Couple of questions on the ‘sorties’.
How do people track what sorties a cadet has flown? There isn’t anywhere in the 3822 or the 2FTS Form 007 where they can be listed or ticked off.
Can multiple sorties be achieved in one flight? Since only ‘sortie 1’ is required for the blue badge, this can obviously be achieved in the one flight, but what about bronze. This requires sortie 2, 3 & 4 and if each sortie requires a separate flight at a AEF, it will take cadets years to accomplish.
I’m fairly sure the two boxes for ‘flying training’ is for powered AND gliding. Not just one.
1 AEF might, but not a generic across whole AEF fleet. Shame someone hasn’t come up with that simple idea 
I got something similar if not identical at Kirknewton.
Nope - that is a standard form used across flying. It is 2FTS form 007 and available on SharePoint.
The 2018 version of the F3822 has generic pages (19 & 20) that could hold the same information but the VGS/AEF will probably still staple the extra page into the book - I haven’t been flying since the new books appeared.
My concern is that we need to ensure that SMS can hold the appropriate information and that it is updated (ideally by the VGS/AEF) to form a permanent record. The 007 carried a large risk of that information being lost if the book is damaged.
Not sure about the VGS being able to access it, but all of that information can currently be uploaded onto the sms.
I am pretty certain on my first Chippy flight back in '77 I did 2, 3, 4 and 5 and took control. But this was when we had a proper Air Training Corps and we went flying for “fun” and not to tick boxes.
AEFs don’t have access to SMS.
This needs to be looked at so that records can be updated at the point of delivery. If they manage to implement a document signing process electronically it will be necessary to authenticate the record (as we rely on the fragile paper signatures at the moment.)
We have drifted very far from blue flying badge regs!
One element per sortie… I reckon cadets these days will be lucky to get two or three flights in their entire career.
This seems to be totally pointless for the sake of badging.
Little thought or consultation has gone into the aviation package that exists today.
That along with a lack of education as to how it’s supposed to work to the end user has created a chaotic system. In some parts of the country cadets don’t get to fly, in others cadets don’t have access to PTT and some where it appears cadets have access to both in plenty.
The lack of clarity has meant that individual wings and regions are applying their own criteria and rules.
HQRAFAC and 2FTS need to resolve these issues. Everybody else is working around them at the moment…!
Yep. We don’t fly (10 AEF are offline), we don’t glide, yet according to our Wing gliding bod, the PTT must be completed in the same calendar year as the qualifying flight.
Should we be surprised?
This is what happens when you try and do something and all the parts aren’t in place and the people setting it up / organising it are only interested in getting it launched and not the nuts and bolts of the operation.
Just look at the total mess with the revamped “VGS”. Just ploughed on with and no idea when or even if they’d have gliders to put there and then spending many thousands “doing them up” and they may never get properly used. The money was diverted from as I recall RFCA money, putting back squadron new builds and stopping maintenance. I am surprised that HQAC haven’t started to ‘plunder’ sqn funds, expecting sqns to contribute and fund raise.
There is a track record for this. When the LASER Review was launched the cadet side had more varieties than Heinz.
One of the problems with this no one in full time employ really wants to take ownership. Flying in the ATC has become a fiasco and being split doesn’t help. They need someone getting paid a small fortune to take on and consolidate the whole of flying in the ATC At he moment we have gliding (well we don’t), flying (sort of) done by the “RAF” and HQAC sitting in the middle being clueless, despite being the ones coming up badge schemes.
Within 12 months I could understand (still a bit stupid though), but within the same calendar year is madness.
Even within 12 months is a nonsense.
Between mid 2013 and the end of 2014 we had 4 out of 5 consecutive flying details cancelled either weather or not enough pilots, so a period of around 18 months and then 5AEF moved and joke of no weekend air traffic. So if we’d had this scheme c.5½ years ago even on a 12 month basis cadets would have “timed out” of PTT currency and none of it their fault.
Why do HQAC think it is OK to penalise cadets for something out of their control, just because HQAC want to introduce ridiculous rules. Who is the ATC for; young people or former RAF Officers to play at RAF? My money is on the latter.
Why don’t we have people running the organisation who actually understand how it really is and not just some theoretical notion of what happens, while they are pimping their pensions.
my thoughts exactly!!
this would put a nail in the coffin of any PTT offered after September, if only because the chances of a having a “flying window” in the winter are slimmer so why bother going for a PTT when stage 2 (the flying bit - which is already once in a blue moon) is less likely in the winter months…
TBH if he refuses to sanction wings because of his made up rules that bear no resemblance to the regs I’d go above his head. Either to Wg Cdr or the RAvO. Or just award them and update Bader accordingly.
Wouldn’t work in a month of Sundays - we had our last AEF in Oct cancelled (strong winds, not the AEF’s fault), next allocation is in Feb. With paucity of PTT slots too, a one year window = impossible.
It’s bad enough chasing badges as it is, never mind throwing in more obstacles.
The Gliding or AEF programme sheet should cover this. It is signed by the Sqn before arrival and by the VGS or AEF once training complete with a record of what cadet achieved what. It should (I presume) then be held by the Sqn with a copy to Wing Aviation Officer?
