Well find out when the survey results get published…
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Arrive. Fly. Leave.
Maybe if the station has something interesting, a quick visit to a section, but my nearest is Woodvale, so that’s a non starter.
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I can only speak for myself - it’s been a hell of a long time since I took cadets to flying, mainly because of my primary role, but also because I avoid it like the plague. Why? Because I like to make the most of my weekend time, and provide the most benefit for my limited available time.
When I go to AEF at best I spend the day sat in a portacabin on my laptop doing some admin. I have zero insterest in flying unless you are going to let me jump out at the top, so watching the flying process to me is like watching the comings and goings of Tesco car park. Instead, I could be out runnning a range, or delivering some AT. Both of which would see many more cadets benefit during the day than the 3-4 cadets I’ve driven for a couple of hours to the AEF.
I’d be much happier to do it if I could organise some concurrent activity where I can use my qualifications to give cadets an experience, and I’m not sat on my backside all day - but the notice periods for that are invariably insufficient given the planning process approval requirements (not to mention booking station facilities) and the difficulty in co-ordinating amongst any other units attending to try and manage requirements for concurrent activities (WHTs, swimming proficiencies etc. etc.).
None of that is an insurmountable problem of course. It’s just no-one has surmounted it.
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i think that is subject to circumstances
our (former) local VGS and AEF sites are 10nm apart ~10-15 minutes flight time.
given some of our Cadets when AEF’ing have flown over their house taken them towards the VGS site the “bubbles” of airspace operated by both AEF and VGS must overlap.
so disagree it is a " different operating environment"
but you also have “fully integrated PowerFLARM”
so in response to:
i would suggest we have one system for that function, rather than two…which must cause some significant workload for the pilot
I seem to remember when i have been AEF flying (2015 i think the last time) once out of the circuit the pilot switches the radio off/down so as much as i can applaud the systems being in place, that doesn’t mean they are used
i will recognise it when i understand what the other issues are which unless i have missed it, can’t find your answers
Cadets do not get “enough” flying as there are not enough slots provided
now it would seem some of that is due to the allocation process and noticed offered, but that explains more about why places that are offered are not filled.
if the opportunity was local, “guaranteed” to take place* and “regular” I am sure much of the distaste about 2TFS would dissolve as we (CFAVs) could hand on heart say to Cdt Johnny there is a good chance they’ll go flying in the next 3-4 months
As it stands for some (many) we need to look back 3-4 years to be need two hands to count the number of Cadets who have been flying
*ie foreseeable and controllable issues like aircraft numbers, fuel, ATC, pilots were made available/serviceable
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Pre-pause our AEF and VGS were co-located on the same station…
Would be interesting to know who makes the decision to call off AEF flights. I took a group, as a parent not staff as paperwork was still in process, as none of the squadron staff were willing to and I have seen how rare flying is now. One child will age out with a single AEF flight in 7 years, allowing for covid wiping out their final year after joining night after they turned 12.
Was a weekday flight so get that staff have day jobs and was a cold windy day. On that occasion pilots were ready to go, kids had been briefed and gone through parachute fitting etc when Babcock called it off as forecast had gusts a couple of knots below the aircraft’s envelope but their attitude seemed to me to be more “it’s a bit cold we will get away with binning this” than genuine concerns about safety.
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What I find interesting is the staffing levels…
We MUST have 2 staff in attendance for AEF.
1 to supervise the waiting room the other to witness the fitting of parachutes and complete the logbooks.
If there is not 2 staff available then it’s a firing offence for some.
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Babcock don’t have any involvement in flying supervision. Cadet parachute wind limits are considerably below the aircraft and pilot limits; is suspect the squippers gave you an incomplete explanation.
This might explain why on perfectly flyable days with clear skies even a breath of wind stops play.
I’ve had other staff saying that their flying was cancelled even though I had jumped in my own aircraft for a lovely afternoons flying on the same day… From an incredibly busy airfield!
Glad I wasn’t the one trying to explain why the skies were full but the cadets couldn’t fly on that drive home!
Any more barriers we can add?
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Why? They aren’t trained how to fly a canopy anyway so why does it matter (other than the amount they will drift). Ultimately they’ll still probably hit the ground the same, just a bit further away - or closer - to the airfield depending on wind direction?
