University Air Squadron FAQ (WIP)

Original post by rededdy

If you are already a member of the bursary scheme DTUS (defence technical undergraduate scheme), which is designed only for candidates wanting to be engineering or logistics officers within the RAF, is it possible to switch to UAS? I want to do this as I now want to apply to be a pilot in the RAF instead of an engineering officer. I have passed OASC (with only the engineer aptitude tests) and I was sponsored through college to be an engineer, and I am about to start university as part of DTUS. Do you know of anyone that has switched from DTUS to UAS? and will it require me to pay money back if they have paid me in college, even if I still want to join the RAF but as a pilot instead?

You're going to have to talk to your DTUS people. You have, essentially, gotten yourself a into a contract with them, so getting out and doing something else isn't going to be without some complications.

Certainly unlikely to get the sponsorship changed from Eng to Pilot, especially as the Eng schol is worth 4 times that of a Pilot schol, iirc.

Reply 803

AlistairH

6

Original post by Norwegian_fish

I hope this is useful to those interested in joining EMUAS.

From which universities does EMUAS recruit from?
EMUAS recruits from the following institutions:

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The University of Nottingham

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Nottingham Trent University

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Loughborough University

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The University of Lincoln

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De Montfort University

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The University of Leicester

How do I join EMUAS?
Find the EMUAS stand at your freshers' fayre and speak to an EMUAS member who will explain and process your application.

EMUAS will not be present at the De Montfort University freshers' fayre, but students from De Montfort University are still welcome to apply. Students from De Montfort University should contact the EMUAS adjutant directly to open an application.

EMUAS will be at the following freshers' fayres and dates:

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The University of Leicester - 16th Sept

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The University of Nottingham - 22nd & 23rd Sept

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Nottingham Trent University - 25th Sept

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The University of Leicester - 29th & 30th Sept

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Loughborough University - 4th & 5th Oct

Further information on EMUAS can be found at http://www.emuas.co.uk

Great, thanks! I've been waiting to see when you're at Loughborough for a while. I may well see you there.

Reply 804

SuperMeg

Just wondering, is there any additional cost that the student has to pay for the flight training? Also when you say it 'contributes' to a PPL, how much does it contribute? Would you finish your four year degree WITH a PPL or would you have to continue the training, funding it yourself? Thank you! :smile:

Reply 805

Norwegian_fish

3

Original post by SuperMeg

Just wondering, is there any additional cost that the student has to pay for the flight training? Also when you say it 'contributes' to a PPL, how much does it contribute? Would you finish your four year degree WITH a PPL or would you have to continue the training, funding it yourself? Thank you! :smile:

In case you weren't aware, a pilot in the military requires no civilian qualifications to fly a military aircraft during a military sortie. As a result of this, few military pilots hold a PPL.

No part of the UAS flying training syllabus is specifically geared towards the student obtaining civilian aviation qualifications.

It is possible to use flying experience from the UAS flying training system to contribute to obtaining a PPL, but there's no official route to doing this, and few UAS students pursue a PPL.

The flying training offered by the UAS is free of charge.

Reply 806

Original post by SuperMeg

Just wondering, is there any additional cost that the student has to pay for the flight training? Also when you say it 'contributes' to a PPL, how much does it contribute? Would you finish your four year degree WITH a PPL or would you have to continue the training, funding it yourself? Thank you! :smile:

You'll have to pay in order to get to the flying station (but you'll be able to apply for that to be reimbursed afterwards), but that's it.

I believe it's the 'experience' part of the PPL it can be used for? In the grand scheme of things, that's a very small portion of it and not worth it.

It's also worth pointing out that the training you'll receive to fly a plane the military way is different to the training you'd receive to fly a plane the civilian way.
The only people who'll walk away from graduation with a PPL (if they didn't have one already) are those doing degree courses "with Pilot Studies". I had a few guys doing courses like that on my UAS and they spoke occasionally of how it was hard to try and mentally accommodate two different ways of flying.

Reply 807

Fritz Bollinger

5

Depending on how much flying you do, you can pretty much get all the flying you need for a PPL (or NPPL) from the UAS - as a QFI I've flown a few dual cross countries before sending them of for the solo PPL x-country (irony: I don't have a PPL). That said, you'll have to be pretty committed, patient, and fork out for the ground exams and skills test. Complete the basic UAS syllabus (32hrs) and you open up the "value added" elements that would cost a fortune on civvy street (spinning/aerobatics, formation, advanced - low level - navigation).

