Has anyone else seen this? https://www.flyer.co.uk/govt-funds-air-league-initiatives/
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Is this the start of outsourcing of flying and gliding from the RAF/RAFAC thats been rumoured as a possibility for a couple of years?
Interesting that it’s another DoT funded project
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Doubt it.
More likely that in order to benefit from the Grant’s etc they have to demonstrate charitable benefit.
Easiest thing to do, to demonstrate scalable benefit, whether you intend to follow through or not is attatch benefits to another organisation.
I bet that within 10 years many of these aircraft will be privately owned.
Given the article itself says
“The aircraft is intended to be utilised for military cadet and other youth organisations’ ab initio flying”
I’m going with yes.
So that’s the SCC and ACF sorted for flying then…
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Nah - We have to build the aircraft first, and I’m guessing that it will then get a G-XXXX registration, to be flown by civvie pilots. Given HQACs reluctance to let us fly with anyone other than the RAF, I’m guessing that no cadets will every get off the ground in them.
What happened to the NI self build aircraft, BTW?
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The other youth organisations part is more interesting than the military part. If this means that Scouting in a general way gets access, that IMO would be another nail in the coffin for the ATC. We still see a lot of youngsters who move from Scouting to the Air Cadets, as they’ve just about exhausted what Scouting has to offer and flying was a major draw. If Scouting in general was getting access to flying and say experience flights from a younger age than we could. So in any tangible sense what makes us excitingly different enough to the other youth organisations? Shooting in the ATC is still a phenomenal pita, flying we know where that is, anyone can do STEM activities, DofE has lost some impetus, you don’t need to be in a specific organisation to experience AT given all of the centres and opportunities out there, so what does that leave us with some exams, uniform and drill.
As @Moist_Van_Lipwig says HQAC/RAF have put up blocks at every turn to prevent us accessing any form of civvie flying, so we’d be looking over the fence at people doing things we can only dream of.
Back in Feb, they said:
We have come across several aspects of the aircraft’s configuration and overall performance that needed addressing - whilst having a permit is a major milestone there is more to do; Comms, SA enhancements and control balancing. Working hard to get it done!
Cool. Do you know if there any plan to fly the cadets in it, or is that a bit of a pipe dream?
Well, unless the rules are changed, I don’t see how they can - no ACTO35 = no cadet flying in non-Service aircraft is still in effect.
They’re trying though to get NI self build permitted could that open a can of worms?
there was a plan to have Cadet fly it into RIAT back in 2018 (instead it was trailed and was on static display with the would be Cadets and Staff flyers) …i am shocked it still not got its permit to fly!
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so i have taken a look (ie Google search) into the NI Sting
this article from Jul-2018 confirms the aircraft was at RIAT2018 and then indicates was going to Syerston and a second aircraft will be funded to go to Scotland
Build a plane project
18 months later (based on what MikeJenvey has found in Feb) the aircraft that took less than two years to build, is still not “airworthy” and the second Scotland Aircraft I’ve heard nothing about! (all i can find on Google is the same Jul-18 annoucement)
white elephant anyone?
More a waste of time than white elephant. At a time when nothing is happening with regard to Air Cadet flying this was imo more about a false hope or trying to do something that should have been kept quiet and presented as a completed piece all raring to go. However knowing the intransigent mind set wrt to flying in anything other than a ‘military’ aircraft, it should have never got beyond the Friday lunch back of a fag packet.
as i understand it is was more about promoting aviation interest than flying.
ticking STEM boxes and enthusing Cadets into aviation with hands on experience - it just happens to be an aircraft.
yes the hope would be it would be flying, and i suspect some hoped that Cadets would fly in her, but it was a “good news story” about engaging with the youth on an aviation STEM project, why leave that until the end??
I saw it fly out of RIAT 2019… so it definitely does fly and I recall seeing that it had ownership passed… I have a feeling it was named to the OC 2FTS at the time…
It definitely was at one point… and a quick google shows it’s now registered to “RAF Sport Aircraft, RAF Flying Schools & Clubs”
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For those who have followed this saga from the beginning and, in particular, the transfer of the Vigilants to the charity Aerobility.
While I state again that I support the aims of this charity and have no argument with them at all, I thought that it would be useful to let people know that the Dept for Transport publish, on a monthly basis, all grants/expenditure over £25k. In their Feb 2020 spreadsheet you will find a Grant to Aerobility to refurbish Vigilant gliders of £745,000. Umm
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Why could we not get that grant?