Back when Pontius was a Pilot, selection for Flying Scholarship and ACPNTS was held at OASC with full medical, interview and a light version of the aircrew aptitude tests. When did we stop doing this? I seem to recall it was around the time it was reduced from a full 30hr scholarship to the 12hr version, early noughties?
MB
What evidence do you have that you are bottom of the 6FTS pile?
This for one. Weāre the end users, we see directly that weāre bottom of the pile. We get maybe 4 possible slots for AEF in 6 months if weāre lucky for a squadron of 50+ cadets. Youāve got people travelling to Benson from the whole south east of England. Benson stopped flying at weekends to better meet the needs of the paid staff there, 5AEF users here will tell you they arenāt functioning properly and Iām sure others will be along soon to give you further examples.
Itās also sort of an accepted fact. Of course we are a lower priority user compared to regulars training, UAS and the UKR effort. That just makes sense, to me at least.
No different to how we get bumped off training areas if regulars need to train.
Agreed.
@Cab - I donāt think we have ever seen an official "apportionmentā or tasking priorities / allocation - would be very useful to have sight of details.
5AEF is our provider - along with other AEFs, they are only giving out slots for weekdays (we have one for 12 Sep). Great, XX slots have been allocated. The reality is that weekday AEF slots are a nightmare for a sqn - generally a CFAV will be required to drive; most have a day job that often precludes this. For the cadets, this means that they have to obtain a permission letter from schools, often not forthcoming.
Consequently, the aim of allocating AEF slots fairly to cadets is exceptionally difficult, if not impossible, so some slots will be returned - & itās very unfair to have to keep looking at cadets who are home schooled as this gives them an unfair advantage. Weekend AEF has to be the aim for cadets.
Albeit with weather cancellations, our sqn hasnāt flown AEF since Oct 2023.
Except this is not a fact. I am reallocating 6FTS capacity to generate the ACPS which demonstrates a clear commitment [from me] to RAFAC.
The wider comments herein regarding AEF accessibility are not due to prioritisation. It is due to the hangover of several recent issues which is taking time to recover from. Availability of AEF pilots is a current focus and I see this first-hand at 6AEF where the leadership works tirelessly to optimise AEF availability and grow the pilot cadre.
I suppose I should have said āassumed factā rather than āaccepted factā. Weāve never known otherwise, so we can only ever go off what we see, as weāre often not told much. Mushrooms come to mind; left in the dark and fedā¦
But again, what your are saying on here is great, and should be being shouted about. Thereās clearly lots of good stuff happening/going on that we just donāt hear about.
That is great and I think the concept of the revised ACPS is a welcome change and is a very positive move, and your work on this is very welcomed.
But, whether itās lack of pilots, incidents with airframes and groundings, prioritisation from the RAF to UAS and UKR, lack of ATC cover, not enough locations, whether youāre now retasking or now trying to recruit more that is a promise of a better tomorrow that does not and will not alleviate demand today.
We know from experience that I can take more cadets to a BGA site and have them fly in 1 day than the organisation can provide me in 1 or 2 years. That is a fact.
Weāre not suggesting getting rid of AEF and VGS completely but outsourcing (like the RAF does for pretty much every other thing it does btw) will build capacity, reduce pressure on both sides of the fence and then you could even use those sites for just scholarships if needed and be the pinnacle of aviation, rather than giving us some unwanted āastra ground schoolsā. Cadets donāt join us to travel 3 hours to use a glorified flight sim, they want aviation, adventure and fun. Currently all weāre providing is classroom based activity and it will only have 1 effect.
Also if I may make a suggestion. How about producing a monthly or quarterly post/letter/email/sharepoint thing direct from you to all CFAVs. From the last few days Iāve learnt loads. Itās a shame not everyone will see all of this.
Direct comms from you to every CFAV in the org may well go some way to fix some of the missing comms links. And it would give you a good chance to āsay your sideā as it were, be that the good, the bad or the ugly.
The plan is use the results of the Bronze Wings course assessment to feed in to part of the decision making process for a ACPS/GS application etc
Plus you know, in some cases travelling for 3hrs (each way) for 1x 30min Tutor Flight or 2x Viking Launches over what becomes a 12hr day.
Imagine that due to an TAF, the weather looked like it would be suitable, but then that pesky PROB30 didnāt clear and no one flew!
Surely more beneficial to use local resources (just another reason to add to the list)
And if we want to talk about safety. Staff being on duty for 12 hours including 6 hours of driving each way really starts to diminish any possible safety gains from not using local BGA sites.
At work we have a quarterly Town Hall Meeting, where the majority of the business come together for a face 2 face update, with the remainder joining remotely. We also do the same twice a year fully virtually as an operating group (a combined total of 28 independent software companies from across the globe, albeit with a current concentration in the UK and Latin America)
We had the Dial in before Christmas, which was a good first step, but no follow up on this as of yet, the weekly brief is a great initiative, we have a similar weekly update at work.
I donāt think direct comms from @Cab are needed but a quarterly update that is more detailed than the Weekly Briefs and focusās on updates from the Comdt & RCās who each have there specialisation could be good and help get ahead of the rumour train, if we identify the current key workstreams. Maybe it includes a couple of paragraphs from the AOC.
OC Essex Wing does similar with monthly updates
Without a doubt.
However, now that car parking has been banned, a major income stream has been lost to sqns that used to use the funds for gliding, etc.
I think we were one of the first sqns to take advantage of ACTO35 for the gliding options (I had to ask 2FTS to include it, only powered flying had been incorporated!) at Cambridge Gliding Centre - 6 or 8 cadets, several launches, each, 40 mins drive from our sqn location.
Gliding - still waiting for Honington VGS to expand enough to be able to offer us slots; currently, itās Syerston. Iāll have about a 2 hr drive on Sun to take 3 cadets, not as bad as some, but still an imposition on time (& more distance for F1771! 
) than a local BGA option.
BGA have 80 or so locations, of which 30+ are specified youth centres. Remind me, how many VGS units are thereā¦?
95% of Britains weatherā¦
@Cab I think it would be interesting to hear the views of Air Marshal Phil Sturley on the whole matter of cadets flying in non-service aircraft, as since he is an instructor at Buckminster GC (BGA youth centre), he has a good insight into both worlds.
@Cab does the increase in 6FTS focus towards RAFAC mean a return of Nav courses and AEF Courses,
Or is it limited to AEF for now?
Calm thyself, Sirā¦
assuming the latter then 
Thatās actually a very good point.
Now that the AEFs have been opened up for flying schemes, wouldnāt it have been a better idea to reintroduce the ACPNTS and ACAEFC previously run by AEFs, rather than the singular ACPS?
This would have seen a doubling of the flying schemes available, (even if the number of cadets attending was the same as ACPS), and @Cab would have looked doubly good!