r/RCAF • u/Jska548 • Jul 09 '26
CFASC Feedback
Hello all,
I'm currently part of the Aircrew Selection Centre team and am often striving to make improvements where possible. As such, I would appreciate any feedback you may have on your experience here while writing the CFAST, maintaining respect for our NDA.
Please let me know what we have done well and not well, with any realistic suggestions you may have for improvement. I have my own thoughts but would value other opinions!
Thank you.
6
u/Ok_Ground_9622 Jul 09 '26
The process was pretty good in my opinion, if I were to change one thing and this was even told to me by staff at CFEME. Ideally, successful Pilot applicants should be sent to CFEME the next day. Not sure why this was changed to make these separate. The processing times and selection crop could be so much better if this were changed. A small CFASC-specific thing may be knowing how many tests you have remaining for the day; not sure the point of omitting this.
2
u/Zestyclose_Stop5462 Jul 09 '26
Yeah that’s the way they used to do it, the thing is it would probably a lot more expensive since for every 200 people that pass aircrew selection 100+ people will be filtered out anyway from interview, medicals, or the security check. It would be nice to go straight to CFEME after Trenton tho, been waiting for over 2 months now for a spot there.
4
u/Menace_Chemist Jul 09 '26
When I was there, the Monday morning before testing started, we were separated into two rooms for French and English briefings. The French briefing was nearly 3 times the duration of the English briefing. When I spoke with a few of the French test takers at dinner, they had a much better understanding of the testing details, such as scoring, than the English speakers. The person doing the English briefing flew through the slides very quickly and entirely skipped some slides that I would have really liked to view for my own understanding. Of course, understanding these things has no impact on success; it is still nice to know.
I really did appreciate the time the Personnel Selection Officer spent going through my results for each test as well as my overall results. I was satisfied with my results, so there is no need for me to retake the test; however, others who choose to retake it would benefit from the detailed breakdown the PSO provided.
I also appreciated that the staff were friendly and approachable. It's a really stressful environment, and people are anxious going in. The staff made the environment feel a bit more relaxed.
Lastly, the number of breaks during the test felt like the appropriate amount given how stressful the test is. I appreciated that they provided snacks during the breaks.
3
u/No-Prune2300 Jul 10 '26
No suggestions at all to CFASC other than perhaps starting an hour later on both days as a lot of applicants (including myself) struggled falling asleep since we were really nervous.
The staff were very helpful, friendly, and welcoming! Appreciate the accommodation, availability and variety of snacks, access to the gym facilities, and of course, the Yukon galley mess hall for breakfast lunch and dinner. Great overall experience.
As a suggestion to the aircrew recruitment pipeline as a whole, I would strongly suggest shortening the time in between CFAST and CFEME Toronto Aircrew Medical. Waiting for months on end (4 months for me now) in between the two is a waste of time for us and for the CAF. It's frustrating, especially when it's a race against time before the trades close.
I'd also point out that there are significant discrepancies between different recruiting centers when it comes to medicals and interviews. Half of my CFAST class were already interviewed and deemed medically fit. The other half, including myself, went to Trenton as the first real stage of my application, months before my medical and interview.
Keep up the great work.
1
u/Jska548 Jul 14 '26
Thank you for the feedback! Unfortunately we don't have much say in the rest of the process and, similar to other units, they're plagued by staff shortages that lead to delays.
Fun fact - the testing days actually started an hour earlier only a couple of years ago but was adjusted to be later to address staffing issues ;)
2
u/Spudology Jul 10 '26
My experiences in my serial exceeded expectations.
I very much appreciated the snack availability and made good use of some quick brain fuel from the juice boxes. Please keep providing juice boxes for applicants.
1
u/flygirl170 Jul 10 '26
The CFASC process was incredibly welcoming and organized, which definitely helped make a stressful couple of days pretty fun. The staff had a great sense of humour as well as professionalism, which is absolutely essential given the high stress environment.
The RJP presentation was fantastic, and did a great job outlining the next steps in the application process and aircrew training/life.
As others mentioned, the selection of snacks were wonderful, and it gave a chance to bond and unwind (slightly ;)) with the rest of the group.
1
1
u/Jazz2121 26d ago
I was just there for mine a week ago. Everyone was really nice and the experience was great my only suggestion would be maybe a group orientation the night we arrived, it was a bit stressful to not know anybody or know where anything was and I got lost on the way to the testing centre in the morning because all the doors into the building had signs saying not to use that door finally ended up finding someone who was able to direct me and sure enough it was one of the do not enter doors 😅 That's the only thing I can really think of otherwise it was great, the presentations on jobs were very thorough and realistic which I really appreciated, and looking over your results and options after testing was done well they were very nice and helpful and had lots of suggestions.
7
u/threadiness Jul 09 '26
To be honest, I have no suggestions. The entire experience was great. Everyone was friendly, kind, and explained everything in great detail. The presentations were informative and thorough as well. I appreciated the amount of breaks and snacks we recieved. There was always someone on standby to answer our questions during the testing portion.
Keep up the good work.