So during lockdown (6th August 2020) I attended a virtual blue wings ground training with some other cadets from my squadron. I was wondering if anyone did know about this because it’s nearly been 2 years since this has happened and they understood lockdown made it difficult for cadets to go flying/gliding but they did tell us that we will get the opportunity to go flying but no one’s ever heard since the training.
Youll need to ask your Sqn. All that stuff is managed locally i.e. Wing and below
Flying has only just started again in the last month or two. Perhaps speak to the Aviation Officer at Sqn or contact your Wing Aviation Officer.
Also some AEFs have been able to restart quicker than others; and due to the need to retrain staff, some are starting with small numbers of cadets (though they expect to grow rapidly back to previous numbers).
Has anyone seen any documentation for the new ground training syllabus yet?
We’ve got people in our wing who’ve been ‘trained’ but none of them have been able to tell me.
I would like to know as ive been tasked with sorting out IT for Sqns to facilitate this. Difficult to spec when I know very little.
Wing Av Os definitely have this, but I’ve got a copy, PM me your preferred email and I’ll send it over.
Same goes for anyone else who wants it.
Its still not ‘approved’ which is why you probably not seen it - but needs be able to run FSX (or 2020), P3D or XPlane
But see below extract from the staff training guide
We’ve been told not to just sprinkle the training materials around - the lesson plan etc is given once you become an “approved” trainer, and we can only issue wings if someone on “the list” has delivered the training package…
Edit to add, re-read and understand you just need the tech spec - it is as basic as above. It can even be done off a laptop with a plug in joystick at the most basic level.
X-plane offers a free demo (Microsoft afaik doesn’t).
Edited to add link https://www.x-plane.com/desktop/try-it/
A basic USB joystick is around £15 and up online, so the demo software and one of those would be enough to do a test.
It’s easy to get sucked into the expensive PC/graphics cards/controllers game but it’s not really needed for the basic sortie for the Blue. As long as the thing works.
Agreed. XPlane free demo runs for something like 10 minutes (from memory) then you have to start a new flight - it’s easily long enough for this.
It’s a bit of a gateway drug, mind you!
What’s the point in that?
to stop people ‘teaching’ it before being approved to do so
1 Like
Seems a bit pointless. Just going to spread by rumour (or FOI) now.
1 Like
But then if you request badges or say that training has been delivered and the person isn’t on the list you’ll get told to go away and not be naughty and get an approved trainer in…
Sounds familiar doesn’t it. No point trying to keep the syllabus a big secret really.
1 Like
We’ve been waiting for months for our two instructors to get approved. It’s such a shame as the cadets miss out.
Theres nothing stopping your instructors showing and getting the cadets to use the flight sim and get an understanding for the effects of controls.
Just wont be able to award the ‘Blue Ground School’ qualification - but at the moment thats not a showstopper as the requiremnt to have completed this prior to AEG/AEF has been waived (for the meantime). IIRC the wording states that not having completed the groundschool should not prohibit cadets from flying.
This might or might not be helpful but I have got X-plane running on the following:
Intel i5 8th gen
8GB Ram
256GB storage (actually an M.2 NVMe on the motherboard but I don’t think it makes a vast difference over an SSD)
Nvidia GT 1030 2GB graphics
Cheap Logitech stick from local used electronics place
PC is a refurb small form factor desktop which cost £160. The GPU was £80. I’ll probably stick some more RAM in. A tower would allow a wider choice - so maybe cheaper - GPU.
I’ve not tried it with the internal graphics but experience on other set ups suggests it will work but only just.
The SSD/M.2 is really handy to avoid long boot times, which are a killer on a parade night.
No need for that. We’re burning through it locally at a rate of knots, getting at least one instructor per squadron is the aim before the end of summer.
1 Like
How long does it take to train instructors?