The Student Room Group

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Reply 1
Pro's - You are an RAF Pilot
Con's - You are an RAF pilot

As with any trade/branch in the RAF, it really is what you make it.

Just remember, it's better than working for a living!
Reply 2
Well what good points can you think of that specifically relate to being a pilot? I can think of lots of bad points personally.

TonyL does have a point that your job is what you make of it, but you often don't have a choice.
Reply 3
but i suppose RAF pilot is still a job..
I don't think weighing up the pro's and con's really works. If the pro's don't outweigh the con's, regardless of what the con's are, then it probably isn't the job for you. I don't really recall any aircrew that had made a measured decision, they just wanted to be RAF aircrew regardless. With enough of those types of people applying, they will always out-succeed anyone who is just there on purely the basis of a pragmatic, reasoned judgement. If there are cons that really matter to you, like time away from home, degree of risk etc, then go for the Airlines.

Having said that, I suppose the major con's all revolve around the operational tempo, large periods of time spent on deployments, the relative instability of family life, the lack of genuine control over your career path, the erosion of benefits etc.
Reply 5
Depends on which stream you get, but certainly FJ pilots on Tornados/Typhoons etc will be the ones directly pressing 'the big red button' as it were and dropping big payloads of explosive on to real living people with the intent of making them... well, no longer living. Not something everyone would like to have on their conscience.

For multi-engine I'd imagine that flying big, slow transports full of ration packs back and forth between here and the middle east day-in day-out may become a bit of a drag, and in rotary you've got all the SAR and troop transport aspects, so it's not just your life that hinges on your flying skill, it may well be the squad of troops in the back or a stranded sailor to.
Reply 6
if you can find any cons about being an RAF pilot then i suggest you dont become one. its the best job in the world BAR NONE in my opinion. if you qualify as fast jet pilot you are one of only 5 people a year to qualify and you know you are head and shoulders above the rest of the population.

St3llafella
CKinnerley
Depends on which stream you get, but certainly FJ pilots on Tornados/Typhoons etc will be the ones directly pressing 'the big red button' as it were and dropping big payloads of explosive on to real living people with the intent of making them... well, no longer living. Not something everyone would like to have on their conscience.

For multi-engine I'd imagine that flying big, slow transports full of ration packs back and forth between here and the middle east day-in day-out may become a bit of a drag,



Except for those flying big, slow transports full of 96 maroon beret'd killing machines who jump out with every intent of killing living people. You kind of need to drop them the other side of the lines to make them effective. Then once they are there, that's where the ration packs, fuel and ammo resupply needs to go to!
Reply 8
st3llafella
if you qualify as fast jet pilot you are one of only 5 people a year to qualify


Wow, the chop rate on 19(R) must be worse than I thought...! :wink:

Having said that, I don't think it's a *bad* thing, per se, to be considering the downsides of a career in airframe bending; it's just that you might well find that for most people it's not so much a rational decision as a 'gut feeling' that they want to be in the RAF as aircrew. To be honest, I've thought myself about the downsides, ranging from the general rubbish food in messes at the weekends to having Johnny Foreigner trying to shoot me down with something more dangerous than a sharpened mango. All that aside, however, there's no doubt in my mind, at least, about what I want to do.

As long as you go into it with an awareness of what's involved -- and don't suddenly freak out when someone tells you to drop instant diplomacy on people, or when someone decides to lob a few mortars at you in your sleep -- then you'll probably find that you won't worry too much about the downsides. That's my hope, anyway...
Reply 9
** correction i now believe its 45 person a year get FJ pilot. thanks for that Anonystude.
Reply 10
threeportdrift
Except for those flying big, slow transports full of 96 maroon beret'd killing machines who jump out with every intent of killing living people. You kind of need to drop them the other side of the lines to make them effective. Then once they are there, that's where the ration packs, fuel and ammo resupply needs to go to!

Yes, quite right, unfortunately I didn't think of that until a few minutes after getting up from the computer. I just mentioned the supplies aspect because that tends to be the impression you get of what planes like the C-130 are mostly used for at the moment, rather than dropping paratroops; they may well be doing that of course, but it's not been in any news I've seen to be honest. The other train of thought was that it's a bit less direct from the pilots point of view if the paratrooper he drops shoots an insurgent, compared to the bloke in a Harrier pressing the bomb release button at any rate.
Reply 11
You might get shot down.
Reply 12
-=/-\=-
You might get shot down.


...have your iPod callously snatched away and be forced to wear an imitation designer suit on your release 15 days later. Seriously, who'd risk it.
Reply 13
TheChances
...have your iPod callously snatched away and be forced to wear an imitation designer suit on your release 15 days later. Seriously, who'd risk it.

lol, that too :rolleyes:
threeportdrift

Having said that, I suppose the major con's all revolve around the operational tempo, large periods of time spent on deployments, the relative instability of family life, the lack of genuine control over your career path, the erosion of benefits etc.

Those are the main ones. Lack of co-location being another big one. Makes you wonder...
Reply 15
Bad point- Your in the RAF :broken:

Already got my coat and the taxis waiting:top:
Reply 16
if you can honestly think of bad points to being an RAF Pilot, that you are serious about, don't apply!!
Reply 17
joey123
if you can honestly think of bad points to being an RAF Pilot, that you are serious about, don't apply!!


Little harsh. At the end of the day, every job has its negative points. These points are, in the main, personal opinions as they relate to the individual concerned and their individual responsibilities and their outlook on life.

Military service is all about achieving an acceptable balance. As long as you experience more pros than cons then it will all be worth it.
The only con i can seriously think of, being a serving aircrew member, is the possibility that perhaps you might give up what you have to enter years of training that somewhere down the line you may find you're not actually good enough to complete. I don't think i'd risk going through IOT, EFT and the rest, just to find at the end of it that i'm just not cut out for it.
joey123
if you can honestly think of bad points to being an RAF Pilot, that you are serious about, don't apply!!

Oh please. Every job has bad points and if you know enough about the job to know the bad points (and there are many) and still want to join then it's a much better approach to have. If you can sit there thinking there are no bad points to being in the RAF then maybe you should do some more research and talk to people in the job.