You have my absolute sympathy. My point is your region will have had these slots 6+ months ago from the flying unit.
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We got an update every 6months for the up coming 6 months. So if your week 1 of the 6 months you are chasing your backside.
If that makes sense.
Not true; at least not in most cases. If I had AEF/VGS slots six months in advance I’d be a very happy man. Lots of reasons why they aren’t provided earlier, but they aren’t.
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The point he is making is not that units get their flying slots 6 months in advance, but rather that regions are allocated flying slots 6 months in advance.
How long it takes for an individual unit to be notified of that allocation, well that’s not the AEF’s problem.
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Yes, but that’s still not true.
I’ve just reviewed my stats and of the last 4 AEF allocations we were given, 2 were weather cancellations, 1 was a transport no-show and 1 we had flying.
@tmmorris is the Regional AvO for the CCF so if he says it doesn’t happen I’d be inclined to believe him more
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The CCF Aviation officer is not who the allocation would go directly to from a VGS, AGS or AEF. There’s a ‘nominated poc’ before that which may slow things down or split up the 6 month allocation further
I’m scared to ask, but why?
I believe it was to save the VGS and AEF admin time but it adds delays and a layer of complexity (including the AEF, AGS or VGS) for everyone in the process. It also makes comms really difficult when there is an issue or even just a question.
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The regional aviation officer got the allocation from the designated AEF/VGS/AGS assigned to them (which was more of less the geographical region but not quite) and then divided the slots out. For example LASER RAvo handled boscombe, benson, kenley Upavon and northolt allocation.
Our allocation to the RAvo were sent in March for the coming July - December and then October for the coming January- June.
The number of cadets on the glider tracker for SGS that weren’t able to take up places as they weren’t eligible for various reasons was also pretty high and requires a lot of tail chasing.
It’s probably due to risk and having an acceptable risk threshold that is higher for service pilots than somebody child. Probably the same reason why when the runway at Woodville was broken the UAS could fly but AEF could not.
Risk factors of parachutes…
Given that the likelihood of a successful parachute deployment being the difference between life and death is vanishingly small…
Has someone weighed up the risk of having a parachute stuck to your back hindering a smaller cadet getting out the cockpit if they should need to in a hurry whilst on the ground?
Of course there is the experience of having to use a parachute, so for flight training maybe it is good practise to start early in all the gear…
A fellow CFAV had taken cadets flying several times, and they took me up on the offer of a flight from the local airfield a few summers ago - when I jumped into the aircraft in just my shorts and t-shirt they were surprised they weren’t going to be given a flight suit, gloves etc… 
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Makes you wonder what the SW RAvnO did/does given Boscombe / Benson / Upavon are all firmly with SW Region, come to think of it I don’t think there are any other AEF/VGS in the region.
Maybe if we stopped making the RAvnO role one for retired OC Wings to sit pretty for a number of years we would have better results, ironically the LaSER RAvnO pre covid or now has never been an OC Wing and perhaps is just passionate about getting cadets flying and hence the low number of No Shows!
Especially with no training in PLF’s and no Cirrus I wouldn’t be overly confident in most Cadets surviving if they had to bail out.
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In almost any scenario it is safer to remain with the aircraft than jump out…
If an event occurs that is so catastrophic that it is better to bail, the chances are you won’t get a chance to anyway…
So the only purpose it serves is to act as a weight on your back, and something to get tangled in, if you are trying to rush out the aircraft in a hurry on the ground.
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I maybe wrong on one or other of the AEFs but it highlights the fact the RAvos had the allocation from outside the geographical region.
Believe SW RAvo looked after Predannack and LR. The later also being just outside the region
For a single engine prop aircraft, too true.
Scenarios for catastrophic are probably very limited - worst cases, avionics / cockpit fire or AEF pilot incapacitation?
Yup this.
If you’re going to fail…fail quickly.
Dragging it out for another 7 years (ie time since the pause again) achieves nothing other than being able to say “…the RAF is providing flying/gliding places to Cadets”
Sorry…what is the difference between a slot and a sortie?
Surely we only provide slots for the available sorties??