RAF : Officer / Pilot Entry

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sublime_envy

right got a call from the squadron, they want me on board but can take me as with the course I'm doing I will be too old by a month when I finish. :eek:

So I talked to the dean and he won't let me skip a year. (Im on a foundation year) So the squadron is asking me to change my degree so I can be let in. Problem is I love it! Engineering is fantastic and I really enjoy it. So do I change my course and do engineering at the OU, thus meaning I have a place on the squadron....OR keep my degree, meaning I can't get on the squadron, never achieve my first ambition of becoming a pilot, but I will still have a degree I enjoy and a career I enjoy being an Engineer in the RAF.

Don't know if this helps, but I can highly recommend the OU. I've just finished my degree with them (get it at the end of the year). The engineering courses with the OU have got a good reputation, plus they will count the HE study you've already done towards a degree with them

Reply 1861

Arch-Angel

Daveo123

Hi all,

As I progress into the application progress as an RAF Pilot Officer, would some of you care to share how you are preparing for: Your first brief interview or OASC? Maybe the kind of training exercises you are doing and how regularly or what books/material you are reading and researching.

I go to the gym (try and go every day) and do 2.5km (1.5m) running, 10km cycling and then either 4km rowing or do weights. So far I have dropped from 18st 3Ibs to 15st 12Ibs. I am also cutting out a lot of bad food and trying to stick to salads. As far as research goes, I am looking at the RAF website, watching the world news on ITV at 10:30pm and reading through the various aircraft/weapons equipment brochures.

If anyone can recommend anything that would help then please do!

Thanks,

David

The Week and The Economist are worth subscribing to (around £30 per quarter for the pair). Also watch your weight (I know you're dealing with the problem) - unless you're 6ft 5 inches you're well overweight for aircrew! (I've got the same problem so you're not alone! :smile:

) You'll need to be under 15 stone (95Kg to be exact for ground branches - think it's 92Kg for aircrew) - that's for 6ft tall.

Reply 1862

BlackHawk

the maximum weight for pilot is 96.5 kg

Reply 1863

ally_n_2000

Hey guys,

Just a quick question, i know this isnt a medical forum but was just wonder if anyone knew about the blood pressure levels. Im intersted in WSOp and i knew aircrew have extensive medicals, and was wondering waht the levels for blood pressure are. I went for a check up today and i think they were a little high, but obviously not much. I also know blood pressure can change regually due to stress and stuff.
Any help would be greatful.
Al

Reply 1864

Nikki J S

Daveo123

If anyone can recommend anything that would help then please do!

Read this thread;all of it!

Reply 1865

Nikki J S

sublime_envy

right got a call from the squadron, they want me on board but can take me as with the course I'm doing I will be too old by a month when I finish. :eek:

If you can still do the course through the OU, you should definitely go for it. You 'll probably end up regretting it otherwise. :smile:

Reply 1866

Nikki J S

ally_n_2000

The range of normal readings varies according to age but someone aged 17-24 would expect to have a reading about 120/70. The top number (systolic) is when the heart beats, pumping the blood. The bottom number (diastolic) is the heart at rest between beats. If you were nervous attending your check up, your BP would have been affected, which I'm sure they'll take account of. :smile:

Reply 1867

Vladek

sublime_envy

right got a call from the squadron, they want me on board but can take me as with the course I'm doing I will be too old by a month when I finish. :eek:

Take the place as a pilot man, Don't clog up the engineering branchs, i want a space :tongue:

Just disapear for a while and hope they don't throw you out :smile:

Edit, some possibly useful advice is that if you're on a course with credits then you have a certain number of years to complete that course and gain the credits. say you're on a 3 year BEng, then you'd have 5 years in which to obtain the credits, so perhaps look into doing your first 2 years and then see if your uni or the OU will allow you to get the final year's worth of credits in your sparetime.

Reply 1868

BlackHawk

that would work if I could cut the time down and I suggected in to UAS but due to admin I can't. have to have on paper the day I graduate.

Reply 1869

Nikki J S

sublime_envy

that would work if I could cut the time down and I suggected in to UAS but due to admin I can't. have to have on paper the day I graduate.

By going through OU and taking the place at UAS you can have the best of both worlds. What's stopping you? :smile:

Reply 1870

Daveo123

Arch-Angel

) You'll need to be under 15 stone (95Kg to be exact for ground branches - think it's 92Kg for aircrew) - that's for 6ft tall.

I am 6ft 3" tall but yes, I am trying to get the weight down to 14.5/15st. It is something that has plagued me my whole life but now is the time to get rid of it as this is what I NEED to do.

Nikki: I'm trying mate, I'm trying! It 94 pages long!!! I'll be blind after staring at the screen for so long! hehe

Thanks for the reply

Reply 1871

Nikki J S

Daveo123

You don't have to read it all at once!! :biggrin:

Reply 1872

Wzz

sublime_envy

passed everything!! Thought I would fail my eye sight exam but apparently Im ok for Pilot and UAS :biggrin:

Well done

Reply 1873

Wzz

steve_nels

i was thinking the other day, does anyone remember that series on ITV must of been about 10 years ago? and it was like a casualty type drama but based on the RAF and pilots on the Tornado, i think at RAF Lossiemouth or somewhere in Scotland? Because i remember only seeing one episode of it, but what i remember it was quite good for the flying scenes? Does anyone else remember this? Or did i imagine it ? :rolleyes:

It was called Strike Force, and it was utterly rubbish; it aired (ooh, nearly another pun there) around the time I was joining.

Reply 1874

Wzz

Arch-Angel

Whilst (in real life) utimately what we do is to deliver Air Power (and thus, the aircrew is the "star"),

Woohoo

Reply 1875

Wzz

sublime_envy

there are some right weirdos at OASC! Didn't really expect it. Thought those 'I know everything' guys would have been filtered out at ints. Had one 'know it all' telling me that he wants to join the Scottish UAS as leuchars is in aberdeen!!

Perhaps he meant he was going to Aberdeen uni, and was therefore joining East Scotland UAS, based at Leuchars...?

Reply 1876

Wzz

sublime_envy

right got a call from the squadron, they want me on board but can take me as with the course I'm doing I will be too old by a month when I finish. :eek:

The "in by 23.5" stuff's pretty much nonsense by now. I had a mate who turned 24 on day one of IOT, and he hadn't even done EFT.

Call OASC and speak to someone there, and ask if they'd be happy to flex it by a month.

Plenty of ways around it; volunteer for an early IOT and miss your uni grad, for example. It's not a problem. Your UAS should really know this.

Reply 1877

Wzz

sublime_envy

He also went up for a test flight with a WgCom. He has his PPL and thinks he is god because of that. There were heavy cross winds coming when they were coming back in so the officer took over. Back at mess the guy started bragging saying he took the plane back in as the officer balled it!

Resort to the RAF emergency banter. Tell him he's a moron, and walk away whenever he comes over. Get everyone to do it; it'll be what happens when he gets to somewhere like Valley if he ever gets in...

Reply 1878

Wzz

sublime_envy

no, he likes to think he is above everyone already. very patronising. No one at OASC would talk to him, sit with him, etc. He has a reputation already.