Canadian Forces Air Reserve

[Ashbringer]

a

[2775PSI]

Here's a copy and paste from their website.. http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/ar-ra/ ... asp?id=761

Eligibility - Enrolment Standards

In order to become a member of the Air Reserve, you must meet the following criteria:

Citizenship: You must be a Canadian citizen

Character: You must have a record of good conduct. In addition, you will need a written recommendation following a unit interview and no outstanding legal commitments or obligations to a Canadian judicial system,

Age: The minimum age to join the Air Reserve is set at 18 years; however there are exceptions. If you are under 18, you'll need written parental or guardian consent. At the other end of the spectrum, you should have sufficient time remaining to serve in the Primary Reserve before reaching Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA)

Medical: You must meet minimum enrolment standards for the regular force (see your local Recruiting Centre or Air Reserve Flight for details)

Academic Requirements: The academic requirements vary depending on which occupation you are going into. The minimum education required of officers is a high school certificate leading to university entrance in the province where it was issued. For non-commissioned members, it is grade 10 or equivalent.

Landed Immigrant Status: Acitizen of another country who has the status of a permanent resident of Canada (landed immigrant status) and meets the professional qualifications may be considered for enrolment if the national interest would not be prejudiced.

[Bushav8er]

Your source for info - http://www.forces.ca/en/page/serviceopt ... oduction-0

Unlike the 'old days' when we had P-51s, Sabres etc for reserves, that fell to (piston) Otters and Kiowa helos and now???

Basically for reserve, its the same as for Reg Force for pilots so you may as well go Reg, but browse the web site anyway, I could be wrong.

Primary occupations, designated "(P)" are open to all applicants. Secondary occupations, designated "(S)" are open to skilled or semi-skilled applicants only, which means that the applicant must have some or all of the trade skills prior to enrolment.

Aircrew

* Pilot (S)

Good Luck

[Big Pistons Forever]

Pilot training for Reservists has not been available for many years. When the aircrew training was privitized the training capacity was significantly reduced. There is a significant backlog for Regular Force pilot training slots so there is zero chance they will use one for a Reservist.
Bottom line for now and the foreseeable future, all Reserve pilots will be retired Regular Force Officers. Sad actually, as the Air Reserve is a pale shadow of its former self and has basically become the Temp Agency when the Regular Force needs some part time help from guys/gals who are allready trained to Reg Force standards with Reg Force experience. The day of the Citizen airman/airwomen Reservist is long gone .......

[TheCheez]

Sad actually, as the Air Reserve is a pale shadow of its former self...

<cut some>
The CF should offer a new incentive for young commercial pilots, such as a new pilot reservists entry plan for holders of commercial licence and instrument rating as a minimum.

I agree with everything you mentioned except this. In the reg force that level of experience only gets you past primary flight training in certain circumstances. The guys from my diploma program now fly for Jazz, Porter, WJ etc and I'm about to finish my OTU on my first airframe. If they tried to do some kind of reserve pilot training program at the same time it would just hold back both their civy and military careers.

[hootbag]

I was accepted as a Reserve Pilot 2007. I had no military flying background. Training slots are arranged on an adhoc basis.

PM me and I'll tell you all about.

[Cap'n P8]

Heli right?

[frozen solid]

I've often thought that there are some jobs in military aviation that could be accomplished by reservists, that would work out better for everyone concerned. In particular, SAR and transport. In certain circumstances of course. I'm not talking about recent flight school graduates but rather, the 10 or 20 thousand-plus-hour twin otter pilots who occupy the north in swarms, or the DC3/Basler, Dash seven, Buffalo, pilots (et cetera) who fly in the most challenging conditions worldwide, are current, experienced, adaptable and ready. I'm not trying to cast aspersions on the current CF pilots who do these things, but I believe there are lots of jobs in the non-tactical side of aviation that are able to be accomplished by pilots who are just as capable, brave, and disciplined as their reg force counterparts. This idea might inflame those of you who are CF members, and there would obviously have to be a selection process as well as military training, but like I say there are jobs there that would be a good fit for the guys who are already doing it day in and day out as a regular part of their lives. Needless to say, the Armed forces as they currently exist do not have room for a volunteer force of pilots. The five Twin otters with no floats, for example, are pretty limited machines no matter how many people are willing to crew them.

[Bushav8er]

In principle I agree with you Luckyboy, and although Frozen Solid made some suggestions, I have to ask;

what would they fly based on the current CF inventory? I don't think they are about to purchase new aircraft (of suitable type) for reservists.

The Twin Otter had floats available when I was in the CF - did they get rid of them?

Sad actually, as the Air Reserve is a pale shadow of its former self...

Not only the Air Reserve I'm afraid, but the entire regular Air Force too.

I have to disagree. Although they are not as 'grand' as the 'old days' they are certainly doing better now that the Government has spent money on them; C17s, C130s, choppers, ships, Army equipment etc. They are better equipped now than 20 years ago.

[Brewguy]

As much as it pains me to say it, this is one area where the US excels. They have a very healthy Air Force Reserve & Air National Guard. They train and equip them, and they use them quite liberally to augment their reg forces.

Of course their military is huge and they spend bags and bags of money on it. So it is an unfair comparison. But living in a border town, I know quite a few people with dual citizenship who live in Canada, but serve in the US Reserves.

