Realistically we were never going to provide that many sorties per year, even with a full fleet of aircraft. It simply isn’t feasible due to the number of pilots, airframes, time constraints and cost.
Hence, allow us to outsource.
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Every Penny spent on VGS is a Penny throw away, we haven’t had a gliding game sortie in a decade.
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We’re stuck with 2FTS because of the requirement for jobs in the RAF, regardless of how ineffective it is. I’m not sure if it’s role was to check on local gliding clubs, they’d need much more than a couple of offices a few minions and not a load of infrastructure with a Gp Capt running the show.
The Air Cadets seems to be turning into a job creation scheme for ageing RAF types who can’t face the outside world.
Not forgetting that a good percentage of these sorties are the AEF Instructor ‘Currency’ Flights - especially when there has been such a long stand-down firstly the whole delaminated prop fiasco and whatever the last reason they stopped flying was.
O, I don’t see it happening anytime soon either.
My favourite reason for a pause at my local AEF was when someone forgot to order fuel or maybe when the ATC tower lost its roof to a storm…
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What ever happened to a self serve bowser - no extra staff required then - works for the rest of the worlds light GA.
Also fine if you don’t need a service, as long as it isn’t strewn across the runway.
If only there were thousands of sorties every year!!!
Agree entirely. Do not advertise them. Any cadet who is hell bent on becoming a professional pilot will find them eventually when they have done enough googling of ‘how to be a pilot’. Consider finding them part of the selection process!
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I hope they are reading this tread. It would save them having to go through all the survey returns!
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Can someone that hasn’t filled it out yet just post a link to this thread in all the response 
boxes?
They haven’t got the sense to look here.
No limit to number you can fill in.
Enjoy that misery many times over!
When I need to vent I will remember this…
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We lost considerable time when 5AEF moved from Wyton to Wittering; despite the need for weekend Air Traffic cover being listed in the “plan,” ah, this teeny weeny item had been overlooked…
Whilst you, as a member of staff, might think that Cadet Smiff might not be suitable to apply, you have to give them a chance. I will “target” all such eligible cadets & let them make the choice. There again, I am biased. 
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Targeting is fine, I just don’t think the (generous) providers of these civilian scholarships need the extra applicants that a rafac poster and social media campaign would bring.
For example, the Honourable Company of Air Pilots usually receive around 500 applicants for the 5/6 scholarships on offer. As mentioned before, another 1000+ applications on top of this from air cadets, could backfire on us.
See this train of thought brings me back to the old RAF pilots being binned because of eyesight at Initial Selection.
What if there was a candidate with vastly superior Aptitude but was canned because of his eyesight. (Forgetting for a moment that we’re potentially talking about fast jet with misiles - because let’s be honest that candidate that requires glasses could (and probably would) then go on to fly commercially - vastly similar type of flying to Military Transport flying)
What if there was a perfect candidate - high aptitude etc but was unaware of the HCAP scholarship (ie only having Internet access 2 nights a week etc)
Surely its our ‘duty’ (if we ourselves are aware of an opportunity) to provide these options if we have a passion for developing cadets and also passion for aviation.
Love the emotion and enthusiasm for this but…
Limited staff on the Sqn trying to manage and produce all the elements of the cadet experience for 2 nights a week for 40 cadets. To be honest just managing to run the unit for those 2 nights takes all our time - promoting all the different Flying Scholarships and then by extension all the other streams (FA, Leadership, Radio, Cyber, Fieldcraft, DoE, and the list goes on) is just too labour intensive. Can’t even manage Jack of All trades let alone Master One.
Best chance we get is if(??) a cadet asks which is very rare as they probably don’t know about it, or a quick rush when we get the ‘Last Call’ notice from the WExO or WAvO
With all the different options and application routes this really needs a SME to go round the units and promote
Like all specialisations within the ATC, Sqns will gravitate to what the CFAV want to dedicate themselves to
I dismissed the initial survey email but having just read the last 110 responses on this post I think I’m going to give it a go tomorrow.
Cadets are often put off by the sheer amount of travel time and waiting around all for a quick 20 mins in the sky. Add to that the late call offs and cancellation on route can sometime make it a tough sell! We do everything we can as staff to promote and advertise flying/gliding opportunities but I’ve definitely observed a shift in interest in recent years.
It’s just under 15% of slots are no show/non arrival
What about the other reasons?
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