Things to know about Becoming an RSAF pilot
There are three pilot streams open to you if you join the RSAF. These are:- The Fighter pilot stream
- One must be a Singapore Permanent Resident or a Singapore Citizen aged 18 years or above
- The aspirant should possess a complete GCE ‘A’ Level Certification/IB Certificate or a relevant Degree/Diploma
- Medical fitness (Physical Employment Status A or B)
- Eyesight correctable to 6/6 vision, not over 600 degrees for each eye
- Normal colour vision with no significant deficiencies of the eye
- Astigmatism not over 200 degrees for each eye
- Height should vary from 1.62m to 1.90m
Selection Process
To become an RSAF pilot, the candidate has to go through a rigorous selection process involving three stages. The first stage involves the 5-hour Computerized Aptitude Selection System (COMPASS) test, which evaluates areas such as spatial awareness, multitasking under stress, psycho-motor skills and decision-making ability.
Candidates who are successful in the COMPASS test have to go through the second stage, which involves an interview with the Pilot Selection Board, comprising a panel of around 4 RSAF officers. The main aspects assessed in the interview include leadership qualities and the candidate’s interest in becoming an RSAF pilot.
The last stage of the selection process includes an aeromedical checkup, wherein the candidate’s medical fitness, along with the capability of functioning in unnatural surroundings, is evaluated by aviation doctors. Upon qualifying for all these levels, the candidate gets selected and begins BMT (Basic Military Training).
Here is the training breakdown:
Basic Military Training 9 weeks Air Grading (Jandakot, Australia) 2 months Common Leadership Module (SAFTI MI) 2 weeks Air Force Service Term (SAFTI MI) 7 weeks Jungle Orientation Training 2 weeks Aviation Ground School (AFTC) 3 months Basic Wing Course (Pearce, Australia) 6-9 months Advanced Flying Course (Canada/France/Italy/USA/Singapore) Up to 15 months
Recommendations
Joining the SYFC (Singapore Youth Flying Club) is highly recommended for those who aspire to become RSAF pilots. You can become a part of SYFC while you are still at school, and this can replace your obligatory CCA in school. The SYFC has close connections with the RSAF, and if a student manages to obtain a private pilot’s license, the road to becoming a pilot becomes easier.Tired of searching and comparing various pilot courses?
Enquire for ALL A Singaporean male student has to enrol in National Service following completion of pre-tertiary studies. RSAF recruitment talks are carried out during the initial three months of BMT. If your dream is to become an RSAF pilot, grab the opportunity and talk to the recruiters about this! For those who successfully enlist as an RSAF pilot, do try applying for the SAF-Merit Scholarship! It’s available to both locals and PRs and will cover your tuition fees for up to 4 years as well as provide you with a monthly salary throughout, among others. Competition is tough, but there’s no harm in trying. right? Check the details out here!
Procedure for Becoming a Commercial Pilot
The RSAF is undoubtedly the first choice for those aspiring to become a pilot in Singapore. However, if you fail to qualify for the RSAF, there are indeed chances of becoming a commercial pilot. First of all, you need to get a medical examination scheduled with a selected medical examiner. Following this, you are required to apply for a Student Pilot License offered by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). After this, an application can be made to join some of the flight schools present in Singapore, such as the Singapore Flying College or the Seletar Flight School. One can get trained for joining the Singapore Airlines Group (if you are a successful candidate with SIA (Singapore Airlines/Scoot), your training is fully funded). With the help of a Commercial Pilot License, one can become the co-pilot and the Pilot In Command of a multi-crew aircraft and single-crew aircraft, respectively. The required criteria are the following (generally):- The applicant’s age must be 18 years or more.
- Class I/II Medical Requirements must be met
- It is mandatory for the applicant to demonstrate the capability of understanding and speaking English to a minimum of Level 4 (Operational Level) as per guidelines laid down by the Language Proficiency Rating Scale of ICAO.
Going private
If you want to fly an aeroplane badly but have exhausted the above 2 options to no avail, consider taking a private pilot license instead. The downside is that you will not be able to bring a hundred people with you to the sky. If a commercial pilot is a bus captain, then a private pilot is a car driver. Okay, not exactly the best analogy… but you get the idea.
With a PPL or Private Pilot License, the holder can fly as the co-pilot or the PIC (Pilot in Command) of an aircraft registered in Singapore, not for reward or hire, but for the aircraft categories which the license endorses.
The following criteria must be met by the applicants:
- The applicant’s age must not be below 17 years.
