Thread: Army Air Corps Flying Grading

I am due to attend Air Corps Flying Grading in April before I start Sandhurst in May.

Ive been reading all the threads left by others on the subject of preperation and what to expect and they've been pretty helpful.

I'm still trying to decide on one thing though, and hoping someone can offer some advice....Is it a good idea to get a few hours practical flying training before you attend Army Flying Grading?? Some say yes as it will help you to be a little prepared on your subject, while others say no as declaring previous experience will simply make it harder to do well. Which is right?!!

Also, is there anyone out there who has done Flying Grading with zero prior experience? if so how did you find it? was it harder to do with no prior experince? i.e. will I risk looking like an idiot who didnt prepare properly?!!

Its always a difficult question to answer. My thoughts are it can be useful to get a couple of hours (and I mean only a couple) if you've never flown before.

Pros: You have a very rough idea of what its like in the 3rd dimension. You can see how the instruments interact with the aircraft and the controls (pull back on stick, speed reduces, VSI + altimeter increase etc). And quite importantly, you will get a rough idea if you actually like flying!

Cons: You can pick up bad habits. You turn up at Wallop thinking you know it all. You have a badly preconceived idea of what is expected of you.

All in all the best way of preparing is to fly something like MS Flight Sim for a bit. It allows you to see how the aircraft flies, what inputs you require to do various things and how the instruments work. Also work on your mental dexterity. Do some distance/speed/time calculations in your head as often as you can.

Flying Grading prefers you to be a 'blank piece of paper'. Its about assessing to see if you can take instruction whilst in the 3rd dimension and nothing more. Its to see if you can pass the Army Flying course in the required time. Its not designed to teach you to fly.

Good to see you are still around TLF.

While I never did the Army Pilots Course, curse me as you will :D , knowing what it was all about in the cockpit helped me with my CPL later on.

Knowing what the guages are telling you helps no end. Microsoft Flight Simulator might be scorned but giving you cockpit awareness is something it does very well.

It won't make you a pilot but it will make you aware of what you are looking at, it does help. A few lessons probably won't help though, you either can or you can't. Army pilots need to be from the can from the get go, TLF knows more of this than me, I learnt as a civi, even monkeys can do it there.

Good luck though, helicopter pilots are gods children, anyone who says otherwise is a door gunner and wears leather on their head, with zips. ;)

Monkeys can do it the Army to.

Out of my intake, most of us had some experience when we went on our various grading courses and all passed. Although there are a lot with no experience who pass and those with experience who fail.

I would go with the flight sim - having a heads up on the instruments will help no end.

Originally Posted by Major_Clanger

Out of my intake, most of us had some experience when we went on our various grading courses and all passed. Although there are a lot with no experience who pass and those with experience who fail.

Quite the reverse on mine, I'm afraid.

Originally Posted by Victorian_Major

Originally Posted by Major_Clanger

Out of my intake, most of us had some experience when we went on our various grading courses and all passed. Although there are a lot with no experience who pass and those with experience who fail.

Quite the reverse on mine, I'm afraid.

You weren't on the one where all but one failed per chance....?!

Originally Posted by Major_Clanger

Originally Posted by Victorian_Major

Originally Posted by Major_Clanger

Out of my intake, most of us had some experience when we went on our various grading courses and all passed. Although there are a lot with no experience who pass and those with experience who fail.

Quite the reverse on mine, I'm afraid.

You weren't on the one where all but one failed per chance....?!

It used to be like that years ago. Gradings far too easy now.........

On my course all those with previous experience failed and those without passed. The secret ingredient is in the course title, GRADING. Each and every sortie is graded and a posititve improvement across the course is necessary to pass. Those people whom turn up and excel straight away cannot improve whereas those like me who turned up with no idea improved throughout.

Of course all of this is just my own personal speculation.

And above all shut up, the guy (or girl) in the aircraft with you can spot a smart arse at two thousand yards. So if you have previous time in air, good keep it to yourself, even on the good advice from TLF hours on the MS sim. good shut up. Your not the next Douglas Bader or anything you are a wanna be proving you can cut the learning curve from scratch. So like any good soldier or wanna be officer, keep your mouth in check, learn their checks there way, do it their way. Complete the course pass the pilots course THEN sprout to the world how you know it better than everyone who has ever done that course. Please don't do the last bit as you will end up tarred and feathered with things in your butt you don't want to be there one dark night. Good luck enjoy and Chill. ( and no I have no personal time of the latter comment either, just have seen a few the got close)

Originally Posted by Major_Clanger

Originally Posted by Victorian_Major

Originally Posted by Major_Clanger

Out of my intake, most of us had some experience when we went on our various grading courses and all passed. Although there are a lot with no experience who pass and those with experience who fail.

Quite the reverse on mine, I'm afraid.

You weren't on the one where all but one failed per chance....?!

Nooooo. But there were three passes from a cadre (IIRC) of 9 and all three passes (two E3) had never done any previous flying other than MSFS. The four or so guys with flying experience (UAS etc) failed.

I would totally attribute my pass at OASC to the Nofrendo 64, Super Mario Cart and Goldeneye and a whole load of corimex time in Bosnia's Largest Mong Farm.