As far as Canada goes, there was some talk quite a few years ago now, of adding Auxiliary (Reservist) Flights to some Reg Force squadrons, particularly SAR units.

[Ashbringer]

I received this from a CF-recruiter via email today:


Good Day,

Thank you for your interest in the Canadian Forces (CF).
Pilots in the Reserves are only former trained Regular Force pilots. There currently does not exist any program for civilians to join the Reserves and then be trained as a Pilot. Civilian pilot licences would not make you able to apply for Pilot in the Reserves.
Should you have any additional questions please contact us by email, chat or the toll-free number below.

You may apply online at www.forces.ca

Sincerely,

[jeta1]

.

[TheCheez]

Comparing what we have to the US is simply not realistic. I just returned from spending a good amount of time with a Guard unit and we live in two different realities, money being a large part of it. It costs them buckets to maintain the reserves/ANG and if there's anyone coming to work year to year is 100% dependant on airline health. The flying is also streamlined to make it easier on guys who are only around a few days here and there. They are very very capable pilots but going to war requires extra workups and lengthy planning to see who might come along. Any short notice moves are limited by who's around that day/week. USAF doctrine accommodates all that, but ours would need a significant re-write.

Bushav8tor: We lost the float/ski capability in the late 90's IIRC as people with the skills got posted out and fresh blood posted in and not trained in it for reasons unknown to me, eventually we reached a point where no one can do it. Restoring a capability like that in the CF is unfortunately easier said than done - which is why we fight so hard to maintain a sub hunter force and train air to air combat on the fighters. We're having a fun time trying to reintroduce certain skills with the C130J right now that the old hercs did, but were cast aside as the fleet shrunk.

[Brewguy]

... We're having a fun time trying to reintroduce certain skills with the C130J right now that the old hercs did, but were cast aside as the fleet shrunk.

JATO and/or LAPES type fun?

[AuxBatOn]

I know 2-3 reserve pilots with no previous reg force experience. You need to talk to the units directly and have at least 500 hrs and a Multi-IFR (for fixed wings, not sure of the requirements for rotary). Units are 402 Sqn in Winnipeg, 400 Sqn in Borden and 438 Sqn in St-Hubert(Griffons).

[Moose47]

<<<I know 2-3 reserve pilots with no previous reg force experience. You need to talk to the units directly and have at least 500 hrs and a Multi-IFR (for fixed wings, not sure of the requirements for rotary). Units are 402 Sqn in Winnipeg, 400 Sqn in Borden and 408 Sqn in St-Hubert(Griffons).>>>

Salut Aux

408 'Goose' Tactical Helicopter Squadron is based at Namao, Alberta I believe you meant 438 'City of Montreal' Tactical Helicopter Squadron at St-Hubert. Quebec

Cheers...Chris

[Ashbringer]

I know 2-3 reserve pilots with no previous reg force experience. You need to talk to the units directly and have at least 500 hrs and a Multi-IFR (for fixed wings, not sure of the requirements for rotary). Units are 402 Sqn in Winnipeg, 400 Sqn in Borden and 408 Sqn in St-Hubert(Griffons).

Do reserve pilots go through all the same training that pilots in the regular force go through? They'd obviously have to do BOTC, but are they also required to do SLT, land/sea survival courses, BFT, and AFT? I'm assuming with a prerequisite of 500h Multi-IFR they can definitely bypass PFT, but how much flight training do they receive?

[AuxBatOn]

Salut Moose,

Indeed, 438 Sqn in St-Hubert. My bad.

[Bushav8er]

I know 2-3 reserve pilots with no previous reg force experience. You need to talk to the units directly and have at least 500 hrs and a Multi-IFR (for fixed wings, not sure of the requirements for rotary). Units are 402 Sqn in Winnipeg, 400 Sqn in Borden and 438 Sqn in St-Hubert(Griffons).

Aren't all the Reserve Units rotary wing now?

[AuxBatOn]

402 is a "Total Force" unit, meaning it employs both Reserve and Reg Force pers (actually, every unit can do that, however, 402 Sqn employs a lot of reservists, both Class A and B)

[Beaverhunter]

The Yellowknife HR mentioned 1000 hrs total time.
Time on type which would be the DHC-6
and pass the medical, as well as boot camp for 6 weeks in St. Jean

I'm sure it all depends on who your talking to not to mention the base your interested in joining the reserves

[petite]

I looked into the reserves as a mechanic and got two different responses. This was due to the two different locations I asked.

When I was shacked up in Gagetown aka Oromocto NB, I got an almost immediate position with the Griffin Squadron as an avionics tech. I am trained a structures tech but they were full but the sqn was willing to pay for my avionics training due to my past education and work experience. Unfortunately, I left the province shortly after my paperwork due to a personal issue.

I tried to take my paperwork with me to Moose Jaw but they were full in every position. The WO liked me because we were both S types and we would shoot the shit, so he wanted me to apply for any position that came along with the Sqn to get closer to the action in the hangar.

Both of these ancedotes illustrate that it is more about where you are and who you know. Get friendly with the right people and have something close to what they want and you'll get into the Cadpat Weekend Club.

I wish you luck with finding a flying position in or out of the CF Reserves.