Right, this has gone onlong enough now. Alexrey, you are not going to be a pilot in the RAF. You have been told this more than once. You say you have spent your time trying to gain a more competitive CV to bring to the RAF... you DO NOT need a degree to join as a pilot. Once you have the GCSEs and A-levels, (or equivalents) it is your performance at OASC which determines your competitiveness. Had you made contact when you first decided that this is what you wanted to do then you would have been told that, along with the residency requirements. You say you will continue to try and contactthe RAF... you should have done this YEARS ago! You were told to do it when you first posted yet you STILL haven't! The RAF will not give you a chance; you have already been given the reason why.

I am sorry to have to beharsh with you (again) but this is the truth of the matter. Other officer roleswould still be open to you once you have satisfied the residency requirement.

Some other, but not all, officer roles would still be open to you once you have satisfied the residency requirement.

And one other point, you have not stated that you have the minimum GCSE/A-level equivalent grades. A degree in Rocket Science does not exempt a candidate from even the 5 GCSE including English and Maths.

PN

Thank you for making that clear.

PN

A good point - often overlooked.

At the end of the day it is the Basics that count!!

Thanks for your help guys and I apologize for wasting your time. I know I sounded like a cocky little prick who was better than everybody else in that last post but that was not my intention, sorry I guess I was trying to sell myself too much.

Cheers.

Alex, you have done it again. You have ignored the hints regarding when and why and how longb you have wanted to join the RAF.

You have ducked the issue about your basic educational qualifications. I don't know their equivalences but I am sure OneFifty does.

The point about degrees and life-style choices has been made several times earlier in this thread. The chances of any one applicant being accepted as an officer candidate are vanishingly small - you see that was true of pilot candidates that were made redundant before completing training.

The RAF actually prefers a mix of pre-university and graduates. The former tend to be younger, more flexible, have greater potential for development, and are in the system longer before age 30 with excellent chances of promotion. Your graduate on the other hand should have gained valuable life skills and had more opportunities to prove or improve leadership and skills. The advice though was that the actual degree did not matter and a candidate would have better chosen a course with a view to a career outside the RAF lest they fail to be selected.

Other things you have not questioned are your fitness levels, medical fitness and your body build. Your legs may be too long; your arms too short; you may be outside the weight range. Can you swim, run etc etc.

I think if I was his IOT Flt Cdr I would heve recommended his re-course by now!

Alexrey

At your age I was on my second Squadron flying Senior Government Ministers on a tour of Caribbean Islands.

Well, somebody had to do it!!

Having had my curiosity piqued by all this discussion of residency requirements, without going into detail I had a quick look online.

Whilst the website states the need for a 3 year residency, the official line is that for higher clearances you will need to have been resident for at least 5 years and for some clearances 10 years. Furthermore, the security considerations of some of the more sensitive posts, for example FJ QWI or tactics posts, might well require an individual to be a UK National rather than just a British Citizen.

Whilst it is possible to come in under those limits, as the concepts of loyalty and trustworthyness are not necessarily linked to nationality - as politicians demonstrate on a regular basis - it is difficult to do so, especially if an individual is not from one of the '5 Eyes Nations' and this will likely add further time and hoops to be jumped through. Furthermore, if the selection boards think there may well be security clearance issues further down the line that might restrict an individual to being able to carry out only limited, basic duties, they might see it as a limiting factor in terms of employability and career progression and as such would likely look elsewhere for individuals that could be employed in the full range of rolls.

Alexrey

Some of the language you use in your Posts will not endear you to those who oversee the Selection Process.

As a matter of interest, I picked this up from another thread and it is germane to the recent discussions here.

The South African Air Force (SAAF) is hopeful that the pilots of its Gripen fighters will be granted significantly more flying hours during the financial year, which started on April 1.
SAAF director: force preparation Major-General Tsoku Khumalo indicated that the target was for 180 flying hours yearly, starting from 2012/13.
Speaking to South African journalists at Sweden's Ronneby Air Force Base (AFB) on Tuesday, he said the increase in flying hours was needed to maintain "currency in piloting your aircraft".
"You can't sacrifice the hours you need to maintain currency."
"It's our job to protect our sovereignty. We've got the capability, we've got the equipment and we've got the people," he affirmed, adding that a key target would be to deal with the Somali piracy threat off Africa’s east coast.
SAAF Gripens have already carried out antipiracy reconnaissance missions. The fighters can fly from their base, AFB Makhado, to the middle of the Mozambique channel and back, without having to refuel.
More generally, the SAAF wants to increase the number of youngsters it trains as pilots, for all "lines" (in air force jargon – fighter, transport and helicopter), every year. As some of the Gripen's systems are still undergoing operational test and evaluation, the number of pilots converted on to the new fighter will remain limited until this process is completed.

Pontius, I think that, between the lines, Alexray is hinting that he didn't feel he had a future in the SAAF. I would sympathise with him. The government in South Africa today, behind the scenes, would like nothing more than to remove any faces from positions of importance and power that it doesn't see as fitting it's ethnic profile. Such positions usually go to friends, relatives of those holding the reigns of power, and to those whose political party-affiliations are liable to favour the 'ruling class'. Ability to do the job effectively is not a high requirement.

Just to the north of SA, one only has to look at Zimbabwe to see what disasters that sort of thinking generated.

I don't think that Alexray ever understood that it was not a question of "signing on the dotted line" at OASC - rather that it would be an in-depth assessment of suitability for Aircrew training and suitability to be awarded a Commission.

Interview in sight
 

Thanks for all the info in this thread, took some time to get through but in there some really good stuff! Off to Cranwell next month for oasc very excited :ok:

Amy, looking for ATC or Fighter Control?

Pilot Branch
 

Could anyone cast more light on the current age limit for Joining as a pilot.

I'm currently serving as an airman.

Mozza,

Before your 26th birthday.

Fighter Control hasn't existed for a number of years, PN!

ATC,

Fighter Control is now Airspace Battle Mgt that looks ridiculously hardcore!!

OSB(ATC) and ABM are soon to be one in the same. Might be worth looking into that in case you get to OASC part 2!