doing the maths
47 airframes (by the end of the year) per 40,000 Cadets = 851 Cadets per airframe
(40,000 ÷ 47)
if there are 104 flying days (52x Saturdays and Sundays), each aircraft needs to fly 9 Cadets per day
(851 ÷ 104 = 8.18) to reach the “one flight per year” expectation.
9x Cadets per day, per aircraft does not seem unreasonable - even more so when each flight is ~20 minutes so 3 hours flying per day - and we all know that a VGS slot is a full day commitment.
if we assume change over time between flights takes it to 30 minutes between take offs, this equates to a 4.5 hour flying window between first take off and last landing.
However all of that is assuming every aircraft is available every weekend and every weekend offers flying conditions.
this is only the VGS, given that “one flight per year” could come from the AEF also that potentially halves the number of Cadets to fly, or more realistically reduces the number of available flying days
suddenly flying 20,000 Cadets across 52 flying days (on the assumption its half the capability allowing for weather or pilot/aircraft availability) with the expectation of flying 9 per aircraft per day (within a 4.5hour “flying window”) seems very achievable - what is it that I am missing?
why is there such a shortage of VGS opportunities?
when i have been to VGS we’ll get 3-4 slots and will see at least 12 Cadets there hoping to get in the air…have i wildly overestimated the number of flying days?