Gliding "paused"

Can’t believe you’d suggest that communication was a problem, one of the first reviews completed by the current CAC was Internal Communication - how can it be that it still doesn’t work

Using the word review means effectively to look at something, it doesn’t necessarily require any action.

I get that was one the initial KPIs, so it was looked at, seen it was crap, there was a vague attempt to make things better but is was too much of a problem to get over and once the annual good boy/girl chat was had and box ticked, it was consigned to the, I’ve had a go, didn’t work and now forgotten list. Which we’ve all done at work.

With 174 pages to the thread, I lost the will to live after page 5…

Yes, some of it is rather ‘specialised’ (e.g. ref different glider construction , types, etc etc) . A lot makes some good points and makes interesting reading. A case of ‘ah what a tangled web we weave’. Some politics and some ‘you will do this’ . I think the main impression is that the ‘end user’ has been dumped on !! i.e. the volunteer vgs staff and the cadets.

Spotted recently in the back of a hanger at Little Rissington, Glos. Thirteen Grob motor gliders with wings stacked to one side.
Informant said they were covered in dust and looked as though nobody had looked at them for over a year. They recon that it would cost more to make them airworthy again than buying brand new with zero hours and full paperwork trail. Informant is professional avaition engineer.
Scrapheap challenge anyone?

Here’s a good job - must be CURRENT B1 instructor on Viking (probably as rare as hen’s teeth at the moment!) or civvie full cat…

Looks suspiciously like one of those job specs with a person in mind?

Oh, great grammar:

CGS AVO 1 Qualified Gliding Instructor (QGI)
A vacancy has arisen for an AVO 1 Grade Civil Servants at the Royal Air Force Central Gliding School (CGS). These is a permanent full-time appointment currently based at RAF Syerston.

2FTS has 11 Volunteer Gliding Squadrons (VGS) operating at 11 sites across the UK.

Comedy gold this, operating in what sense of not doing what is says on the tin.

Help.New to this site but have been following the sad saga of ATC flying for a long time .Can anybody give me an up to date resume as to exactly what state we have reached regarding the gliding situation ? I lost track about gliding " centres" and the latest disposition of VGSs. Does AEF in Tutors still actually happen? What a mess this has been for years by the sound of it.

Can anybody give me an up to date resume as to exactly what state we have reached regarding the gliding situation ?

Nobody on customer side has been told. email 2FTS and ask

Still tutor, lots of restrictions due to size and weight limitations mainly due of shute. Also issues at airfield limit availability in many areas.

What a mess this has been for years by the sound of it.
Agreed

I would love to know how the powers that be are justifying the costs to bean counters of gliding and powered flying in the Corps, when the delivery is so poor.

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I know an ex VGS instructor who would be just the man for the job!

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Did nobody ever ask to see his licence?

I like the bit about the Court telling him to do 170 hours " Voluntary work".Maybe he could run an ATC Sqn for a while.But then he’s suffered enough already

Love the fact that the case was reported in The Comet.A revered aviation name.

His next trial, which has been deemed serious enough to go to a Crown Court in the Autumn, may make better known publications (although his first appearance attracted the national news).

I wonder if he really was a Flt Lt on a gliding sqn?

I believe that was one of the things he actually was, possibly even at CGS.

Says a lot…

Shows the limitations of the DBS system.

DBS will only pick up if an individual has had dealings with Police, or similar organisations. If he (sorry whoever) hadn’t been caught previously, then there would nothing on record.

Remember that a DBS is like an MOT; passes the test on that day only. :neutral_face:

Ah, apparently there is a 2FTS “review” of ACTO35, which has placed a freeze on all new applications.

Best guess is for this to be complete by end of Aug 2017…

I sincerely hope that things are made easier, not harder, with a “blanket” approval of specific regional GSA centres, but still permitting the flexibility of “ad-hoc” locations.

Hey, it’s only a “pause” - no need to be worried… :angry:

It must be the longest “pause” in NATO…only 3 years or so, isn’t it?..

If Cmdt 2FTS & the ODH (AOC 22 Gp) let things slip through their grasp any more, there won’t be a need for ACTO35, as there will be too few cadets to actually go flying.

If they really need to, the only practical thing that they could limit is as per AEF pilots, maximum age of pilots for “flying in non-Service aircraft” to be 65. Otherwise, if the organisation is CAA- or UK GSA-approved, hands off. Scrap the over-bearing administration & help CFAVs get cadets flying - something that 2FTS have singularly failed to do (other than at isolated flag-ship events).

Interesting FoI action.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and am conducting private research into the circumstances and train of events surrounding the airworthiness issues that led to the ‘pause’ in flying of the Air Training Corps aircraft fleet from April 2014 onwards.

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