RAAF Williamtown Work Experience
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in the Australian Defence Force (ADF)? I’m Ewen, and I got to spend a day at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base Williamtown. While I was there, I was given the opportunity to experience what everyday life is like for many RAAF Servicemen and women, and I was given the perspective of many roles stemming from mission aircrew to officer roles, as well as other unexpected roles that are essential in the ADF.
When I first arrived at the base, the group was given a briefing as well as a Q&A session with Officers and Pilots in training about how to apply for and participate in many different roles, including Fast Jet Pilot, Air Battle Manager and Air Traffic Controller. We were also given important information regarding where we would be deployed to if we were accepted into these jobs, followed by the long and detailed application process for Officer training and how to practice for its fitness and aptitude tests, which have their own dedicated apps for android and IOS devices, ADF Aptitude and ADF Active.
After the initial briefing, the group was taken to do the RAAF fitness test in a gym while hearing F-35 Lightning II fighters fly over. The tests were given by a professional trainer who is a sergeant in the RAAF. He explained how he entered the ADF aiming for a different role, but he discovered that he could be a Physical Trainer and switched to fill that role. I found it a bit unexpected to find Physical Trainers in the RAAF, but we also learnt that there are Firefighters, Solicitors, Cooks and many other non-aviation centred jobs in the RAAF that are in completely different fields while still having the benefits from being in the ADF.
After the test was over, we took a bus across the base to visit 76 SQN, the fighter training group. We were given presentations on the job of a Fast Jet Pilot and of a Weapons Systems Officer, who sits in the back seat of the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the E/A-18 Growler. We were told about where the jobs will take you, how they train, and how an average day looks for them. We were also given the opportunity to fly in the Hawk-127 Simulators they use for training, costing around $25 million dollars each.
We were also shown around an Air Traffic Control tower, where I watched 8 F-35s take off, and we were given an overview on how Air Traffic Controllers were trained, and we learnt how to schedule basic take off and landings in a simulation. We were then taken to the Surveillance and Control Training Unit, where we saw Navy, as well as Air Force officers being trained to be Air Battle Managers by learning to use Radar and Satellite systems used in land, water and air-based radar stations and we were given a demonstration on designating a target entering Sydney’s airspace for fighters to intercept in a simulation.
To conclude, we were taken to 2 SQN, responsible for AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) on board the E-7 Wedgetail. We were given a full tour of the inside and outside of the aircraft, and were allowed to ask questions about the job of an Air Battle Manager and about the aircraft in general.
Overall, I believe the day was an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in aviation or the ADF in general to give you a look at some aircraft and at what the military life can be like.
Ewen Scholfield
(Year 10)
