Canadian Air Force

[oneL]

A lot of good, accurate info above to ponder for anyone thinking about joining. The RCAF has its ups and downs for sure, but I can assure you that the "ups" are simply incredible. During my more rewarding tours, I recalled thinking out loud that "my worst days on the job were still better than my best day on the golf course". No matter when you join, there will always be "up" times in the future. (I take the glass half full approach!)

In terms of your commitment upon earning your wings, the 10-year restricted release policy is definitely something to consider. Info be found at https://www.canada.ca/en/air-force/corp ... ilots.html.
On the plus side, a link to the pay, which increased on the past few years is here: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-nat ... html#tocp0

Anyone who does commit and is just starting out, I would throw this out there regarding what to do to give your best shot:

1. Prior to your first flying course, I don't think a PPL is needed, but I do agree that at least a few hours in a bug-smasher will definitely help. On my first course I had 0 "PFE" (previous flying experience). I made it through, but I was a bit shell-shocked on my first flight--something I dealt with at the time, but that I'll never forget. A couple of hours of PFE would've taken the bite out of those first hours on that first course and could have helped. Conversely, an "older guy'" on course (mid 20's?) had something like 250 or 300 hours. We all thought he would be the last to fail out, but it turns out he was amongst the first. Rumor had it he had bad habits---for example flying 50' low/high in the pattern and not correcting to the ideal. In a manner of speaking, your "learning curve", or ability to receive instruction and criticism, resulting in improvement, will matter most.

2. Your motivation will matter more than anything. Work hard during your courses. Work particularly hard on academics and in preparing for each of your flights. Stay positive. This all will help you succeed to getting your wings, and furthermore will help you get selected to the fleet you prefer.

3. For aircrew selection, again your motivation will matter. Also, I might suggest to subscribe to a site that provides COMPASS test practice.

[Posthumane]

Do you guys have a take on the idea of joining up with the air force for the training then signing up with a major once the 7 years of obligatory service are done? Is it a good way to get started as a pilot if you're too strapped for cash to fork over $100k+ for training?

For new pilots the restricted release period is 10 years, not seven. That starts when you get your wings, which potentially takes three years from when you first join, assuming there are no big problems along the way. That's all assuming you have your degree; if you don't then add another four years on top of that. If you want to do 17 years with the military and then jump ship to go to an airline then all the power to you, but it certainly isn't the fastest way to get there. On the plus side, you'll be making decent money all that time. The Captain rank has 20 pay incentive levels and tops out at over $180k/year.

[oneL]

If memory is correct from me having looked into this last year, I don't recall that the mandatory service for the paid degree (4 years), cumulatively adds to the 10 years restricted release policy for pilots.
If you get accepted into fully-paid MilCol or civ university and to enter as a pilot, they will offer you a 17-year "terms of service", which in and of itself does not bind you to the full 17 years.
You are, however, probably looking at 15 years of service as a minimum (again if I recall correctly).
The 10 years obligatory service (aka restricted release) starts from your wings grad date. You won't get your wings any earlier than 1 year following your grad from MilCol or civilian university--but it definitely could take longer.
As Posthumane mentions above, the pay gets good--although the higher incentives are provisional on some upgrades that you have to achieve. (or, simply get promoted beyond captain)
A further benefit now with the recently-increased pay is that it folds flight pay into your regular pay, which is good for two reasons:
1. you not longer drop in your takehome pay when you get posted to a ground tour after flying.
2. this portion is now part of your pensionable salary, and adds to your pension (should you serve 25 years or more). (previously flight pay was an allowance, and therefore not part of your pensionable salary)

[Posthumane]

You're right, the obligatory 4 years of service after milcol is not additive to the 10 year restricted release, but the four years it takes to finish milcol (or civi university) is. So if someone is joining now, without a degree, they will take about 4 years to complete university, another 2-3 years to complete flight training, and then start their 10 year restricted release. In that time they may be waiting several years to even start their OTU, so in the communities with the longest wait times that person may not even have enough hours for an ATPL by the time their restricted release is up.

So my recommendation, similar to others, is that if you want to be in the military than join the military, and if you only really want to fly for an airline then go through the traditional route and pay for the training yourself.

[redlaser]

I'm not picking on the RCAF, I'm only suggesting to wannabe airforce pilots to have some flight training before showing up at Portage, to better their chances of being selected to go on to become fighter pilots, My personal experience with the flight school in Portage is that the instructors there are there to eliminate candidates not to train them, It would be interesting to find out what persentage of candidates go on to become fighter pilots, Freedom of information in Canada could be used to access the information, personally a Cessna 150 acrobat is a better training aircraft than a Grob. Good luck

[Red_Comet]

Just an anecdote, a colleague's fiance was an ROTP at RMC who aced ACS and was waiting to start his pilot training. He waited for 2 years after he graduated and they still couldn't even give him an estimate of when he could begin the first phase of training. So he discharged and went civilian.

The state of the military is not great from all accounts, and I would advise aspiring aviators to pursue a civilian path in parallel to military, as it seems there is no reasonable timeframe to complete training at present.

Also anecdotally, I'm seeing lots of current military aviators getting their civ licenses, for what I'm assuming is a transition to the civ world. One of the big downsides is not having control over where you are based, and that you can be moved around at any time without much regard to your personal situation.

[Smilin' Jack]

We have an air force?

[oneL]

We have an air force?

As an airforce guy, I'm chuckling and crying at the same time....