aircraft technician

[iareglenn]

I was thinking of joining as a pti or an aircraft technician and i went to the afco and enquired about both, i decided on pti.
I went back and was told that if i was an aircraft technician i would still be able to do things that pti's do for example coach sport, i was just wondering if this is easy to start doing.
Also could any one tell me what a typical day for an aircraft technician is like and also how often you get to play sport, do adventurous training and travel the world when in the raf.

[splitter]

Any trade in the airforce will allow you to paticipate in your chosen sports, and you will normally get time off work to do this. If you want to teach then there are coaching courses available for most sports, so you could easily become a coach if you wanted to. As for being a technician, if you get on a tonkka sqn then you can expect to spend anything up to 9 months of the year abroard, some sh*t holes, some decent places. I'm currently at Lyneham working on Hercules, so I get to see a far bit of the world, although most of it has been hot and sandy lately, but there is still the odd States trip. As for a typical day, there is not one, I have gone into work at 0700 before now and by 1000 been on a flight to florida to fix a U/S aircraft. Anyway it's a biased view but personnally I'd go for techie every time. And we get paid more

[iareglenn]

isnt pti pay 24ooo and techie pay 14000

[iareglenn]

As an aircraft technician do you have engineering problems to solve or is that the job of the officer and then the technician gets his hands dirty and fixes it. basically im asking is the job exciting and rigourous or quite monotonous, i.e. repeating the same sort of job over and over

[splitter]

The Engineering officer is gennerally quite clueless as to how the aircraft work. The experts on the subject are the Cpl's and the Sgt's. It is them that will do all the fault diagnosis, come up with workable solutions to the problems and fix the faults. The JengO's have all the theory on the subject from their degree, but often have no practical knowlege. They can normally be found in their office doing paperwork, and signing leave passes.

[iareglenn]

how often do you get to play sport and do adventurous training?

[splitter]

If you play station level you gennerally get every wednesday afternnon off, as for adventure traing, you need to apply for them from your P Ed section, but they are relativly easy to get on and there are loads of things, from skiing to white water rafting.

[chris78290]

could any one tell me what a typical day for an aircraft technician is like.

not really but heres something similar...

http://www.rafcareers.com/jobs/job_file ... emarsh.cfm

http://www.rafcareers.com/jobs/job_file ... aughan.cfm

[iareglenn]

ive read them but they dont expain it very well

[Biggles1211]

PTIs are notoriously unable to get involved in lots of sport. If you want to coach/play sport for fun, then a techie job 'may' offer you greater opportunity.

PTIs generally fill the role of fitness instructor at the gym. When they reach substantive Cpl (rather than acting-paid cpl), they can branch into either: Adventure Training Instructor, Parachute Jump Instructor or Remedial Instructor. However, they generally work 8-5 mon to fri and can't get away for representative sport as easily as a techie who works as part of a large flight (more chance of cover) and who may work shifts (more weekday time off).

Getting involved in any additional activity in the RAF is entirely down to the individual. There are hordes of coaching courses that you can attend in a myriad of sports. Just get down the gym, make a note of what you're interested in...then go see your supervisor and ask them for permission to apply. Within reason, they will try and get you away as often as possible...although it will always depend on operational committments, availability of cover...and whether you deserve it! LOL

If you're applying for PTI, you need to be aware that it is EXTREMELY competative and requires specialist selection at RAF Cosford. Typically, they will expect you to have a CV full of sports coaching and instructing experience and qualifications. The Techie trades are also difficult to get into, but the main emphasis is your score in the selection test (emphasis on the Maths, Electrical and Mechanical Comprehension modules) along with any relevant experience you have in techie stuff (qualifications, work experience, hobbies or employment within a simular field of engineering/mechanics).

Your best bet is to get yourself down to your local AFCO and speak to the RAF staff there....