-training, they might have retained them to fulfil this requirement.

Then again, they are built on the UK model.............

Hmmmm, Retrain from single seat, multi-role fast jet to a big truck with compulsory pie eating . Think I'd rather move to the other side of the world and fly someone elses jets......Oh and many did.

Interesting....

As one who jumped ship all I can say is 'the grass isn't greener on the other side'. Gone are the glory days of the Douglas thou' dont think I could go back to NZ$50K and a CT4.

ps The disbandment of the Air Combat Force was only 3 and a bit years ago. The last A4 stopped flying at the end of last year.

For Flt Lt/Sqn Ldr aircrew it is certainly a lot more than $50k (2002 a Sqn Ldr QFI was on c $73k) ... for anyone realising assets from Oz or UK, you will get quite a lot for your money. The downside is you will all probably end up in Ohakea eventually.........

No idea what the pay is these days, but when I left in '01 as a FLTLT I was on mid 50's. Big jump up to Sqnldr (unlike the RAAF) but $73 sounds a bit high. My old CO (WGCDR) said he was on that.

Remember, no such thing as flying pay. Extra qualifications or upgrades are usually rewarded by a ROSO (interesting way to help retention), so being a 10 year QFI won't make any difference to your pay packet...infact you'll probably be on about the same as a boxstacker of the same rank but lets not go there.

On the bright side I cant think of a better place to live....Auckland from memory is rated in the worlds top 10 cities to live. If you do end up in Ohakea its only two hours drive to the Hawkes Bay (vino country) or Wellington (pseudo large city) and it really ain't that bad...ok it is, but its bloody Ibetha compared to Scotland.

If your looking for a lifestyle move then its a pretty good one....in fact....remind me again why I left :O

(oh thats right, Comrade Helen :\ )

Correct, they are looking for a number of NCO Aircrew, and Officers in the Pilot, Nav,AEO and some ground branch categories such as Supply Officer, which I'm sure none of you whizz-kids would be interested in!

A Flt Lt Pilot on appointment is currently on $58,800, and a Sqn Ldr on appointment $76,800. Seniority would boost that no doubt.

There are still people who value the lifestyle however. There are at least two former RAF Sqn Ldrs happy enough to be part of flying training, and I gather the recent Fincastle resulted in some expressed interest in a change of scenery, though that might have been beer talking!

It was four years [and $8 Million] since Helen the Ugly did the deed, and the aircraft are still in storage. Malaysia is apparently interested in the Maachi, and the A4s, well, who knows?

Dont forget that they will be looking for NCO Aircrew of certain ranks, that is what you wil be offered so dont expect to jump straight to the top rung of the ladder...........There are no down sides to living out here that I have found and apart from the wind in Wellington its a nice place to be..........Take a holiday here you wont regret it been here 6 months and still loving the place.

So do we...:ok:

Don't tell them all though, we'll be inundated:cool:

Wind. We get breezes up to 120km/h on occasion, but apart from that, it's pretty balmy.....:ok:

during a recent storm the wind measuring equipment up on a nearby hill blew away after recoring a gust of around 180km

Anybody got any idea how much the AEOps are getting paid over there?
Just wondering...

Do they still have promotion exams? In '73 you had to take the B to confirm your entitlement to retain Flt Lt and you needed the C to get Sqn Ldr.

One deal was a 4-yr commission which essentially gave you a good kick up the housing ladder and integration into NZ society when you left.

What was wrong with Ohakea? Runway was a bit bumpy, rumour had it that they air dropped the pavement from Wellington. The mess faced north, you could walk from quarters to the mess, and crawl back. You could walk from the mess to ops and didn't need a car!

If you had a car it could be an MGA.

There's nothing wrong with Ohakea! It's location is a bit rural, but it's only two hours from Wellington! Palmerston North is a bit of a cow town, but Feilding [yes, that's correct], is closer and a very nice place to live. I bet all those ex-RAF guys live there!

The original runways of octagonal interlocking concrete blocks have long gone, and are now as smooth as they come! It was built originally to take the Wellington bombers of 75 Sqn but which were kindly turned over to the RAF. What a generous bunch we are. The Wellingtons never came to NZ by the way!

I think promotion to Sqn Ldr from Flt Lt requires prior attendance at a Junior Command and Staff College course these days. I did, but it may have changed. I wasn't invited back for the longer, senior course, for which fact I was eternally grateful.

The Mess at Ohakea, like those at Whenuapai and Wigram, was/is stock standard RAF-issue plans by the way, and identical to many on RAF Stations in the UK.

Not many MGAs around these days Pontius, more likely MX5s and BMW, plus the inevitable Holden with a stock-standard 5.7 litre V8!

"stock standard RAF-issue plans by the way, and identical to many on RAF Stations in the UK" : except they built them facing the right way, north. :)

Top Heavy!!?
 

Dont you think the RNZAF has enough Senior Officers?

51 Aircraft and 249 Senior Officers!!!! What the ....?

The RNZAF owns:
2 x 757
5 x C130 (40yrs old)
6 x P3 (40yrs old)
15 x Huey (39years old)
5 x Bell 47 (presumably for re-runs of Mash)

Total: 33 Aircraft (You can add the leased Airtrainers & KingAirs for a Grand Total of: 51)

Now, Senior Officers:

1 x Air Vice Marshall
9 x AOCs
18 x Group Captains
67 x Wing Commanders
154 x Squadron Leaders

Am I missing a trick....How can this be?

Thats not an Airforce, thats a cocktail party & warbirds club with a huge amount of paperwork!:sad:

Might be interesting ...... what are the tax rates like in NZ these days?

I wonder whether the NZDF would consider taking me back... lord knows flying a desk in Canberra can't be worse than a winter in Ohakea!

If anyone decides to go back to Ohakea and you wanna buy a house in Palmy let me know....its a first home owners dream (ie. you will hopefully have no idea what you have bought!).

:E

P.S Its walking distance to the "Aqaba" and my street only gets burgled once a week.....