My steep learning curve was pre-empted by my upcoming 24th birthday, the cut-off for joining the Airforce as a pilot, something that I had always aspired to be, having really enjoyed everything about flying from a very young age. Some of those experiences included, watching the top-dressing aircraft take off and spread fertilizer from our farm airstrip to being at an airshow in Rotorua aerodrome when a Vampire Jet flew over at a very low level with a huge roar. Also, much of my early reading was all about the RAF pilots' stories from WW2, including Douglas Bader (WW2 legless fighter pilot) and Leonard Cheshire VC (Dam Buster Pilot).
However, my life at the time was my first job after graduating from an Agricultural University and working as an Ag Chemical researcher, testing chemicals on all sorts of crops from Maize to pastures, potatoes and vegetables and weeds such as Blackberry, Thistles and Ragwort.
Moving to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force was a complete change away from my “chosen career” and was not favoured by my parents!
What I had not understood was how demanding the training would be in order to graduate as a pilot and the biggest confrontation was the failures in the course. Initially 1000 young men applied to join to learn to fly and become professional pilots in the military. So here are the numbers:
1000 applied to join every 6 months
80 achieved the call to go to final selection
40 people were selected to train
8 of those originally selected graduated.
The training was intense, and the first six months involved typical military training, fitness, marching, intense discipline and “yes sir no sir” responses. In other words, follow orders!
We achieved the first six months and were promoted from Officer cadets to Acting Pilot Officers.
Then the flying training began which was really intense including all the ground school subjects such as Meteorology, Aerodynamics, Navigation, Emergencies, Radio Telephony, Aviation rules, Instrument flying. All of this in between one to two training flights per day.
This new career was a huge learning curve and also a make it or break-it in something so different from my more relaxed and less stressful ag research career option.
Given the huge failure rate of people in the course this meant that you had to be on your toes every inch of the way. My situation was challenged several times by my impulsiveness, in that I would do stupid things during a flight test (very important for achieving your wings!) On one occasion I was being assessed for my final navigation flight test, and part of my flight route was very closed to my parent’s place on the low level leg. I chose to divert to their place and execute a low level noisy fly past in the training jet (a BAC 167 Strikemaster). Once I completed this diversion, the instructor said “What are you going to do to get back on track and achieve the target in time?
I responded saying that I would increase speed on the next two sections of the navigation and reach the target on time. Lucky for me I did achieve the target on time and passed with a low score! Very lucky.
At the end of the day, the course was 18 months intense training (way different from the relaxed laid back university training), which I accomplished, and I graduated as a military pilot.
And yes, my parents came to the graduation despite decrying my choice.
James Davey
21 October 2024
However, my life at the time was my first job after graduating from an Agricultural University and working as an Ag Chemical researcher, testing chemicals on all sorts of crops from Maize to pastures, potatoes and vegetables and weeds such as Blackberry, Thistles and Ragwort.
Moving to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force was a complete change away from my “chosen career” and was not favoured by my parents!
What I had not understood was how demanding the training would be in order to graduate as a pilot and the biggest confrontation was the failures in the course. Initially 1000 young men applied to join to learn to fly and become professional pilots in the military. So here are the numbers:
1000 applied to join every 6 months
80 achieved the call to go to final selection
40 people were selected to train
8 of those originally selected graduated.
The training was intense, and the first six months involved typical military training, fitness, marching, intense discipline and “yes sir no sir” responses. In other words, follow orders!
We achieved the first six months and were promoted from Officer cadets to Acting Pilot Officers.
Then the flying training began which was really intense including all the ground school subjects such as Meteorology, Aerodynamics, Navigation, Emergencies, Radio Telephony, Aviation rules, Instrument flying. All of this in between one to two training flights per day.
This new career was a huge learning curve and also a make it or break-it in something so different from my more relaxed and less stressful ag research career option.
Given the huge failure rate of people in the course this meant that you had to be on your toes every inch of the way. My situation was challenged several times by my impulsiveness, in that I would do stupid things during a flight test (very important for achieving your wings!) On one occasion I was being assessed for my final navigation flight test, and part of my flight route was very closed to my parent’s place on the low level leg. I chose to divert to their place and execute a low level noisy fly past in the training jet (a BAC 167 Strikemaster). Once I completed this diversion, the instructor said “What are you going to do to get back on track and achieve the target in time?
I responded saying that I would increase speed on the next two sections of the navigation and reach the target on time. Lucky for me I did achieve the target on time and passed with a low score! Very lucky.
At the end of the day, the course was 18 months intense training (way different from the relaxed laid back university training), which I accomplished, and I graduated as a military pilot.
And yes, my parents came to the graduation despite decrying my choice.
James Davey
21 October 2024
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