I’ve said before, it would be interesting what the ACAS thinks as she sits on the CAA board. I know they you @MikeJenvey have spoken to the DCAS in the past.
Well, worth a go…
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Trying to be the Devil’s Advocate here - I understand that @Cab is “restricted” by mandates, rules and regs etc - but - he IS the person who ought to be able to not only recognise the problem and need for a solution.
That being said - let’s be real - Cabbis responsible for overseeing ALL training within the RAF.
Although flying within RAFAC is a “relatively” small but if his workload - it is something that affects something like half of all the personnel under his governance.
What’s more - although I keep driving home the need for change / improvement - I’m not expecting him to be the Officer delivering that change - but I would like to see him “allowing” a solution to be found and implemented.
This is symptomatic across lots of activity within RAFAC - “unless you do it THIS way - you CAN’T do it”.
On the one hand, sticking to proven safe standards of operation is a great way forward - but only if all other factors are manageable and affordable.
Trust the staff that have been appointed to their positions - if you have the wrong person in the wrong role; move them.
Solutions that would work for RAFAC; would benefit UAS too.
Thinking bigger picture the RAF are frustrated that they’re not getting a “better calibre” of applicants - but it is losing thousands of potential applicants each year beicse they’ve already become dis-incentivised as cadets. Want you to focus together.
It is very short sighted to think “if they’re this easily put off, we don’t want them”, but these are young people that ARE looking for a “home” and a place to feel valued in exchange for their commitment to a career that would otherwise probably pay double the money in Civvie street.
Trying to move the conversation on - what I am trying to do, is look at what changes CAN be implemented Corps wide, to make it easier for CFAVs to deliver activities and to enrich cadet’s experience, education and development.
In my experience, HQAC are too locked in to the mindset that volunteers are “unpaid employees”.
Just because a process is inefficient, it doesn’t matter, because CFAVs aren’t being paid - so it doesn’t cost RAFAC any more - so efficiency savings are not the priority.
Reducing admin burden; standardising Risk Assessments; reducing costs etc…
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Agreed with this entirely - If a solution of Flying or Gliding at least once a year was put out there, I don’t think that is an unreasonable request. I do wonder could AEF or VGS (in particular) have more capacity for school holidays flying/gliding. I understand some will be limited due to people and runway capacity but a mini “flying/gliding” camp could be a good option even if it was just 2 full days to give window of opportunity to get everyone up at least once.
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We should be aiming for 1 flight aper year per cadet as a minimum. The same as we should be aiming for 1 annual camp space per year per cadet minimum.
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Assuring spaces on camps and flying slots is definitely a lovely ideal - if you read everything I’ve written, you’ll see I would love to see such… but being realistic, I think we have to be mindful of availability of resources - and, to my mind, the most invaluable of which are the wonderful volunteers of VGS, AEF and RAFAC.
To “help” improve availability of volunteers, to deliver activity, there needs to be more done to “help” make it easier for CFAVs to volunteer their time…
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according to policy, which if you read “policy” as the “minimum” requirements we should adhere to then 1 flight a year is already the minimum
source: ACTO11 Annex A - link > ACTO 011.DOCX
the point being, this is already an expectation laid down by HQAC so it shouldn’t be for the CFAV to be beating the drum when it is already in black and white
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Except the organisational KPIs for flying were reduced from 10k flights per year to 7.5k flights per year… Easier to say you’re performing well if you just reduce the target.
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RAF & RAFAC: Making the minimum an aspiration!
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