How many points do i need to become a fighter pilot?

Michael_321

Just wondering how many points i would need in my leaving cert to become a pilot in the airforce?

Irish Steve

Won't happen in Ireland, as there's no fighter aircraft in the Air Corps.

Michael_321

What about royal airforce?

Pro Hoc Vice

Michael_321 wrote: »

What about royal airforce?

https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/how-to-apply/eligibility-check/#nationality

You will need to reside in UK for 5 years.

Locker10a

No points as such, there's not a course you have to get onto! It would be competency based as as above you can see all the restrictions and requirements etc

ectoraige

To become a flight officer with the Irish Air Corps you'll want to apply for a cadetship. Minimum requirements are 3 C3s at honors level, plus three more passes in a single sitting of the leaving cert. Alternatively if you have a college degree you just need three passes in the leaving.

It's very competitive, and recruitment isn't too regular so don't expect to get in first time, and don't aim to just meet the basic requirements. Try your best for the leaving cert, and find a college course/trade you're interested in. Work on your physical fitness and be ready to apply every time recruitment opens.

Note, you can apply in the year you're going to sit your leaving, so if they opened a competition next March you could apply and a place would depend on you passing. You also have to be 18 by the closing date.

Read more at http://www.military.ie/careers/air-corps/cadetships/

Fattes

ectoraige wrote: »

To become a flight officer with the Air Corps you'll want to apply for a cadetship. Minimum requirements are 3 C3s at honors level, plus three more passes in a single sitting of the leaving cert. Alternatively if you have a college degree you just need three passes in the leaving.

It's very competitive, and recruitment isn't too regular so don't expect to get in first time, and don't aim to just meet the basic requirements. Try your best for the leaving cert, and find a college course/trade you're interested in. Work on your physical fitness and be ready to apply every time recruitment opens.

Note, you can apply in the year you're going to sit your leaving, so if they opened a competition next March you could apply and a place would depend on you passing. You also have to be 18 by the closing date.

Read more at http://www.military.ie/careers/air-corps/cadetships/

And almost zero chance of them taking anyone below 23 despite what the criteria say

ectoraige

Fattes wrote: »

And almost zero chance of them taking anyone below 23 despite what the criteria say

Yes, hence the "find a college course/trade you're interested in" bit. Apply for any competitions that come up and each time you're rejected take it as experience for the next time. It is extremely competitive so don't rely on it.

ohnonotgmail

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/how-to-apply/eligibility-check/#nationality

You will need to reside in UK for 5 years.

you also need to be a british citizen or have dual nationality.

Pro Hoc Vice

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

you also need to be a british citizen or have dual nationality.

From the link

NATIONALITY
To meet RAF nationality requirements, you need to be one of the following:

British citizen
British national
British/Dual national
Commonwealth citizen
Irish Republic national

ohnonotgmail

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

From the link

NATIONALITY
To meet RAF nationality requirements, you need to be one of the following:

British citizen
British national
British/Dual national
Commonwealth citizen
Irish Republic national

they are they general requirements for entry to the RAF. to join as a pilot there are specific requirements which are, and i quote,

You must be a citizen of the United Kingdom or holder of dual UK/ other nationality.
Whether or not you were born in the United Kingdom, you should have resided there for the 5 years immediately preceding your application.

If you select Aircrew - pilot from the list of roles you will see this displayed on the right hand side of the page.

L1011

You can join as an ROI citizen but you're not going to be a pilot without being a UK citizen. I was trying to find my grandfather's UK passport from antiquity when I was a teenager and considering joining before I realised my eyesight was far, far too screwed.

1123heavy

Fattes wrote: »

And almost zero chance of them taking anyone below 23 despite what the criteria say

I was in the air corps slightly involved in the process this year as well as knowing quite well someone senior within the air corps who himself was once an 18 yr old cadet) and this has caught me by surprise as it completely went against everything they ever said to me or I ever felt while there.

What makes you say that? As far as they're concerned, age plays no part whatsoever once you meet their age requirements, so they will view 18 or 23 yrs old in the exact same regard.

