Never even seen 004 before looking at the small 2 FTS collection . . . certainly my cadets have never been asked for them (the one time my cadets have had the chance to go)
The syllabus stuff gets ignored, if the pilots even know it exists. It’s Air Experience. None of us are trained or standardised on teaching anything and all we want is for the cadet to enjoy the airborne environment, ask any questions and get some experience of anything they are curious about. You can’t teach anything effectively without a ground brief and debrief.
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I’m assuming you are aware of the syllabus and what it consists of then?
Any thoughts on how things could be changed to ensure cadets are able to do the fun stuff and “develop and learn”?
What?!
Doesnt the whole PTS syallbus badge scheme depend on that syllabus as it is supposed to build knowledge and experience.
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The whole syllabus scheme is bonk.
Let Air experience be just that, an experience of flying and using the controls. Then let scholarships be teaching people how to fly.
You know, like it used to be.
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Yeah I do partly agree.
But what about for the cadets who are after sequential lessons.
I appreciate that’s stupid in this age of near zero flying.
If cadets want sequential lessons get them to ask their pilot “how do I do x”.
Otherwise, sure, do some basic flying techniques each time but it isn’t and never was teaching people to fly. It was an experience and an introduction. It should be fun and exciting and build up that desire to get back in the air.
Then properly fund scholarships and that is where they can do the more in depth stuff.
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It’s a desperate scheme to use AEF to try and fill the Scholarship Gap caused by 2FTS total ineptitude over the past decade.
Yep and that’s what the Cadets and Pilots seem to go for.
Realistically how many Cadets are ever going to get 6 Sorties under there belt?
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The whole point is that each sorite should be an introduction.
It’s not a lesson, you’re not expecting the cadet to come out of it knowing how to do x, y or z in any great detail, but to have some sort experience of it.
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Maybe have each sortie include the following.
Take off
Climb
1 x manueveur for the cadet to observe and follow through, then repeat. From a list including… level turns, climbs, descents, steep turns, stall in clean configuration.
Aeros (if wanted).
Approach
Land
That would cover all options.
considering the sorties are currently defined as:
Sortie No 1 – Air Experience. Exposes cadets to flying in a cockpit environment. Upon completion of Blue ground school, Part Task Training (PTT) and AEF sortie No1, cadets are eligible for the award of Blue (A) Wings.
Sortie No2 – Effects of Controls Pt1 and Straight & Level. Demonstrates the effect of main flying controls for straight and level flight.
Sortie No3 – Turning. Introduces and demonstrates a level turn at approximately 30 degrees of bank.
Sortie No4 – Effects of Controls Pt2. Introduces effects of power and trimmer. Upon completion of Bronze ground school, Part Task Training (PTT) and AEF sorties No1 to 4 inclusive, cadets are eligible for the award of Bronze (A) Wings.
Sortie No5 – Aerobatics. Shows the cadet a loop and other basic aerobatic manoeuvres.
Sorties No6 – NAVEX. Introduces pilot navigation concepts.
I see no need to do any kind of briefing or de-brief for anything other than sortie 6 which would want some kind of local knowledge brief.
All the others can surely be an introduction to them then some aerobatics?
Departure and climb to operating area takes 10 mins. Recovery to land takes 10 mins. That’s all time when I want the cadet to sit back, enjoy, maybe take a few photos and chat when appropriate. We get 5-10 mins in the operating area for actual air work so it is very limited.
An actual EoC1 or Turning 1 is a 20 mins ground brief, 1 hour airborne and 10-15 mins debrief.
sorry, english?
If a cadet flies 2 or 3 times (they’ll have done well) over their career, for 20 mins each, they are not going to learn anything meaningful…
For the meek - give them some nav and gentle flight.
For the brave - turn em upside down.
We can’t expect any meaningful training out of 20 minutes every 18 months.
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Absolutly, these flights are supposed to be an experience and introduction. Not training.
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If you are very lucky
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Herein lyes one of the problems. Realistically, they are not ‘sorties’ but ‘exercises’.
I’ve had a few cadets who have genuinely ticked off more than one ‘sortie’ in a single flight.
A cadets first flight is their ‘air experience’ and an aerobatic sortie is ideal to get them hooked.
Every flight thereafter should be a progressive step in the art of piloting…unless a cadet wants to opt out of the syllabus (and the potential to gain ‘wings’) and just do aeros every subsequent flight.
It’s not all about hands on control either. ‘Sortie’ 6 is navigation. Something I’ve never seen taught on an AEF flight.
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That’s why I said demonstrate and follow through followed by repeat.
Not a full lesson.
I’ve currently got 7 cadets on squadron who have done all 6 sorties, but can’t be awarded any wings because we haven’t been given any slots (at the 2 FTS controlled) ground school!
You know someone (an AEF CFAV potentially as was earlier proposed) could use all of that time the cadets sit around in the porta cabin bored outta their minds to give the briefings for the various sorties?
Just an idea
(course we could just use AEF for the fun stuff an allow approved schools (like Tayside but across the entire country) to carry out lessons with qualified instructors that cadets could actually log - but I don’t want to flog a dead horse anymore than we already have)
Also, thanks to @Jed for clarifying a few more issues - I know I was unaware of the 10 sortie limit for you guys. Though I do know how tiring a full summers day schedule is - often not getting enough time to scoff a sandwich - in amongst the ground briefings.
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