- The applicant must conform to Class 2 Medical Requirements. If the applicant desires a PPL along with Instrument Rating, he or she must conform to a Class 1 Medical Requirement
- Level 4 English speaking and understanding ability as per ICAO Language Proficiency Rating Scale is required
- complete an approved flight training programme that meets the minimum flying experience requirements; and pass the flight test
Tired of searching and comparing various pilot course?
Glasgow ranks as the UK’s third-best student city (25th worldwide) in QS Best Student Cities 2023.
The Russell Group was formally incorporated in 2007 but first began meeting in 1994. It comprises 24 of the UK’s leading universities, which together, teach one-quarter of the UK’s undergraduate population. The universities also produce much of the UK’s world-leading (academic) research, so this is something you should take note of if you are looking into the postgraduate qualification with a research focus or research-heavy component.
Other networks or groupings in the UK you can read up about include the University Alliance and the N8 Research Partnership!
Areas of Specialisation
The universities of the United Kingdom are well known for their academic excellence and for offering a huge variety of courses (there’s even a degree in Applied Golf Management!)
Which field(s) are you keen to major in, and which UK university will help you gain an edge? Here are some to consider*:
Ergonomic equipment such as posture-supporting office chairs, adjustable computer monitors, and ergonomic keyboards offer four major benefits to workers and students.
These include:
When standing, your spine is in a neutral position, which will take the pressure off of your back and prevent unnecessary back pain.
Another benefit of standing while working or studying is that you can burn more calories than if you were sitting. Since you have no choice but to stand at a standing desk, you can automatically offset the effects of any harmful sedentary lifestyle habits you may have picked up while pursuing your studies or career.
Ergonomic chairs are chairs that are designed to fit the contours of your body and provide support in all the right places.
These chairs provide three main benefits: back pain reduction, improved posture, and increased blood circulation.
The latter might be of particular importance to you if you are currently a student since improved blood flow brings more 
There are many reasons why you might want to go on exchange. One would be that it freezes your CAP (or GPA). Now, what exactly does this mean? Let me explain. Under normal circumstances, in university, your grades accumulate every semester and the grade you receive for each module is included in the calculation of your CAP score. For example, if you score A+ for everything, you get a higher CAP as compared to scoring B+.
However, when you go on an exchange, the modules are pass-fail. This means that the actual grade does not matter — you only need to be concerned about passing. The grades for modules taken during an exchange programme will not be calculated, and your CAP will not be affected by the semester. However, the module credits will still count towards your course. This means that you can fulfill your course requirements while taking harder modules, without the fear of your CAP going down!
Another factor would be the interesting modules offered. Regardless of whether the exchange university is local or overseas, the modules offered are much more interesting and engaging than those in your university. They have a larger variety, and many of the modules listed cannot be directly linked back to a module code in your university. This means that they teach topics that are not offered in your university, allowing you to increase learning!
A final factor would be cost. When considering an SEP, you can also consider how much money is required. Cost can help you choose between a local and overseas SEP, since overseas universities tend to have higher costs than local universities.
One additional consideration relevant to overseas SEP would be the longing to experience a different country and culture. It is no secret that Singapore is far too small, and it can be refreshing to go to an entirely new country and gain exposure to the world.
As mentioned previously, there are two kinds of SEP: local and overseas. Under both categories, there are factors to consider before you make your final decision.
For an overseas SEP, there are obviously a lot more factors to consider, and the most important criterion differs from person to person.
For example, I know of some students who immediately rule out certain countries due to either safety reasons or parental restrictions. They are either more concerned about their safety in a country like the United States or have parents that do not want them to attend university there. Thus, any US placement is automatically ruled out.
Others tend to choose by country — for example, some students enjoy visiting the UK and thus focus on choosing an institution within the country. When choosing a country, common factors people consider tend to be safety, language (ensure that the modules are taught in English), the tourist attractions (such as food, the things to do there, etc.) and cost.
For cost, some countries have a higher exchange rate than others (e.g., US, UK versus China, Korea, Japan), and so some people tend to choose the cheaper countries to save on finances. Although this is not an exhaustive list, these are some of the things you too can consider when picking a country.
Personally, the best way to choose is by considering the modules offered. My method was to go down the list of modules, have a rough idea of the topics of interest, and see which university offers them. For example, I am not particularly interested in topics such as gender studies, and do not wish to take any module already offered in NUS. Those topics were automatically ruled out.
