So anyone know some good autobios, pref some past / present or at least modern. Figured I'd start reading up on some peoples experiences etc if i'm going to be going for that position myself. Gimme a list, gogo.

Have a look over at the military aircrew section on pprune.org if you haven't already. My cousin got through the whole process and has entered as an Officer as a RAAF pilot. He started basic in Sale, Vic a couple weeks ago. What stage are you at in the recruitment process?

If you aren't good at university level mathematics/complex equations or don't have 20/20 vision.
Just give up now.
I looked at it as an option when I was a highschool kid doing 1st year university level maths.
Then when talking to a teacher who had helped an RAAF pilot prepare, I said to myself, yeah no.
And looked at other career opportunities.
Not to mention I've heard it could be nearly 10+ years before you're really given the opportunity to -rarely- fly any of Australias few fighter jets.

If you're talking helicopter it could be a different kettle of fish all together.

Unless times have changed, your best bet would be to actually call the RAAF (they have general enquiry numbers which can answer all these sorts of questions for you -- At least the Army number for such was quite helpful).

last edited by Mephz at 21:29:26 17/Nov/09

Don't know any RAAF guys, all time RAF legend from WWII was Douglas Bader

Dude lost his legs an kept flying combat missions

Douglas Bader ended the conflict with 22 aerial victories scored in the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire,

Didn't read all of OP an read just "autobios"

Don't listen to people telling you to give up.

You don't need to be an expert in mathematics to get in, but you should have at least B grades in Maths B. It is not all about the academic side (though it does count) but how you are as a person; are you a sport team captain, do you possess leadership qualities, can you defend yourself well if someone throws s*** at you, that type of thing.

There is a 12 year minimum period of service but I'm sure you're aware of all that from the Pilot Selection Agency website. It costs about 1.25 million dollars to train a RAAF pilot (I'm not sure if that is a basic RAAF pilot or a Fast Jet pilot).

Anyway just head over to pprune for all the answers you should read through all of this thread, though the last 15-20 pages are more relevant since the thread was started in 2001. http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/333897-raaf-flight-screening-program-merged.html

If you aren't good at university level mathematics/complex equations or don't have 20/20 vision.
Just give up now.

I guess you've missed some of my other posts where i'm passed the whole fly math / periph vision / eye site testing. I also have better then 20/20 vision (went to opto less then 2 months ago). Only psych / full med / board interview now i.e. assessment day.

Even if i made it through this final stage and didn't make it in training, would still be a mad experience and how many people say they had the necessary skills to even get that far.

Besides, not like any 3d modeling jobs are knocking at my door with now even Krome cutting costs, no-one wants Jnrs. Looking for alternative roads and careers is always a pretty good option.

last edited by Raider at 22:18:10 17/Nov/09

have you been through FSP? I've got the pilot aptitude test day next Monday.

All those choppers flying around Brisbane giving you all a hardon for pilots?

if by FSP u mean the test after you get the results of your apt test then yes i've done that and passed that.

Nah, this s*** has been going on for months now, the chopper invasion is only fairly recent.

I've known a few RAAF pilots in my time, both knuckleheads and truckies as well as some rotary palm tree jocks. The one common thing amongst them all has been flying, that's all they want to do. One blackhander I knew ended up as a knucklehead on Hornets despite pranging a mates Cessna on Curl Curl beach due to carburetor icing (pilot error).

good luck raider that would be an awesome job.
personaly i'd like to fly choppers that would be cool.

if the RAAF falls over there's always the Army/Navy aviation wings i guess.

shotgun first F18 flight with you

go for it mate!

If you're talking helicopter it could be a different kettle of fish all together.

if i could do it all again, id wouldnt of f***ed around so much in high school and had some balls and joined the air force, and become a helipcopter poilot. i love those things.

i love HurricaneJim's posts! Whats your sig about? Army decoration's thing?

if by FSP u mean the test after you get the results of your apt test then yes i've done that and passed that.

Nah, this s*** has been going on for months now, the chopper invasion is only fairly recent.

