RAF Non-Commissioned Aircrew: Recruiting anytime soon or recycling disbanded Sqn's?

[Peanut1984]

Hello all,

I was enjoying a beer with an old friend recently down at my local when I was asked a question about recruiting in the Royal Air Force.
Not being one to be in high knowledge of this subject, I do know that the RAF are still recruiting some roles, so I told him this and advised him to check the RAF careers website for more solid gen.

The nature of the conversation we had was largely down to the keen interest of his son joining up once he completes his school studies.
I was asked if I knew whether or not the RAF were still recruiting aircrew, to which I answered that I was unsure of.

Does anyone know if, or know when the RAF are ever likely to start recruiting Non-Commissioned aircrew again?

I do know that upon the demise of the Nimrod fleet, the aircrew personnel that worked on this aircraft were spread around the RAF and upon the arrival of the SDSR recruiting in all trades not just aircrew slowed down.
But are the RAF forecasting any future intakes?

Also, does anyone know if jumping ship from ground trades to WSoP is still possible?
I'm a driver of 10 years service and I'm currently based on 2MT Squadron at RAF Wittering (hi guys yes it's me Peanut for those of you who are unfortunate to know me!) hehe!
I am almost 30 years old and if I fancied a change, would it necessarily be any easier for me to re-trade than my friends son applying from Civvy street?

Just a thought!

Thanks guys and I hope you all had a great Christmas, and may 2014 bring you joy!

Peanut

 

[vim_fuego]

Crewmen are still being recruited although numbers not known. Still a demand for both rotary and fixed wing roles. Flight eng is gone completely now with enough left for now from the legacy 'K' eng's. If any more are needed for the future I think they will recruit from our commonwealth cousins or take a crewmen or AEOp with a technical background and train him locally.

AEOp or WSOp (EW) is still required for E3's, Astor, RJ and has a seat or two on Shadow. I have heard that training is being looked I.e. Course design is underway after a long gap in such activities. Currently there is no need for WSOp (Acoustics) in the RAF although should we dip our hands in our pockets to buy an MPA or two then the seedcorn aircrew currently abroad or hiding in ground posts probably won't be enough to man a sqn but that seems unlikely at the moment.

If you're serving get hold of 8 sqn ops and ask about a familiarisation flight and sit with a WSOp and prepare to be amazed......I have been known to be somewhat sarcastic....

 

[Warwick Hunt]

As we speak, NCA are not currently being recruited and there is no forecast date as to when the branch will open. The problem, certainly as far as you are concerned anyway, is that there is a massive backlog of people awaiting training who have been in the system for a couple of years and may be waiting for another year or two just to move into the next phase of training. Of course, the aspiration will still be for people to come up through the ranks however there have to be training places to be put into. And for the foreseeable future, they just aren't going to exist.

The people going through the system at the moment will more than likely go onto to be Crewmen, however as Vim has alluded to, there will be people eventually moving onto the Sensor Op side of the branch as RJ comes into service. However what you will be up against is SDSR part 2 in 2015 whereby the RAF will gain review massively its holdings of aircraft like SH and AT/AAR platforms. They have already moved onto aircraft which will only carry one WSOp (C130J, C17 and A400M) this will also mean less need to recruit as many WSOps in the future. Also platforms like Sentinel were being prepared to be binned in SDSR but were spared for a couple of years - be prepared for that to be reviewed next time round.

 

[Mag2grid]

I know a lad that transferred to NCA after resigning his commission, around about 4 months before I left the Depot. He completed NCAITC close to 3 years ago after many a holding post, he's not been near 55 sqn yet....poor bugger.

 

[Warwick Hunt]

I know a lad that transferred to NCA after resigning his commission, around about 4 months before I left the Depot. He completed NCAITC close to 3 years ago after many a holding post, he's not been near 55 sqn yet....poor bugger.

I believe I know the same individual?

That, sadly, is the state of affairs for all prospective NCA candidates. Until those guys have got through the system and the RAF have decided what their future multi-crew aircraft requirements are, then NCA will be a no-go for the short to medium future.

Have you thought about DE SNCO ATC? They are a branch that are actively recruiting at the moment.

 

[Junior teaboy]

The hold between DHFS and the rotary OCFs is empty now.

 

[Warwick Hunt]

The hold between DHFS and the rotary OCFs is empty now.

But they still need to start feeding through what is quite a significant backlog of people unfortunately, with some still not having started going through 45 Sqn. Sadly, the branch will remain closed for recruiting for some time yet.

 

[vim_fuego]

An AEOp (got to talk in old money...its easier) pal of mine trains loadeys at Cranwell...I assumed his studes would be recruits...unbelieveable that they are holding people. There always was a choke point for rotary mind.

The NCA world is famous for creating resource black holes. Once you let a training system stop or slow to virtually nothing it's hard to wake it up again when the front line is crying out for crewmen.

 

[Warwick Hunt]

Sorry for dragging this thread back up but for anyone out there who's interested, the NCA recruiting tap is open. Register your interest via the RAF Careers Hotline (the number's on the website).