Jawgap

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

From the link

NATIONALITY
To meet RAF nationality requirements, you need to be one of the following:

British citizen
British national
British/Dual national
Commonwealth citizen
Irish Republic national

My understanding is that in practical terms you won't get near the Tiffy (and likely the F-35) unless you are a UK citizen and have resided there for a good chunk of your life because they won't be able to vet you properly. It's positive vetting so presumptions of good character are not applied in the absence of information to support them.

Fattes

1123heavy wrote: »

I was in the air corps slightly involved in the process this year as well as knowing quite well someone senior within the air corps who himself was once an 18 yr old cadet) and this has caught me by surprise as it completely went against everything they ever said to me or I ever felt while there.

What makes you say that? As far as they're concerned, age plays no part whatsoever once you meet their age requirements, so they will view 18 or 23 yrs old in the exact same regard.

An invitation to Casement in 1997, to be told that despite, being top of the testing process and the best interview candidate, I should come back in 4 years as I was to young! I meet the age requirements bye 2 days. Told the story to one of the officers at the recent open day, and he caught me up with the two guys I meet and the people that interviewed me.

Gladly life carried on, I qualified in a different field and never looked back.

1123heavy

Fattes wrote: »

An invitation to Casement in 1997, to be told that despite, being top of the testing process and the best interview candidate, I should come back in 4 years as I was to young! I meet the age requirements bye 2 days. Told the story to one of the officers at the recent open day, and he caught me up with the two guys I meet and the people that interviewed me.

Gladly life carried on, I qualified in a different field and never looked back.

Not to give away much info, but are AM the initials of one of the gentlemen who interviewed you?

Negative_G

Fattes wrote: »

And almost zero chance of them taking anyone below 23 despite what the criteria say

Completely incorrect.

A brief examination of the last several classes who were commissioned have more than a few who it can be assumed based on rank were under the age of 23 on commissioning so would have applied and joined at least 2 years prior.

In fact, from what I can find online. The most recent class has more school leavers than graduates, based on rank, so it would be fair to assume that these new 2 Lts would have been either in 3rd level education or straight from school and were highly likely to be under the age of 23 on application.

Your own alleged experience does not reflect reality.

Negative_G

1123heavy wrote: »

I was in the air corps slightly involved in the process this year as well as knowing quite well someone senior within the air corps who himself was once an 18 yr old cadet) and this has caught me by surprise as it completely went against everything they ever said to me or I ever felt while there.

If I am reading your post correctly I would be interested to know how you manged to be a member of the Air Corps while attending 3rd level education?

arccosh

as part of the cadetship, you get sent back to Uni

NewSigGuy

Air Corps Pilots do not get sent to Uni.

Plenty of guys are awarded a cadetship straight out of school...

Seriously doubt the story about being told to come back in four years.

Tenger

I wont cast any doubt on your experience fattes, but that was 1997, so perhaps things have changed just a little in the intervening 19 years?

(In the same way the commercial field has relaxed the vision requirements over the last 30 years)

On another point, I find it odd at they would give rankings details to an unsuccessful candidate. Did they do this for everyone or were you just special?

Fattes

Tenger wrote: »

I wont cast any doubt on your experience fattes, but that was 1997, so perhaps things have changed just a little in the intervening 19 years?

(In the same way the commercial field has relaxed the vision requirements over the last 30 years)

On another point, I find it odd at they would give rankings details to an unseccesful candidate. Did they do this for everyone or were you just special?

It was invited to Casement, by the two individuals who interviewed me, not sure you would call it special, they felt it was a good thing to do out of courtesy or as a prompt to come back the next time the opportunity arose, as they felt I was an ideal candidate, and wanted a career in the defence forces, not training to leave and go to civilian aviation when my min service was up.

Maybe 23 is excessive but how many of the last say 3 recruitment drives for pilots were under 20? Yes Times change, but the realities stay the same. Younger recruits for highly skilled positions are more likely to return to commercial service when the opportunity allows. Although the aer Corps does need a certain amount to do this anyway for various reasons.