Hey mate - speaking from recent personal experience here - had assesment day two weeks ago:

Honestly if you don't know what FSP is you really need to study up on the entire recruitment process before assesment day. They want to see a few things:
- You know every detail of recruitment process, training process, what the job entails and lifestyle if you get into your preferred service (this is all available from ADF websites)
- you know what your preferred service flies (Mooby if you do decide to join don't tell them you want to fly helicopters for the Air Force...they have none :)
- You have a burning passion to be a pilot
- You have a burning passion to be an officer in the ADF and you have leadership potential (things like leadership experience and ability to get along with people)

Anyway if you want to know more about my experience with it send me a PM. Congrats anyway on getting to assesment day - most people don't make it that far.

i love HurricaneJim's posts! Whats your sig about? Army decoration's thing?

Those are my service decorations and they aren't Service specific ie Army/Navy/Airforce.

From left to right; Australian Active Service Medal (Bar: Somalia), Australian Service Medal (Bar: Sinai), Defence Force Service Medal (15 years), Australian Defence Medal, Multinational Force & Observers Medal (Foreign award: Sinai)

Yer coochie i plan on studying it all up, honestly i was just looking at doing reserves... got pilot on my apt test.. i thought what the hell i'll give it a shot.. did the FSP.. passed that without studying for it like most of the others did... so i'm actually starting to think i have a shot at this, so i'll be studying for the assessment day :)

So, there are sweet f*** all positions available for reserves in the airforce. GL with all that.

I'm looking at the army or navy reserves instead. I got told after doing the initial aptitude test i could apply for whatever. Although i swear they did say they would tell us our test scores, which unless is graded between "get out" and "you're hired" they didn't..

But anyway, tax free dollars eh

Oh i just wanted to point out that i think the navy requires you to do something like 13-14 push ups in a set to be 'fit enough' which is laughable.

last edited by skythra at 15:05:21 18/Nov/09

Yer coochie i plan on studying it all up, honestly i was just looking at doing reserves... got pilot on my apt test.. i thought what the hell i'll give it a shot.. did the FSP.. passed that without studying for it like most of the others did... so i'm actually starting to think i have a shot at this, so i'll be studying for the assessment day :)

The Air Force reserve doesn't train pilots, you have to be a RAAF trained pilot to go on the reserve list. To that extent the Air Force reserve is more like a "retired list" than civilians enlisting because they can't adequately train you to do any job. So to be a pilot you have to go full time or not at all.

The Army Reserve is a bit different, they'll train you to be a grunt, gasoline cowboy, medic, drop short etc. My stepson applied for the ARes and got offered Medic. I know nothing of the Navy Reserve.

Oh i just wanted to point out that i think the navy requires you to do something like 13-14 push ups in a set to be 'fit enough' which is laughable.last edited by skythra at 15:05:21 18/Nov/09

There is a difference between pumping out 14 push ups and doing 14 push ups to a cadence. It's was (tri-service standard) a three second cadence which means a 1 second down, 2 hold for one second and 3 is a 1 second up. All without a pause or strain in either the up or down movement. I think there is also a sit up and chin up (tricep position) requirement as well and all to a cadence.

You say you passed the FSP without studying for it? How the hell could you study for it anyway aside from chair flying while you are there? What was your experience like there? I heard it costs them about 25k for each person on the FSP over the two week program...

I went through all this quite recently also.

Studied at the start of the year, applied at the start of July, YOU session at the end of July, Pilot Spec testing at the end of August, then Assessment Day at the end of September.

Unfortunately at Assessment Day they gave me a 'Class 4' Medical' (which basically means I am unfit for EVERY job in the ADF) due to the fact that I have dislocated my hip in grade 10. The fact that I dislocated it 12 years ago and have had no problems since, including plenty of sport and running n s***, had no weight unfortunately. Complete f***ing bulls*** really, but hey what can you do. By rights they should have actually picked that up in the medical history questionnaire I filled out before even the initial testing.

So the positive out of this is that because they didn't pick it up early on, I was booked into all of the testing and passed... including the rest of the medical. So I do have the option of an appeal, which I am in the process of now, and in the event that my appeal is successful, all of my results are current for 1 year and I will be free to progress to FSP without having to do any more testing.

