Hi Madeline, I am thinking about applying for the role of officer pilot, is there anything I can do to prepare?

Hi George,

Thanks for your question.

There are two ways to be a pilot in the Army Air Corps; either as a soldier or an officer. Since you've mentioned the officer route I'll focus on this. As an Army pilot you have a compulsory return of service of 6 years upon completion of training.

Firstly, for flying specifically you need to pass a three stage selection process: firstly, the aptitude testing; next, an aircrew medical; finally, Grading (a 4-week course where you are taught the basics of flying a fixed-wing aircraft). There's not much you can do to prepare for this - there are plenty of online resources to assist with the aptitude tests but I'd recommend being up to speed with simple maths (speed/distance/time calculations) and generally a good attitude and hard work will get you through grading.

Secondly, for officer training you need to successfully complete the Army Officer Selection Board which is a two-stage process. There are plenty of details about this on the Army website but passing it will enable you to go on and train at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as an officer.

There is no set order for completing these two stages however I would recommend starting your aptitude tests before Sandhurst to give you more time to complete the process. You can get in touch with the AAC recruiting team via the British Army website to get this ball rolling.

It's a lengthy process but absolutely worth it in the end. It's definitely good to have your expectations managed with regards to timelines though. Mine was as follows:
2013- Aptitude, medical, Grading
2014-2015- Sandhurst
2015-2017- Army Pilots Course.
2018-2019- Wildcat training complete. As you can see it's taken several years to achieve but from completing Sandhurst to being fully front line qualified is roughly 4 yrs. Time to complete the Army Pilots Course and gain your pilot's wings is more like 2-3 yrs.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Take care,
Maddie