Pilot Officer Pilot Officer ( Plt Off officially in the RAF ; PLTOFF in the RAAF and RNZAF ; P / O in the former RCAF and frequently in the RAF ) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries . It ranks immediately below Flying Officer . It normally denotes an Officer who has elected to join as a non - graduate direct entrant Officer , as those with degrees usually only serve a week at the rank after graduation from the RAF College Cranwell . Some newly commissioned officers hold the lower grade of Acting Pilot Officer . It has a NATO ranking code of OF - 1 and is equivalent to a Second Lieutenant in the British Army or the Royal Marines . The Royal Navy has no exactly equivalent rank , and a Pilot Officer is senior to a Royal Navy Midshipman and junior to a Royal Navy Sub - Lieutenant . In the Australian Armed Forces , the rank of pilot officer is equivalent to acting sub lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy . The equivalent rank in the Women ' s Auxiliary Air Force ( WAAF ) was Assistant Section Officer . Origins . On 1 April 1918 , the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from the British Army , with Royal Flying Corps Second Lieutenants becoming Second Lieutenants in the RAF . Consideration was given to renaming Second Lieutenants as Ensigns . However , when the RAF ' s own rank structure was introduced on 1 August 1919 , RAF Second Lieutenants were re - titled as Pilot Officers , a rank which has been in continuous use ever since . Usage . The rank title does not imply that an officer in the rank of Pilot Officer is a pilot . Some Pilot Officers are aircrew , whilst many are ground branch officers . A ground branch Pilot Officer rarely may have command of a flight . RAF usage . The rank is normally held by an officer who has joined as a non - graduate direct entrant to the RAF . Those with degrees usually only serve a week in the rank after graduation from the RAF College Cranwell . Some newly commissioned non - graduate officers hold the lower grade of Acting Pilot Officer . Insignia . The rank insignia consists of a thin blue band on slightly wider black band . This is worn on both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulders of the flying suit or the casual uniform . Although no Royal Navy rank has an insignia of a single half width ring , a pilot officer ' s mess insignia of one thin band of gold running around each cuff is similar to the general naval pattern . As with the mess insignia for other RAF officer ranks , the band of gold does not have the Royal Navy ' s loop . Other air forces . The rank of Pilot Officer is also used in a number of the air forces in the Commonwealth , including the Bangladesh Air Force , Pakistan Air Force , Royal Australian Air Force , Royal New Zealand Air Force and Sri Lanka Air Force . The rank is no longer used by the Indian Air Force and all trainee cadets are commissioned into the force as Flying Officer s . The Royal Canadian Air Force used the rank until the three armed services were unified into the Canadian Forces in 1968 and Army - type ranks were adopted . A Canadian Pilot Officer then became a Second Lieutenant . In official French Canadian usage , a pilot officer ' s rank title was " sous - lieutenant d ' aviation " .