Have a look over at the military aircrew section on pprune.org if you haven't already

Couldn't agree more. The thread there is absolute gold. Autobios galore, current and past students, flying instructors, people who have sat on the OSB board. Worth reading and absorbing.

If you aren't good at university level mathematics/complex equations or don't have 20/20 vision. Just give up now.

Wrong and wrong.
The maths in the testing, both initial and pilot spec testing, is not university level maths or calculus. It's not particularly difficult, you just need to make calculations quickly and accurately. Mental agility if you like. Probably the trickiest were some trig ratios, just because it's been years since I knew them. Eg. If the Sin of 60 is blah, what is the Cos of 30. Or something like that. And of course know your SOHCAHTOA s***.

You don't need 20/20 vision. There is a standard, I think it's 6/12 unaided. Don't quote me on that one. But even if your eyesight is worse than that, there are approved eye surgery methods available - you would have to check with a medical officer at recruiting so that you don't get the wrong sort of surgery - some are unacceptable. There's a few guys on that pprune thread - including the guy that started it in 2000 or so - that got the right surgery and have gone on to get into Pilot's course.

Not to mention I've heard it could be nearly 10+ years before you're really given the opportunity to -rarely- fly any of Australia's few fighter jets

Well, no, wrong.

Officer training - 26 weeks in Victoria.
Combat Survival - 3 weeks in Townsville.
Aviation Medicine - 1 week in Tamworth.
Basic Flying Training - 25 weeks in Tamworth.
More medicine - 1 week in Adelaide.
Advanced Flying Training - 37 weeks in Perth.

So a bit less than 2 years till you get your wings.

Then if you were good enough to be in the top ~ 40% of the Airforce students that actually get their wings, you could be on a Hawk conversion before too long.

Hawk conversion 26 weeks. (I think)

Then you'd be on the Introductory Fighter course - Another 26 weeks or so. (I think)

Assuming you've passed all of that, you'd then be on a next available Hornet or Super Hornet conversion (no more F1-11 conversions I believe as they're retiring them at the end of 2010). Not sure what year the F-35 training will commence for new pilots.

So basically, if you count the Hawk as a jet - which it is - maybe around 2 years after you commence training.
If you mean one of the front line fighters - perhaps 3, maybe closer to 4 years - if waiting for the conversion spot - before you hop in one.

Not 10+ years.

It costs about 1.25 million dollars to train a RAAF pilot (I'm not sure if that is a basic RAAF pilot or a Fast Jet pilot).

It's 1.5 million to train a pilot just to wings. Might be even more now.
I know a few years ago it was 11 million for a F1-11 pilot and 15 million for a Hornet pilot.

if by FSP u mean the test after you get the results of your apt test then yes i've done that and passed that.

The second set of tests you do is the Pilot Specialist testing dude, not FSP.
FSP is the Flight Screening Program AFTER Assessment day...
Coochie is spot on.

Btw, what level did you guys get up to on the delayed number sequence test?

Yer coochie i plan on studying it all up, honestly i was just looking at doing reserves... got pilot on my apt test.. i thought what the hell i'll give it a shot.. did the FSP.. passed that without studying for it like most of the others did... so i'm actually starting to think i have a shot at this, so i'll be studying for the assessment day :)

Word of advice on this... They want people who are absolutely dead set on flying, like coochie said - a burning desire - not people applying on a whim. The fact that you've got the attitude where you may as well apply because you can, will be scrutinised and not favoured if they see that. You want to give them the impression that you were set on the Pilot specialisation from the moment you first stepped in the place. - One of my friends did the same sort of thing as you and got cained for it. Just be wary of that.


GL partyhat and Raider. And nice work coochie, let us know when you get offered a FSP position ;)

last edited by bargain at 22:19:21 18/Nov/09

surgury...stepped

So English ability isn't tested or desirable to them?

Good one. What do you think.

Don't be a cock.


I'll edit that just for you if you like.



What's wrong with 'stepped'? How's your english ability?

last edited by bargain at 22:21:03 18/Nov/09