Ok, I need some cold, hard and honest opinions...

[harry hackedoff]

I did
Still didn`t join the crabs mind

Chocks away, Ginger

[Long Timer]

I am extremely fit and show great leadership skills

Well that counts you out as a pilot then.

[Skiddywinks]

^ If that's a joke, I don't get it >_>

If not, explain :p

[Long Timer]

^ If that's a joke, I don't get it >_>

If not, explain :p

Well half and half I suppose. Pilots aren't particularly well know for their 'great' leadership skills, especially those at the top.

And fitness, apparently, is bad; something to do with increased G-force effects etc. Or that's what they used to tell me when I suggested they might like to get down the Gym

[Skiddywinks]

Oooooh, interesting. I can see how maybe they have a point there, but surely a healthier body would be able to take the G's easier, and therefore leave less chance of injury etc?

Who knows. Maybe they were just making it up to cover their asses!

[Hyperlithe]

Nope, apparently the hyper-fit ones suffer worse from the effects, helps to have a little bit of body fat for protection.

There are scientific reasons behind it, but not sure half the pilots who use it as an excuse know what they are!

[Skiddywinks]

Wow, that's interesting. I think I might do some research on it!

[Skiddywinks]

Oh yeh, I also forgot to ask something else. On the RAF website, and in all the leaflets etc that I have read, it states that 2 passes at A-Level are required for Pilot. However, I heard off someone from the forces that to be a Jet pilot you need 3, and 2 gets you the requirements for everything else.

Is there any truth to this? What about helicopters, specifically attack ones?

[Hyperlithe]

To be honest I hadn't heard that, but if you've got 2 guys stood in front of you with equal aptitude scores, fitness etc. and one's got 2 A-levels and the other has 3, which would you pick?

Always do the best you can, purely out of personal pride, and don't worry about the requirements for the job. If they want you, you'll get in.

You don't get taken on as a jet pilot, or a helicopter pilot, you join up as a pilot, go through a certain amount of training and then streamed according to your ability. So I can't see how the OASC board would differentiate on the educational requirements...

Good luck!

[Skiddywinks]

Cheers. To be honest, I was expecting to hear much worse things. Like grades would barely scrape it and wouldn't be enough to get me a fighting chance etc

But after reading some of these posts I get the impression it is much more down to what they think of me, and not my grades. Unless it's the only factor they can differentiate on ofcourse.

So do you get any choice in what you want to fly then? Is it just a "You fly this" job, or is it a "You can fly this, this and this, and we think you would be best with this. What do you think?" kind of thing?

Thanks for the continued help guys! Especially you Hyperlithe

[Hyperlithe]

From my trade, you get to express a preference, which is taken into account along with your performance in training, exam results, and personal attributes etc. to decide what to put you forward for.
I would guess it's much the same for pilots. You may not get exactly what you want, but you will end up enjoying whatever you do get!

[Skiddywinks]

Ahh, thanks for the info. Sounds fair I guess. So I assume they can say no for certain things, if they feel you are not up to the standards, but otherwise you do get to have some sort of a say?

Damn, can't wait now. I was in Army Cadets for a while (joined too late really so it was VERY unstimulating etc) but I have to say, I did enjoy marching around and feeling big and proud. Flying something would be even better!

I'm looking at probably flying Helicopters really. It's quite likely my arms and/or legs are too long for jets. I guess I won't know until I get there, but I haven't got my hopes up -_-

[Skiddywinks]

Oh, and another question;

What are the tattoo regulations? I'm not exactly covered in them (only got one) but just incase I see one I like, I would rather know if it's going to cause problems.

[Fwd 5]

I'm not a pilot but I do spend a large part of my working day sitting two feet behind two of them, so may I clear up a couple of your misconceptions.

There are no extra qualifications required for fast jet pilots and similarly the arm/leg measurement limits apply to all pilot applicants.
All pilots are basically recruited to be fast jet pilots and are then sent to rotary or to multis if they are not considered good enough. This is a bit of a generalisation and there are exceptions but thats basically how it works, you certainly cannot join the RAF to be a rotary pilot.

The Air Force does not fly attack helicopters, these belong to the Army Air Corps.

I'm no expert on G but fatties handling it better sounds like utter b*llocks to me. Its all to do with using your muscles to control the flow of blood to your limbs so short muscular types are what's needed. I understand that if you buy an F16 you get a multigym as part of the deal in order to sort out your pilots fitness. This could be more b*llocks though as it doesn't concern me, if you pull more than a couple of G in my cab bits fall off it.

[Skiddywinks]

Thanks for the info Fwd, has helped answer some questions! I tend to come up with almost 5 a week -_-

One I do have is this:
If I apply to the RAF, get in etc, but I am deemed to have arms too long enough (for example) and cannot fly a fast jet, does that mean I am then stuck and have to fly SOMETHING in the RAF? I'm assuming the summary comes after a lot of training, so I find it hard to believe they would let me off to, say, join the Army Air Corps instead?