Not really - that’s why we have no AEF at wittering on weekends due to the way the contract is written.
Yes they do as they don’t have the weekend capacity that the ATC does. The ATC weekends run independent of school
Schools often have other trips & events (school plays rugby fixtures etc) that will take priority over other activities. CCF fly in the week, ATC fly at weekends all is happy. Interestingly with so many weekend activities I’m finding it harder to get staff & cadets free at weekends & willing to go flying;
An awful lot, dont want to. As they know its at best a 30% chance they will actually fly.
Also most dont care about the flying like i / we used to.
Its just not a big deal anymore to alot of them.
Another issue is the absolute shear number of cadets with medical issues preventing normal avmed form.
Im not exagerating by saying that 35% of my Sqn has a listed neurodiversity issue requiring the full GP assessment.
That aint going to happen. Total faffage to explin that to parents etc etc, track it, answer questions, chase paperwork. Havent got the volunteer capacity for that. NOT ontop of having to complete so much admin for what were normal activities only 5 / 10 yers ago.
Hmmm, not when 5AEF moved from Wyton the Wittering - the rather important bit about Wittering weekend ATC cover had been omitted (specified as requirement in 5AEF’s master plan) - whoops! Huge delay while FTRS recruitment actioned.
No what I mean is that schools will have other events such as the school play, remember the CFAVS are volunteering within their day jobs. So cadets might not be permitted to go flying as the teacher may have to run extra tuition for the GCSE year on a Saturday (Sundays will clash with chapel service).
The number of teachers who volunteer in community cadet units is very low due to the time pressures on teachers.
The weekend culture for non-CCF adult volunteers is not there & is barely holding on in the ATC.
The MoD don’t like doing this as they often tied themselves in knots & there’s often huge variation fees already built in.
Regarding Cost there is no money, there’s going to be less going & there’s no appetite for spending more. The RAF is barely able to deliver flying training for regular personnel. Cadets are just not a priority.
I think they are waiting until the ATC contract is up as I don’t think they had anyone apply FTRS. It’s been going on for the best part of 10 years now.
Some, just like some ATC CFAVs do. Some are voluntold by the school to take part, and it’s harder to voluntell an employee to do stuff outside of working hours than inside. Some schools have a full calendar of weekend activities which clash with flying, in most cases a sports team requiring staff/pupils would trump a flying slot
Working hours? Pah! No such thing in a boarding school.
Look under ‘Partial exclusions’ - residential institutions.
The problem with the discussion above is it assumes there is such a thing as ‘the CCF’. I’ve said it before, there is no such thing as ‘the CCF’, only CCFs.
Some CEP units require weekend flying, for example, as school SLTs won’t let cadets out on weekdays. Some legacy state school units specify flying must be Friday. Some are totally flexible, but not many.
There is still the factor of controller controlling hours, and pilot flying hours to consider, Mil or Civ can’t just run 24/7 ops without the people to run it. Both need the correct training and to be at the right standard for controlling/ flying and can’t just be pushed through to only add limited extra capacity.
The 5 x 36 assumes there are 36 weeks in term time (i am ok with that bit) and 5 days within those weeks when the AEF fly CCF (not ok with that bit)
Although there are 5 days in a week, the AEFs are not flying the CCF every day of every (term time) week. At best it is twice a week, and most likely maximum one day a week is assigned to CCF (this could be a Friday for example)
thus - 1x Friday in every 36 weeks = 36 flying days per year
Now you’d get the odd day during the week but often flying weeks, remember their holidays are longer than the normal schools so there’s those extra weeks without overlap.
The UAS will have the majority of the flying during the week, they’ve got full time staff. AEF pilots tend to be doing it on their days off, ad hoc. Even one day a week CCF and two for the ATC and you’re talking 3/7 days flown which for a voluntary unit is still pretty good!
