With all the talk about Europe if whatever gets released is not entirely positive it will be on page 12 of most papers.
Thatās it then. Two years to fix the Vikings. Back to full allocations one year later for full Viking gliding mid 2019. Shame my local VGS is Vigilant,
Great how we can find out more by seeing job adverts then by official channels. Theyāve obviously signed off on something otherwise they wouldnāt be advertising the jobs. Great leadership shown from above as per usual.
The jobs look like one for two years and others on a 6 month temp contract. Who wants to work on a 6 month contract basis?
So all in all FIVE YEARS to get Vikings back to full service. You couldnāt make it up!! Frankly the mismanagement of this should see a few people, starting at the top, joining the pipe and slippers club. Just who are these people answerable to? Because Iām tending towards them being up for the club as well. If they conduct performance reviews, they canāt be much cop either as a review and putting conditions on them. If as the director in a business if your arm of the business wasnāt delivering, there are other jobs or retirement. I wonder how long a business would last without one of its key products available. I know itās the military and they arenāt answerable to anyone. Itās a shame we get landed with lame ducks. The last Cmdt as I understand it was ushered out due to a Civ Com getting above themselves which resulted in the new ārulesā for Civ Com / Sqn Assoc. This situation is far more serious in terms of viability of the Corps and the Cmdt gets extended.
I wonder what the official spin is going to be about this and hopefully some good advice as to how we sell this to prospective cadets. Join the AIR TRAINING Corps and do no gliding and depending where you are in the country no powered flying as well, currently with no date for a return. Given most cadets do 2-2Ā½ years we will have had 7/8 generations of cadets who never get to fly in a glider and potentially never fly.
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Very refreshing view in North Region compared to recent history - Ask the Regional Commadant
[quote=āRC North on 29 Jan 16ā]
Gliding Update
This is (as you have correctly identified) currently at Ministerial Level for approval. What I can say is that the RAF has approved the proposals put forward by 2FTS and AOC 22 Trg Gp and this is now with the Minister for sign-off. Whilst I cannot confirm when (if) the Minister will endorse the proposal, we have in place a number of briefing notes ready to release as soon as we have confirmation from the Minister. These will be published soonest, but the intention remains for the OCās of the VGS to be informed first.[/quote]
At least now the sign off has been given, one assumes, at least they are getting on with working to fulfil the contract. The internal communication is separate to Babcock meeting their contractual obligations to return the fleet to the air.
[quote=āRC North on 04 Feb 16ā]
RAF Flying Training & AEF
this question is linked to the formal fg announcement which we are waiting for any day now and, therefore, I am unable to answer this meaningfully at this moment in time.[/quote]
This is in relation to the new contract with Ascent Flight Training to deliver all fixed wing training for the UK Military.
Looking at the page on the MOD web site Assent Flight Trg and the number of aircraft involved. The Prefect T1 can be fitted with ejection seat, there is no indication whether this is the case. If there are ejection seats then every cadet will need a medical before flying. Also the Prefect is a much more complex aircraft much faster with a turbo prop engine and retractable undercarriage and hence more expensive to operate. 23 aircraft in the contract. Currently there are 117 tutor undertaking various roles across the three armed forces.
With the new contract there can only be two outcomes.
Rational 1 With the adoption of the new contract will enable retirement of the tutor from MFT as a result no AEF, SCC and UAS flying.
Rational 2 The tutor is kept under a separate contract and is not used for MFT and AEF etc carry on as normal.
While I have not heard anything either way, the lack on announcement on keeping the tutor does not board well for the future of the AEF UAS system as it stands.
When will there be something that looks vaguely positive with respect to practical aviation in the Air Cadets.
If the second option as described isnāt taken, we may as well turn the lights out.
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Why was this merely as an answer to a question - & only on Bader?
This, or something very similar, should have been promulgated ACO-wide.
The Viking recovery contract (not all Vikings) was never a secret??
Maybe the Tutors will be very busy in 2018 when EFT is done with them 
6FTS was set up recently donāt forget
Taken from Commandant Air Cadetās FB page yesterday -
[I]āJust to reassure those of you sending me messages about the glider recovery programme. We still await clearance to put the plan into the public domain so we are not trying to delay or hide things from you. The announcement is inextricably linked to the DIO Basing Review and you can understand that the MoD does not want to preempt that, which is due to report in June. We are just working out what we can release without prejudicing other important work and we will announce as soon as we can. I know, I sound like a broken record but, believe me, these things are complicated and my hands are tied.ā[/I]
@2ftsaerospace hi guys hope to release gliding news soon It will mean change but future Aco gliding will be second to none comdt2fts
Thatās from OC 2FTS twitter.
Iām very tempted to give him a sarcastic reply like "I think thereās a typo and youāve accidentally added the words āsecond toā there.
Well it is currently next to noneā¦
Yes it isā¦check again
āJust to reassure those of you sending me messages about the glider recovery programme.ā
Funny, Iāve been assuming all along that CAC had not the slightest idea of any connection between Air Cadets and gliding.
Is it time we all sent the link to the Defense for Dummies article to our respective MPs?
Wonāt do the slightest bit of good of course, but would at least let them know that we know just how useless their whole system is.
Donāt have an account, so can only access via the webpage. Maybe there is a delay there?
Not sure an article by a person that OC 2FTS had thrown out if the Corps will carry much weight. Too easy to point out the Axe the author has to grind.