The topics I was interested in included anything relating to children, the family, or the law, so any module along those lines was a possibility for me. Additionally, when doing module mapping, you need to ensure that you can reliably list down five possible modules you wish to take. Thus, I needed to find a university that provided five modules within my scope of interest.
Also note that when submitting your SEP plan (for NUS), you need to identify five different universities, and for each university five potential modules you wish to take. And while this may sound simple, you will soon find that scrolling through the long list of possible universities and seeing the long list of potential modules offered can be tiresome. Additionally, it can be difficult sometimes to identify five universities, especially when certain countries are ruled out.
For example, although the US provides many interesting modules, some of my friends had no choice but to rule out the country. However, this left them with limited options. Some countries offer less-interesting modules, or similar content taught in NUS. Others offer so few modules that there was no point in choosing them.
While you decide which factor to prioritize, keep in mind that the criteria you choose can limit your options.
To sum it up, here are the steps to decide on a SEP:
The University of Melbourne (UoM) was established in 1853 and is the second oldest university in Australia. It’s a sandstone university (a term used referring to Australia’s oldest tertiary education institutions) with a campus that looks like something out of Hogwarts. More than just a pretty face, UoM also holds its own academically. Ranked number one in the country according to the THE rankings 2023 (a spot it often competes for with ANU), Australia’s second oldest university also boasts an illustrious alumni group of four Aussie prime ministers and nine Nobel Laureates.
Inheritance was written by Balli Kaur Jaswal and published in 2013. It is a fictional prose set in the 1970s to the 1990s, during Singapore’s changing political, social and cultural landscape. Balli Kaur Jaswal wrote of the country’s coming-of-age story through a traditional Punjabi family.
Told through the Sikh diaspora community in Singapore, the novel centres on constructing an individual’s identity. Inheritance highlights the conflicts and struggles to form a Singaporean identity during the country’s rapid development. Highlighting Singaporean’s struggle to balance their country’s expectations with their own, Inheritance engages with readers on questions of family legacies and questions about one’s sense of belonging. Ultimately, Inheritance raises the question of what makes a Singaporean identity.
Ministry of Moral Panic, written by Amanda Lee Koe, was published in 2013. It was hailed as the 2014 Singapore Literature Prize for Fiction winner. Ministry of Moral Panic acts as a social commentary on modern Singapore told through a collection of short stories. Positioned in an off-centred fictional world, moral lessons are taught to readers after each story. The short stories touch on familial tensions, surviving in contemporary society, and anxiety about forming human connections, which are issues Singaporeans face at one point. In addition, Amanda Lee Koe dives into the nostalgic memories of Singaporeans to create stories about the intimacy of sexual relationships, interpersonal connections and the question of morality. If you are looking for a quirky yet engaging Singlit title to read, Ministry of Moral Panic could be the one for you.
Lion City by Ng Yi Sheng was published in 2018. This contemporary sci-fi book lies within strange tales of the Lion City. Dive into the world of myths, magical realism and all things eccentric. It is the place where a man discovers that all the animals in the Zoo are robots! Is there a terminal in Changi Airport dedicated to the Gods? A prince falls in love with a crocodile! A concubine lost in time? The island of Singapore disappears! Encapsulated in the form of short stories, award-winning poet and playwright Ng Yi Sheng invites readers to view Singapore in a revolutionary and mysterious way.
Curated as a series of essays, this book is an ethnography of inequality that addresses questions raised. The essays are to be read individually but arranged in a way to be of totality and in sequence. This collection aims to give readers an insight into low-income individuals in Singapore. Hence it portrays the connection between our experiences and the structural conditions of inequality. You Yenn Teo urges readers to reflect on the narrative and discourses we involve ourselves in, particularly about inequality and poverty. Essential for readers of all fields aspiring to be more critical when reading narratives about the working class of Singapore.
Being a debut collection published in 2016, It Never Rains on National Day was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize in 2016. Connecting the stories of Singaporeans living abroad into a unified narrative to share how they celebrate and identify with Singapore’s National Day in their unique ways. Readers craving nostalgia and wanting to rediscover their connection to Singapore should pick this up!
Kopi, Puffs & Dreams is a fictional tale about two young men from Palakkad, Puthu and Krishnan, who met aboard a ship bound for Malaya and instantly connected. Over the next two decades, they opened a restaurant in Singapore selling curry puffs and kopi. However, a dark secret looms over Krishnan that threatens to destroy the success of his restaurant. Will the mystery be revealed carelessly? You are in for a treat if you love unexpected twists and turns in a book!
