It depends on how far you run the giding process & associated costs - if, as suggested elsewhere, the overall VGS infrastructure & associated costings = £600 per cadet per year, then can the VGS completely & aportion the monies to cadets.
You also have to take into account CFAV involvement for the organising / transportation to any VGS.
The cost of a Young Person membership at Cambridge Gliding Centre is £130. Cable launches are £11.40 - that would be about 40 launches with the dosh left over after membership. They also have some cheap accommodation to save some travelling - all fee information.
We have several of our cadets who are active members there.
although to be fair, just look at a “good” VGS day and determine number of Cadets flown x 20 minutes = hours flown
and then work out how many CFAVs were there x 10 hours (or however long the day was) = hours spent at the airfield.
whenever I attend a VGS it is a lot of hurry and wait, fair enough when waiting your turn, but an 0800 arrival and the first take off is at 1100 makes me wonder, it is quicker to get airborne when flying from Heathrow (arrival time to Take off) than a VGS and there is security and check in to contend with - I have never seen half the delays in my experience of civilian flying
Only a minority of Instructors are ‘paid’ at clubs, majority are volunteers.
Completely agree, just pointing out it would still be a postcode lottery and where there is really poor provision now there would still be really poor provision. Just because it makes things easier where you’re located doesn’t make it better for everyone.
If its proposed to be a RAFAC activity this doesn’t change, CFAV would still need to transport, again just easier for some but worse for others.
This is great! We have a couple of cadets joined my club too due to lack of provision from RAFAC, but as someone who only discovered gliding through being an air cadet and getting plenty of opportunities to go gliding that I would never have been in a position to afford it is sad to see the state of decline.
Last time I took cadets to gliding it was an 08:30 arrival and by the time they had gone through the powerpoints, videos, checks and training they were ready for the cadets on the airfield, the only painful bit (for the cadets) really was the synthetic part. And to be fair to the VGS they had done a few launches for whatever training they needed before the cadets were ready.
Though with Blue synthetic now being delivered locally and Flying Operations covering the ppt bit surely it should just be health and safety and go? Wonder if that will potentially enable the VGS to increase output slighlty
Guess every VGS is different and depends how long post pause/covid recovery they are/were.
The trouble I find is
there is a hurry up and wait once arrived before ready to deliver the powerpoint
then there is a hurry up and wait before the video starts
then again before the next bit and so on.
each 20 minute section took 35-40 minutes as the “processing” wasn’t slick. even getting across to the airfield was a muddle in which VGS CFAV was going to drive what vehicle to move people from briefing hut to airfield caravan.
and then once sat in the aircraft there is a repeat of the evacuation brief again so even that causes a delay…
I am certain this isn’t the VGS CFAVs fault, much of it their hands are tied, if only by resource restrictions but it can be frustrating having got up at 0600 to get to Squadron and travel to the VGS for 0800 only for it to be near lunchtime before the first Cadets are in the air…
I understand AGS are to be “devolved” from 2FTS to regions. Region aviation officers could then establish new AGS if needed to provide coverage for their region. It also means region aviation officers will be looking for CFAV to be Bronze ATP instructors. I don’t know what the exact criteria will be but those of us with professional flying or flying instructor experience are likely to be welcome.
Frustrating? It’s insanity. I don’t believe for a second that it’s the VGS staff fault, they’re just following orders. But that’s possibly the problem, why do you need regimented orders for what is effectively a gliding club for scouts run by people wearing boiler suits.
Met briefs, all sitting there for half an hour with lots of ‘yes sir/ma’am’ going on and hugely in depth briefings. Fine for a 4 ship of typhoons off to bomb a target. Gliding? Just look the TAF up on your phone and get out the door. NOTAMs? No change? Sweet. Get going!
What do cadets actually need? Quick safety briefing, absolutely. How to launch a glider with the hand signals etc, I could live with that. Anything else? Doubt it.
They’re there to have a bit of fun, have a flight or two and enjoy the day with their mates. The front lineisms can wait until they get to the Chinook OCU.
Puzzling that it wouldn’t be win win to cut the fluff. My guess is the staff are there because they want to fly as well, more flying for cadets means more flying for them.
At least blue. As it stands we’ve been limited on trainer courses just from wing staff availability etc. I’m prevented from teaching blue ATP because my day job, flying a plane, meant I couldn’t make the weekend day to get signed off.
Understand that having outside experience doesn’t necessarily translate to RAFAC stuff, and there’s an element of standardisation to keep to. But for blue wings… really…
I knew we discussed this a while ago! So, I’ve just noticed on the changed docuemtsn that ACP 3014, which I didn’t even know existed, has this change note:
And also, that document it’s self answers quite a few questions that were raised throughout this thread! Not so much and syllabi, but about what an AGS does/is.
It looks like this course would be greatly enhanced by the use of VR headsets, allowing the synthetic pilot to look around, particularly when taxiing, in the circuit and on the x-country. As they would in a real aircraft. A flat screen(s) with limited spatial awareness doesn’t really cut it.