As long as it's properly logged and certified by the UAS OC or CFI, it all counts.

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Reply 808

AlistairH

6

Just wondering how everyone else who's applying this year is doing? I was given the unfortunate news of being medically unfit, so am a little dissapointed (to say the least!), but interested in how others are doing. Anyone get to interview?

Reply 809

Just had my interview at UBAS. Went well but I was slightly off the mark for the beep test but passed on press ups and sit ups. I am very worried this will affect my application- and I don't know I can massively improve upon my score because I can't go to the gym and am committed to my degree.
Can anyone advise?
Thanks
Sam Leather

Reply 810

Original post by Sleather

Just had my interview at UBAS. Went well but I was slightly off the mark for the beep test but passed on press ups and sit ups. I am very worried this will affect my application- and I don't know I can massively improve upon my score because I can't go to the gym and am committed to my degree.
Can anyone advise?
Thanks
Sam Leather

Not really. UAS' are relatively free to impose their own standards/strictness, so you'll just have to wait and see.

But that reasoning is balls, by the way. Being committed to a degree is fine, but if you haven't got time for 30mins of exercise a few times a week then how the hell were you planning on fitting in being on the UAS in the first place?

Reply 811

maxice

Original post by Sleather

Just had my interview at UBAS. Went well but I was slightly off the mark for the beep test but passed on press ups and sit ups. I am very worried this will affect my application- and I don't know I can massively improve upon my score because I can't go to the gym and am committed to my degree.
Can anyone advise?
Thanks
Sam Leather

Hi Sam,

The only definite way to know if it will affect your application is to wait and see what UBAS say. (Drewski beat me to it!)
I'm a third year on a different UAS, so I admit straight away that I don't know exactly how UBAS works. However, I can impart some generic UAS advice.

Firstly the fitness test is the RAF standard test. We all have to pass it at least every 6 months, and often end up doing it more regularly.
If you're so committed to your degree that that you can't find time to maintain the necessary level of fitness, it raises the question of whether you'll be able to find enough time for the UAS to be worthwhile for you, and indeed whether being on the UAS would jeopardise you getting a good degree at the end of uni!

Secondly, leading on from the above, the UAS is quite a time consuming activity.
Don't get me wrong, being committed to your degree is a good thing (it's why we've all come to uni after all!!), but there are evening town nights and weekend inductions with the UAS, all of which are compulsory.
In addition, as you spend longer on the UAS, higher demands are made of you, ranging from presentations in front of the rest of the squadron on a town night to organising force development trips overseas! As you can imagine these take a lot of planning and work, and that's on top of your degree!

However, putting the time constraints to one side, some advice for the fitness:

For the bleep test you don't need to go to the gym, there's no reason you can't find (or just mark out) two points 20m apart and practise shuttle runs between them (I use a two trees in a local park for my shuttle run practise). The Bleep Test audio (mp3) is available for free all over the internet.

Any more questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 812

I had my interview today at UBAS. Went well but I was slightly off what was said to be the minimum on the beep test yet I got the requirements for press ups and sit ups on fitness. Will this affect my application massively? and how can improve upon my score since my time at the moment is based around unit work and I can't go to the gym.

Thanks
Sam Leather

Reply 813

Unfortunately I wasn't selected from the interview stage- mostly due to fitness. Really cheesed off about it but some people said the UASs do have a reserve list in case people drop out and such. (i'm not trying to pry off other people) I wasn't told about such a thing in the emails, but does anyone if a reserve list exists at UBAS? just curious is all.

Reply 814

Original post by Sleather

Really cheesed off about it

Well, use that as motivation to get it right next time.
20 press ups and sit ups every night. Won't take more than 10 minutes and will make passing next time an absolute doddle.

As for the reserve list, don't know, but don't count on it.

Reply 815

Just to clarify, I did get the required number of press ups and sit ups and only just missed out on the beep test. Once more a senior student there had said that that wouldn't affect my application significantly- but I suppose you can't believe everything.

Reply 816