1. A Direct Entrant (DE) is an applicant who is a school leaver with only Grade 12 as their qualification.
2. Professionally Qualified Entrant (PQE) is an applicant who has professional/tertiary qualifications in addition to their Grade 12. These could be doctors, lawyers, engineers and so forth.
3. Commissioned Officers are under the Officers Corps and are commissioned by the President.
4. Non-Commissioned Officers are under the Non-Commissioned Officers Corps and the Zambia Air Force Commander graduates the Officers.
NB: Both the Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers Corps play important but different roles in the service.