Having been involved with getting the auto-belays for the MCT serviced and having to get that paid for, it was like getting blood out of a rock. Of course when the MCTs were purchased with auto belays no one thought to account for the cost of servicing…
1 Like
While we are at it why not take the building maintenance funds away from RFCA, give each Region 1/6 of the budget. Wings then get an equal share with Region keeping enough for a couple of new buildings that Wings can Bid for. Squadrons get an equal share of the Wings money and OC’s can use whatever contractor they want locally. I bet you I could get far better work for far less money from a local tradesman than RFCA manage with their centrally managed Cowboys.
2 Likes
Yes! Would also allow WHQs to tender contracts too to get even better prices for multiple squadrons.
although i get the principle and initially seems fair i think such a scheme should see a weighted scale.
ie the money is spent equally per head (ie per cadet).
the likes of Scotland Vs LASER numbers (both Squadron size and number of units) are vastly different and splitting a £600k pot 6 ways to each region will go further in some areas than it would in others.
(back in the days when we had camps, RIAT split the allocation equally amongst the Wings, 25 Cadets, 3 Staff but this meant in some Wings a Cadet had a 1 in 14 chance of getting a place while other Wings saw 1 in 48 chance)
1 Like
Only 50% joking.
I’ve fully upset a member of the winged master race in the past by pointing out they were just a driver to get me to the top.
You could get a Cadet an AFF Course for £1500 with a Civvy provider.
That’d get them more airtime than they would in a glider; frankly I’d be all for it.
You learn a shedload more about control surfaces falling towards the ground at 120mph.
2 Likes
We are, of course, talking about adventure training and not budgets for managing buildings 
2 Likes
That works for AT/Flying etc, but not buildings…
More cadets = more instructors required for quals.
Cadet numbers make no difference to the majority of fixed building costs - the building, electric etc don’t care if there is 1 cadet inside or 100.
Maybe we should split into a how should we finance the corps?
Perhaps this would be a better use of the RAFAC Development Fund, to fund the development of our Staff Cadets and Staff for the benefit of the corps.
1 Like
ok ignore the actual cadet numbers - consider the number of units in the wing
Highland Wing has half the number of Squadrons (16) Versus those in the south.
If money was split equally between the regions/Wing/Squadrons the cash injection for one unit could be twice that for another which doesn’t seem very “equal”
1 Like
only for the next 3 months: Scottish Wings are going a complete reorg as of 2021-04-01 (partly because one of the other Scottish wings has the greatest number of Sqns of any Wing in the Corps, I think)
Wasn’t gliding supposed to be a cheap way of flying… Just saying.
1 Like
at 38p/minute (average UK gliding club hiring rate) you’d hope so at that price
(ok i accept that it requires a launch either by winch (£7.84) or 2000ft tow (£29) but either way still a cheap way to get in the air)
what the VGS cost per minute was/is i can’t say though harder to work out i’d guess as its a not for profit organisation versus a BGA site
Didn’t someone once get a response to an FOI saying the costs weren’t available because “the budget isn’t monitored to that level” or something like that?
1 Like
Wait, I’ve just realised the topic I’m in - we’re not supposed to be talking about flying!!!
Please can we steer back to AT…
2 Likes
i seem to recall such an answer…
it would be a challenging figure to calculate as its not covering “costs” but spending budget.
and where does that budget start or end?
Cost of aircraft could be included and any maintenance across its expected lifespan
cost of maintaining the airfield
cost of the VGS pilots (both the VA days and training courses etc)
then the direct costs of fuel for the winch or in the case of the Vigilant fuel burn
whatever that figure is divided by the expected number of flight hours across the fleet and that would be the figure…
but of the first three i mention, although they come from the RAF/MOD budget it isn’t a VGS budget or even 2FTS budget i suspect
In summary, flying is probably really expensive but no-one really looks at the numbers or knows, let’s all do AT instead. 
9 Likes
Sounds reasonable, let’s talk some more about this
1 Like
Nope.
Go join the ACF if that’s all you want.
Better still the scouts.
We are primarily an aviation themed org.
1 Like