I’m sure there is a genuine technical reason so I’m interested to understand.
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I can’t speak for anyone else, but my AEF is 10 AEF at Woodvale. They don’t fly weekends, so rely on CFAV being willing and able to take a day off of work to, for parents to be happy for their children to miss a day at school, and for schools to release then. Only if those three requirements are met can we fill our slots.
The cadets also need to be on the larger size due to the parachute requirements, which means that we may have 10 cadets who want to go, but if those cadets are too small, the slots don’t get filled.
Not to mention that the wind is often out of limits, meaning a day sat in a crew room (with no form of entertainment, as no TV/DVD is provided for the cadets to use.
It’s regretful that slots are missed, but it’s also often out of anyone’s control.
Is that because they are cleared for aeros, though? Would a GA aircraft doing simply circuits and bumps (a bit like gliders) not reduce the risk to a level where ATC and the like are no longer needed?
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Actually thinking back - this, 100% this - i also rarely (read never) hear any Tutors out on Farnborough LARS and/or Oxford Radar - bearing in mind Benson Zone is closed at the weekend so for sure they’re not in receipt of a traffic service. (Unless they’re speaking to approach?) - but it’s been so long since we’ve done any AEF I’ve not had a chance to pay attention
Maybe your right but the guy who appeared to make the decision was wearing Babcock hi Vis cold weather coat and beanie hat and he said it was due to aircraft envelope they were not willing to bring the aircraft out of the hanger. AEF staff couldn’t apologise enough to be fair and they themselves appeared disappointed at not being able to fly.
It was the guy in the Babcock apparel spoke to me and the escorting CFAV from another squadron before going to speak to AEF staff. He was unhappy when I challenged him on aircraft specs Vs forecast but the reasoning provided was definitely aircraft and not parachute related.
Cadet parachute wind limits for AEF are steady 20kts gusting 25kts, which I understand are the VGS staff limits anyway.
I’ve been moaning about this for years. Having seen the level of groundschool instruction at Syerston twice (one blue and one bronze) it baffles and infuriates me why QAI’s, ACPS scholars, CI PPL holders, aviation SME’s etc. are not allowed to teach this on squadron.
I even had to correct one of the Syerston instructors once.
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Change is coming to the way the syllabus is going to be taught, from what I can tell it will be up to WAvnO’s to hold a list of “approved instructors”…
With a bit of luck a practical common sense approach will be taken and those with experience can make the list - those without can go and learn by observing a course and then get on the list…
But we will likely see local variation depending on who the WAvnO is.
Below is a cut and paste form the Gliding “Paused” thread. It is a reminder to everyone filling out the survey of the percentage of cadets who have been involved in a gliding activity. It makes very sober reading!
Enclosure 2 is where it gets interesting. It gives figures for the number of cadets who have participated in the different levels of gliding ATP’s in 2018 & 2019.
Initially, the numbers look good as they have recorded bums on seats. But if you convert the numbers to a percentage of the total cadet population, you build a very, very different picture of the key goal, ‘To Focus on the Delivery of RAF Air Cadet Gliding’
FAM Course, (the very basic entry level course) - 17% of cadets
Blue wings - 5.7 %
Bronze wings - 0.9%
Silver gliding scholarship - 0.3%
Gold wings, Parts 1 & 2 - 0.003%
Flight staff cadets, G2 & G1 - 0.04%
Only 1 cadet in the whole corps has reached the gliding pinnacle of Gold part 2 in the last 3 years!
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Maybe it is the crosswind limits then, I think we get cancelled for anything above 7kt.
Whilst a subjective assessment, when there were private flying options during the Covid “lull” last year, there seemed to be a lot less GA traffic operating near to FAB - maybe as a result of the changes to their airspace?
Ah, & since when has that been the approach? 
I can remind you about RT “equivalency” for qualified pilots or the stupid insistence on having pre-approval & RAMs for air rifle shooting…
More likely to be the R Av O?? Personal preferences or lack of knowledge.
But the extra part of this stat is the fact that that one cadet who got gold, was also in the portion of cadets who got silver, was also in the portion who got bronze and was also in the section who got blue.
How many different cadets got flights?.. Even fewer.