RN Aircrew

[Lofty]

Hello to all - new to this, so please bare with me!

I'm currently just going into my final year at Uni, and wish to enter the RN as aircrew.

I've wanted pilot since year 0, so naturally i've followed the RAF route. Trouble is, i'm 6'6", and the medical board at Cranwell PMU'd me for being able to fit into Rotary and Multi-engine aircraft, but NOT fast-jet. Even though i done very well on the aptitude tests.

Spent 8 years in air cadets and just coming into my 4th year at Liverpool University Air Squadron.

I've spoken to a few Navy pilots i know, and they think the height would not be a problem.

Would appreciate any advice or opinions (good or bad!) from you people out in the real world, about the height stuff!!

Thanks for your time. Cheers.

[Dmanton300]

Hello to all - new to this, so please bare with me!

I'm currently just going into my final year at Uni, and wish to enter the RN as aircrew.

I've wanted pilot since year 0, so naturally i've followed the RAF route. Trouble is, i'm 6'6", and the medical board at Cranwell PMU'd me for being able to fit into Rotary and Multi-engine aircraft, but NOT fast-jet. Even though i done very well on the aptitude tests.

Spent 8 years in air cadets and just coming into my 4th year at Liverpool University Air Squadron.

I've spoken to a few Navy pilots i know, and they think the height would not be a problem.

Would appreciate any advice or opinions (good or bad!) from you people out in the real world, about the height stuff!!

Thanks for your time. Cheers.

Where is your height? Is it all in your legs or more in the torso? Hip to knee distance is the biggie, as if this is too great your lower legs wouldn't clear the control panel in the event of ejection, which would be messy to say the least. I think you'd fit into a Hawk okay, and probably a Tucano, but the SHAR cockpit is pretty snug, you may be on the limit even with the seat at it's lowest point on the rails.

I would guess that being 6'6" puts you somewhere over the 95th percentile, and to be brutal fighter cockpits simply don't tend to be made with *that* much variation, I remember the story of a Lightning pilot who was 6'4" and had to fight to be allowed to fly fast jets - and even then he joked that the only way he fitted was to force the canopy down over his head and weld it in place! A joke, but it gets the point across. Not sure what the space will be like in the JSF, probably Lockheed doesn't even know that yet!

I'm 6'4" and sat in an A-4 Skyhawk cockpit a couple years back, and I'm quite sure I could never have flown that aircraft with my height . . . I'm not sure how the seat was adjusted but my knees were *above* the level of the top of the stick! And this was the big cockpit A-4M model, whose cockpit dimensions are roughly analogous to the SHARs.

It's one of those sad things that physiologically speaking short stocky men (and women) are better suited to fighter cockpits, and have a tendency to better G tolerance due to their build , and taller fighter pilots always get mentioned due to their height. . . there is one F/A-18 pilot with the USMC, if I remember rightly his call sign is, predictably "Tiny", and he's an absolute monster, something like 6'4" - 6'5" and built like a brick outhouse, but he's very much the exception.

By all means fight for that fighter cockpit if you want it that bad, but be prepared that it may just not be for you. Then switch to rotary wing, where the REAL fun lies! I have it on good authority that 100 knots at 10 feet in a helicopter gets the adrenaline going quicker than 700 knots at 10,000 feet in a Harrier!

[sp10122]

6ft 6 is mightily tall but unless you attend an RN aircrew medical you won't know. You need to speak to your careers officer, they'll be able to give you more direction on the exact requirements.

I'm AAC and we have a guy whose about 6ft 5 and huge but we're not considered for fast jet. I was told I was the ideal size for Harrier (5ft 6), out of interest, because, as D Manton said, the key thing is the thigh length as you'd lose you're knee caps if your legs are too long and you eject.

Helis......you've got bags of room, especially in Sea King but also Lynx has a sizeable cockpit. You've got Merlin which is massive so size in helis wouldn't be such a problem.

Finally I must say that all of the RN Pilots I know I've been thoroughly impressed by....thoroughly nice chaps and I would reccomend them to anyone.

Whatever you decide to do best of luck




PS Have you thought about the Army at all?

[rabby]

Whoohoo! I'm 5ft 6in . Must be a calling, in a few years after uni I'm becoming a pilot, I'm perfect, they can't turn me down.

[Lofty]

Thanks for your comments.

I'd be quite happy to go directly to Rotary. I pretty much have known from the start that fast-jet is out of the question. Has anyone heard of any similar situations where aircrew of around my height have gone direct to rotary?

Thanks again.

[rawli]

rabby if you aim to join 'a few years after uni' then you will be too old to be a pilot!

[rabby]

No no, I must re-phrase, in a few years when I will be finished uni is what that should have read.
I reckon I can get my stuff up scratch by then, I went to AFCO last year and wanted to be a pilot, they practically laughed at me so I might try again when uni is finished.

[rawli]

I hear a lot of people say that the staff at their AFCO laugh at them when they say that they want to be pilots. Why?! I went in, said I wanted to be a pilot and I have ended up with a pilot scholarship! Why did them laughing at you put you off? Was it RAF or RN you went to see?

[rabby]

Maybe it was because I had a bit of a deprived childhood. I never went to Air Cadets or anything like that, never did anything with the school that stood out from the crowd (such as school captain, played for rugby team, joined clubs and all that type of thing) and so never got any certificates of achievment or anything like that. So as far they are concerened I have done nothing whereas many others have done all these things, got Duke of Edinborough awards and all these type of things.
This was for RAF, I would think RN would be looking for similar strengths ina person.

[Lofty]

You'll be very surprised Rabby!!

All the RN pilots i've spoke to in the bar seem more concerned with getting pissed. They are of the opinion that Fleet Air Arm are generally more laid-back in most respects compared with RAF guys.

I can certainley vouch for that, as it seems that only me and the RN guys are left in the bar after all of my RAF instructors have gone home!!

[jlitt]

My aquaint at Culdrose certainly opened my eyes! First brief "right lads I expect to see you in the bar later, this is not a test we do'nt watch how much you drink (I could'nt work out if they wanted to see if you were alkies or lightweights?)
Last night, after the bar closed acouple of officers got the keys to the late bar in the pool room (like a mini-bar in a hotel but bigger) we gave them some money and they said we couldnt leave until it was empty!
Bacon and egg butties and beer courtasy of redruth station the next morning (hanovers all round)- Phone your ACLO and say get me a POAC!
Tis great fun, after all the lectures in the day the best source of information is the guys in the bar- they tell it like it really is.
I can say that the guys in the bar at Culdrose were alot more open than the guys ay RAF place where you do the FAT's hmm will remember the name in a minute up in lincon area

[jlitt]

One story told in the bar was that a harrier got lost (FAA never) and low on fuel landed on a spanish merchant (Ship). And if an RAF harrier did this the guy would end up court martialed. Thats the difference between the RAF and the FAA I was told

[hooyah21]

Hi, am new to the site and looking for info to GET ME selected. Have been doing loads of PT stuff but know little about the brain side of it - any advice on sites, books, what I should be practicing on? like to work on the old forward planning