So we are aiming for 20k flights per year. We have approx 30k cadets. So best case scenario you can expect an AEF flight at best every 18 months.
I appreciate for some that a lot more than they are currently getting. But C’mon, that’s the target.
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20,000 AEF flights per year (ignore weather cancellations) plus whatever 2FTS are planning to deliver we are close to every cadet having the opportunity to fly annually.
Youth and stem is nothing to do with RAFAC it is engagement with the community and raising the visability of the RAF with young people and engage with STEM.
So why is this nowhere near happening in reality?
In the last 12 months I have had 28% of my cadets fly!
At least the accelerating entry into the MIOTC is a positive for UAS Officer Cadets.
You must be aware of the ongoing pause on Tutor flying for cadets? This will account for some of your missed opportunities.
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Yes. We’ve lost 6 slots due to the pause, which would have made it 40%. Still massively below the 1 flight annually.
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For context, 20k Tutor flights per year is approximately what we were delivering when I took post in 2017. Challenges since then in providing it.
Hilariously we were once asked to quantify the demand for flying, i.e. the ideal amount they would like us to have available. The answer was broadly ‘unlimited’… which I appreciate wasn’t very helpful of us!
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Ps if there was no target, there would be no particular push to achieve it, so stop complaining!
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There has to be a tgt of sorts, to link in all the required resources - pilots, managers / supervisors, QFIs, maintenance staff, spare parts, consumables (fuel, etc), safety equipment, building use / costs, probably lots more such Air Traffic local manning, runway maintenance, etc, etc.
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Well they’re certainly not achieving that (somehow) in the South East. I’m throwing in the towel at my unit (aged out and thinking about a job) and they’ve failed miserably to get all of our cadets up at least once. An impressive feat i might add when you consider there’s only about 20 cadets (probably optimistic) on our books from an age range of… 4 different year groups.
I get Covid was a thing but come on…
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