Need Help for Career

[airforcehopeful]

Hi guys,
My name is Jack, and I'm 14 years old and I live in Australia, and since the age of 6 I have always wanted a career in aviation. I found out that going through and paying for my lisences one at a time was too expensive, I realised that the easiest option was to join the RAAF, as after my service, I can still go into an airline career.

I am by no means someone that knows nothing about aircraft, I am a member of the AAL (Australian Air League), I go to a Selective School, and I am also a training student pilot. I have also been on simulator since 9, and not too long ago, the AAL was lucky enough to go to the Qantas base in Mascot to fly the Level D 747 simulator, which I was able to land with no assistance, which boggled the 2 instructors minds. (By the way I'm not someone who usually toots their own horn like this).

Anyway onto the point. I would like to know the steps and precautions in which I should take in order to become an Officer/Pilot in the RAAF. I have a very vague idea of what I should do, however, It hasn't been explained to me very well in the past, nor on the RAAF website. I thought it was the right time to ask, seeing as I seem to be getting older and older by the minute, and before I know it, the time will come when I apply.

Thanks in advance,

Jack.

 

[Wooki]

Hi guys,
My name is Jack, and I'm 14 years old and I live in Australia, and since the age of 6 I have always wanted a career in aviation. I found out that going through and paying for my lisences one at a time was too expensive, I realised that the easiest option was to join the RAAF, as after my service, I can still go into an airline career.

I am by no means someone that knows nothing about aircraft, I am a member of the AAL (Australian Air League), I go to a Selective School, and I am also a training student pilot. I have also been on simulator since 9, and not too long ago, the AAL was lucky enough to go to the Qantas base in Mascot to fly the Level D 747 simulator, which I was able to land with no assistance, which boggled the 2 instructors minds. (By the way I'm not someone who usually toots their own horn like this).

Anyway onto the point. I would like to know the steps and precautions in which I should take in order to become an Officer/Pilot in the RAAF. I have a very vague idea of what I should do, however, It hasn't been explained to me very well in the past, nor on the RAAF website. I thought it was the right time to ask, seeing as I seem to be getting older and older by the minute, and before I know it, the time will come when I apply.

Thanks in advance,

Jack.

there is a guy by the name of "elwood" who might reply to this. I understand he is off to Tamworth NSW ( in the process of qualifying as a pilot). Anyway I pmed him, but some of the moderators here can follow up on that.

cheers

w

 

[AGRA]

there is a guy by the name of "elwood" who might reply to this. I understand he is off to Tamworth NSW ( in the process of qualifying as a pilot). Anyway I pmed him, but some of the moderators here can follow up on that.

cheers

w

There's been considerable response to this guy's call for advice in the RAAF thread.

 

[Elwood Blues]

Advice

G'day Jack
I received a message from wooki that you needed some help so I ducked across to see if I have anything to add.

Ok advice, I can tell you how to do it the long hard way because that is bassically way I have had to do it so far. I didnt do the work at school or at the start of uni so I have been play catchup throughout the whole process. Also dont be worried about not getting in on your first try, a lot of people dont and its shows that you have a strong will to become a pilot if you come back for a second round. My experience has mainly been about persistance, showing maturity, honesty, keeping your head and patience as things that recruitment will pick up on.

First off you need to get yourself into the best possible position before you walk into your joes day. As your coming straight out of school (I presume) they will look towards how you went there. I suggest working very hard at school and getting great marks in all subjects at school, particularily subjects like physics, chemistry, and do both the hards maths subjects, english has not been mentioned to me so I presume a solid mark is really all you need (But do as well as you can!). Academic wise I would suggest getting into those national maths, chemisty and physics tests and doing resonably well in them helps too, if you can scrounge a credit from one of those does help no end!

Other suggestions, join the cadets, at least you will get some idea of what your getting into with the military discipline and such. It doesnt really matter what cadets you join, I was in the army cadets, I would suggest doing some of the leadership courses and try and get promoted as that can show that your willing to lead and that you have leadership potential. Playing sports is also a key area, try to do as many team sports as you can without affecting your school grades. If you can manage your extra activities and maintain good marks it will work wonders for your application. Also having a job that you are doing to get some flying time together is also a great way of pushing how keen you are to fly! But remember that if you go through to the Tamworth part of selection that if you have over 20 hours then you are then part of the advanced pilot selection which means you have to attain a higher grade to remain competitive. You just have to remember that they are not looking for just a person to fly an aircraft, they are after people that have leadsership potential and maturity.

Things to remember during the interview stage of the process, You will get questions like 'tell me about yourself' 'why do you want to become a pilot' (avoid mentioning Top Gun at ALL costs!!!!) 'Are you willing to kill people' and various other curveball questions that they can come up with. Learn as much as you can about the ADF, know the leaders, government officials, a bit of history ect. I suggest keeping an eye on forums like this to keep abreast with the projects and such that the ADF is up too. Also read the papers and watch the news and develope opinions and the ability to debate subjects and express your point of view will help a lot. If you get a good recruitment guy then they will give you a good breifing on what to expect during the process. As for the tests, work on the hand eye coordination as much as possible, I would suggest doing some flying relativley close to the testing has that gets you feet moving before hand and again demonstrates how keen you are to fly. As for the aptitude testing I would suggest getting a book or two on military flight testing for the US military, whilst not the same as the Australian testing proceedures it will get your head in the right place and thinking the right way for the exams. I think that they are by ARCO but cant confirm that...

Found it... but im not allowed to post the URL DAMN!

I cant really think of much else, I hope that helps, never be afraid to ask questions when it comes to the selection process. You can never have to much information when it comes to these things. I cant tell you anything about Tamworth as I havent made it that far yet but when I have done all of that ill try and give a detailed description on what went on.

So in short, develope a great work ethic to academics, play lots of team sports and get some leadership experience under the belt and get a job if you can, even if its during the school holidays.

All the best with it mate, you asked the right questions at the right age! you dont want to find all this stuff out in grade 12 because unless your doing the right subjects it makes it very hard indeed! Doing the work is what really counts! I wish I did the work in high school it would have made it a lot easier!

Cheers
Elwood

 

[airforcehopeful]

Thanks a lot for this information. I can't thank you enough for how much this may get me. I pretty much fit the bill so far, I've been in cadets for about 2 years so far, and I'm hoping to get promoted as far as I can (Leading Cadet so far). By the way, one more question before I go that may seem a little off topic in terms of preparation for joining the airforce. Does the RAAF have its own centrifuge, and if so, who do they train in them, in terms of what aircraft you fly?

Thanks a lot,
Jack.

 

[Elwood Blues]

centrifuge

G'day jack
I have no idea about the centrifuge, there was talk of building one in the late 1980's, however im unsure if that went ahead or not because there was a general consensis that it would be cheaper to send pilots to the US then to build and maintain a centrifuge here.

Im glad my reply was helpful to you, im glad to see that your already on the right track! Good luck with it all, at times it may seem a daunting task but I think it will be worth it if you can pull it off!

On a side note, you can also apply for QANTAS cadets as a backup plan as you can know slap it all on your HECS if need be. Sometimes they do ask you what you will do if you dont become a pilot in the RAAF, so have a couple of backup plans like University, QANTAS cadets. Also they will probably try and get you to sign up to be a navigator at the same time, I completly refused that option. You can always go back a few months latter and say you wish to be navigator as your tests are still current, also becoming a navigator will not give you many options if you wish to return to civilian life.

All the best and good luck with it!

Cheers
Elwood