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| Go Light, take flight - Sunday Life Aug 2012 |
Friday, August 17, 2012
Flying Across The Causeway - Sunday Life!
An article about flying across the causeway. Featuring in the interview we have our Dream of Flight Team Members, Dinesh and Thomas. Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Journey to Becoming a Pilot - Part 8
Reading back on my previous post (Journey to Becoming a Pilot - Part 1), I remembered mentioning I would share with you my experience applying as a trainee with the Singapore Air Force. Before I started training as a recruit in BMT, I have no knowledge of flying at all. It was after I started training in Tekong that the recruitment officers from the air force came to give us a career seminar. The seminar was quite impressive, giving us the opportunity to experience flying and also maybe eventually piloting one of the F-16 sounds too good to be true for a recruit. Therefore after consulting with my parents, I signed up.
The response from the recruitment side was quite swift, within a week I was called up to attend a 5 hrs psychomotor test which consist of many questions and things you have to do with a computer apparently to test your reflexes and response. It was tiring facing a computer for 5 hrs.
After the test, about another week, I was called up to attend the medical check. Thereafter, once you pass all these tests, an interview with the management will be arranged, which it happened to me.
I was dressed up in my smartest uniform and entered the meeting room, to my shocked, the long table consist of about 8-10 panel mostly high ranked officers (Maj and above) which I had never seen. The highest ranked officer I met so far was maybe my company OC - a Cpt.
Anyway I saluted them and sat on this one chair prepared for me opposite them. They asked me all kind of questions and I tried to answer them and also show my enthusiasm. After the interview, I waited in a room for the result. A lady came in and told me I made it for the interview and I was required to sign a provisional contract which I gladly did.
I was very satisfied and I still cant believe I am joining the air force. The remainder of my training in Tekong, I did my best to get the best grade. However when the posting came after the BMT, they told me I did not make it for OCS and so they could not accept me into the air force. It was quite a shock after all the tests that I had gone through.
After my posting to SISPEC, I continued to appeal but they just couldn't help me. So my hope diminished with the air force but my appetite to be a pilot grows.
I remembered I still tried to apply after my 2 1/2 yrs national service. However I was told by the recruitment officer that the computer system will reject me because I did not make it to OCS. I told them I do not mind restarting my whole training again if need be to go through OCS again…but to no avail.
I am still pondering how do they gauged if a person is suitable to fly if they do not even give them a chance to be in a plane. Time to look for other alternatives…which I did.
The response from the recruitment side was quite swift, within a week I was called up to attend a 5 hrs psychomotor test which consist of many questions and things you have to do with a computer apparently to test your reflexes and response. It was tiring facing a computer for 5 hrs.
After the test, about another week, I was called up to attend the medical check. Thereafter, once you pass all these tests, an interview with the management will be arranged, which it happened to me.
I was dressed up in my smartest uniform and entered the meeting room, to my shocked, the long table consist of about 8-10 panel mostly high ranked officers (Maj and above) which I had never seen. The highest ranked officer I met so far was maybe my company OC - a Cpt.
Anyway I saluted them and sat on this one chair prepared for me opposite them. They asked me all kind of questions and I tried to answer them and also show my enthusiasm. After the interview, I waited in a room for the result. A lady came in and told me I made it for the interview and I was required to sign a provisional contract which I gladly did.
I was very satisfied and I still cant believe I am joining the air force. The remainder of my training in Tekong, I did my best to get the best grade. However when the posting came after the BMT, they told me I did not make it for OCS and so they could not accept me into the air force. It was quite a shock after all the tests that I had gone through.
After my posting to SISPEC, I continued to appeal but they just couldn't help me. So my hope diminished with the air force but my appetite to be a pilot grows.
I remembered I still tried to apply after my 2 1/2 yrs national service. However I was told by the recruitment officer that the computer system will reject me because I did not make it to OCS. I told them I do not mind restarting my whole training again if need be to go through OCS again…but to no avail.
I am still pondering how do they gauged if a person is suitable to fly if they do not even give them a chance to be in a plane. Time to look for other alternatives…which I did.
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