Cadetships 2004

[wannabe]

Thanks for the info alpha foxtrot.
Could you give me a few examples of what other activities an air corps officer would be involved in apart from flying?
Seems like a good interview question to me + i wouldnt have a clue if i was asked,
Cheers

[Ronan]

hi again..
apart from the more obvious questions such as: where have you shown good organisational skills.. and others related to the seven competences..
what other more unusual questions could be asked?
do they ask questions in relation to topical current affairs?
questions about aviation and in particular air corp planes and aviation? do you have to have a very good knowledge of air corp history and current planes? if anyone can help and post a list of all questions that are asked both usual and unusual! send me a PM..sėl vous plait!
 sound

[alpha foxtrot 07]

pilots make up the majority of the officer corp in the air corps, so most of the jobs that require a officer are filled by a pilot. an example, there is a detail every day for the guarding of the base, this is lead by a office is generally filled by a pilot officer.
as far as questions in the interview go, its general Q's about the corps, the aircraft, what you expect from the job, current affairs etc. its not to intense. as far as i could tell the general jist of the interview was to see what kind of person you are. from what i can tell the kind of people selected are the easy going easy to get along with peolpe who have an adventurious spirit.

[John K]

Er.... sorry, Alpha Fox, but that description doesn't match up with many Orderly Officers I came into contact with!

[alpha foxtrot 07]

can you elaborate john.

[yossarian]

I appreciate that operational matters can not be disscused on this forum but apart from base security, are there any other regular duties that you could vaguely outline. I understand that apart from the CASA crew's who fly the most hours by virtue of their patrol lengths, that 200hrs per anum is the average.

325 working days and 200hrs = 37mins flying per day as a very crude average

As it's a 12 year deal I'd like as much info as I can scrape together, thanks folks.

Yossarian

[John K]

Well without naming names Alpha, I was on guard duty an awful lot of times in the late '70s as an airman, then as an NCO (as Guard Commander) then I went on to Flying Crew on Heli's, part of the remit was that Flying Crew didn't have to do Gate Duties as they had their own duties to do. Well, after about 3 years of not doing a guard a new rule came out that Flying crew had to do 2 guards a year. I couldn't remember what to do! "Guard Commander take post!" ".........er....." Well the Orderly officer didn't want to know, he hounded me for the 24 hours, phoning me, sneaking up at the back of the guardroom, etc. I tried to reason with him, if I hadn't worked on an aircraft for 3 years you wouldn't expect me to just steam into it, would you? But he wouldn't listen or advise me and he wasn't untypical of the junior officers I came into contact with as an airman in my younger days. I bet you were cushy, though!

[alpha foxtrot 07]

sounds about right john, dirty tricks are very common. like having to report to the guard house every half hour in a different get-up because you fell asleep in a lecture even though you just spent 3 days running around in the woods.

[John K]

So do you think a little communication would have been in order? I mean in the instance I gave I told him my predicament, but he just seemed to revel in my ...er...forgetfulness! Maybe if he'd told me that he'd just been bollocked by his boss we could have come to an arrangement!

[alpha foxtrot 07]

yea a little communication would have been good, he should have listened to what you had to say and then told you what to do, i mean thats what i would do, saves time and i hate agro anyway.

[MatRotor]

fouga- there hasn't been a recruit platoon in the air corps for years. they were taken on to do guard and such as far as i know but when passed out found they didn't like the sh***y end of the stick and soon moved on to other jobs and appointments. seems to have soured the brass to the idea. imagine, the enlisted pers. want to better themselves and improve there lot in life.

[Ronan]

another question...
could anyone give me a detailed description of every different test in the apptitude assement..
and are the majority based on technical stuff..maths and physics, etc?
where could one get sample tests to practise on..off parc aviation maybe??  on www.shireland.com/army/home  they only show sample test relating to army and navy so where could i get sample tests to help prepare me.
any help appreciated.. '>

[wannabe]

Ronan,
you will find it very difficult to get sample aptitude tests to practice. theres no way you will get them off parc aviation!
when i did the aptitude tests for the aer lingus trainee pilot scheme-i was unsucessfull so i innocently emailed parc to see if i could buy sample tests off them.( it was worth a try)
i cant remember their exact response but she basically gave out to me for even asking. your best bet is to search on google for sample tests or check out a few bookshops-they sell many books on how to succeed at aptitude tests.
best of luck.

[John K]

Aptitude tests? For Cadetships Irish Air Corps? Well you could start by checking your family tree to see if you had any relatives who fought with Michael Collins! Or if any neighbours know a TD!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Call me cynical!)

[Ronan]

i don`t have any relations like that or know any T.D`S.. im just going to give my best..and be positive. If the IAC and army don`t want me, then that`s their loss..
another question..
are they biased against you if your young.. ie:18. do they specifically want older guys to join?
and please don`t answer with the usual : it doesn`t matter anyways `cos if you dont know someone high up your screwed lark.