1123 Heavy, not giving anything away, the individuals that interviewed me and later invited me to Casement to have a chat, were both fantastic examples of the Aer corps and very encouraging. I will always be thankful for how they handled the situation and their encouragement and guidance.

The Irish Defence forces are a great example and ambassadors for the state. I have never had an interaction with them where they failed to impress.

NewSigGuy

Fattes wrote: »

It was invited to Casement, by the two individuals who interviewed me, not sure you would call it special, they felt it was a good thing to do out of courtesy or as a prompt to come back the next time the opportunity arose, as they felt I was an ideal candidate, and wanted a career in the defence forces, not training to leave and go to civilian aviation when my min service was up.

Maybe 23 is excessive but how many of the last say 3 recruitment drives for pilots were under 20? Yes Times change, but the realities stay the same. Younger recruits for highly skilled positions are more likely to return to commercial service when the opportunity allows. Although the aer Corps does need a certain amount to do this anyway for various reasons.

1123 Heavy, not giving anything away, the individuals that interviewed me and later invited me to Casement to have a chat, were both fantastic examples of the Aer corps and very encouraging. I will always be thankful for how they handled the situation and their encouragement and guidance.

The Irish Defence forces are a great example and ambassadors for the state. I have never had an interaction with them where they failed to impress.

I still find it strange that you were the top candidate and yet you were not offered a position! and yet in the intake of 1997 the majority of the cadets were school leavers..

From memory in each of the cadet intakes during the '90's only one or two were College grads the majority were school leavers and plenty were 17 when they were inducted and had to be signed in by their parents..

Fattes

NewSigGuy wrote: »

I still find it strange that you were the top candidate and yet you were not offered a position! and yet in the intake of 1997 the majority of the cadets were school leavers..

From memory in each of the cadet intakes during the '90's only one or two were College grads the majority were school leavers and plenty were 17 when they were inducted and had to be signed in by their parents..

Like I said, story is as it happened, & probably turned out well fro me on the end. Explanation I got was they were having a high turn over with people leaving for more lucrative commercial contracts.

Negative_G

Employers will generally look favourably on someone who has a few years life experience over someone who is straight out of school. The Defence Forces is no different, especially when it involves responsibility and being placed into a leadership/management role.

Your original assertion that a certain demographic stand a chance is incorrect based on the evidence from the last few commissioning ceremonies.

Pilot retention and turnover will always be an issue as the private sector will almost always pay better in the medium to long term. The Air Corps contract is for 12 years, so regardless of age, they will get their return from a candidate. To infer that they select candidates based on when they potentially may leave is rather disengenuious in my opinion.

NewSigGuy

Negative_G wrote: »

Employers will generally look favourably on someone who has a few years life experience over someone who is straight out of school. The Defence Forces is no different, especially when it involves responsibility and being placed into a leadership/management role.

Your original assertion that a certain demographic stand a chance is incorrect based on the evidence from the last few commissioning ceremonies.

Pilot retention and turnover will always be an issue as the private sector will almost always pay better in the medium to long term. The Air Corps contract is for 12 years, so regardless of age, they will get their return from a candidate. To infer that they select candidates based on when they potentially may leave is rather disengenuious in my opinion.

Totally agree, the DF and in particular the AC are looking for the most suitable candidate.. there are some extra points at final interview for college,FCA,Irish speaker etc.. but in practice they don't amount to much and the best candidates are offered the positions. Age is not a deciding factor, it is the individuals aptitude for the career that is the deciding factor.

I think it is important for any potential applicants that the reality of the selection process is discussed and not silly rumours..

1123heavy

Negative_G wrote: »

If I am reading your post correctly I would be interested to know how you manged to be a member of the Air Corps while attending 3rd level education?

Hi NG, I'm actually not a member of the air corps, they needed some help with somewhat dummy candidates for their interviewers to train on for the real thing and I was a willing hampster

All I can say is from being there and seeing how it's done and from chatting to one of the guys I know quite well who once lead the process, once you meet the age requiremets, that is it, age is literally just a number from then on ... they don't care to be frank.

How you perform in their assessments is what it all boils down to (which I can tell you are bloody tough! )