Just been told (by the AEF) that all Tutors grounded again. No further info. Anyone know more?
Hope it’s not 2FTS issues again, or there will be no flying for quite a while.
So far this school year (i.e. since Sep 13) my 55 cadets have had ONE AEF visit for 9, the others being cancelled due serviceability, weather, and on one memorable occasion, runway contamination due to incompetent Fire Section crew…
Thought we were the AIR cadets. Maybe not
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Bag Packing Training Corps 
Adventure Training Corps. It’s the only way to go.
Tutors are firmly 3FTS (and hence supporting HQAC isn’t the primary task). Hopefully not a long term issue. On the plus side, being a BH weekend, no one should be missing out anyway. 
(unsubstantiated rumour but from a plausible source on) propeller issue again (unsubstantiated rumour but from a plausible source off)
To be back on line by Weds - maybe…
Would be good as we are due to fly on Thursday…
my sqn has (did have) fly and gliding this month. :mad:
We had gliding binned at last minute the last time (but thankfully picked up someone else’s slot later), now we’ve had AEF binned at last minute (it had already been reduced the day before from a slot for 15 cadets to a slot for 4 cadets due to pilot shortages) and now I hear that next week’s gliding slot is also going to be binned…
I’ve been posted in the Squadron for 2.5 years and we’ve not had a single AEF slot in all that time - two have been allocated, but both have now been cancelled due to technicalities.
In 8.5 years as a cadet don’t recall ever having an AEF slot cancelled when we flew this piece of 1950s engineering, then 30+
years old:
Perhaps we should have stuck to DH products, rather than buying a plastic kit from ze Germans.
But if you really want some AEF, I’ll get my socket set out, and you come back tomorrow for a hop in this.
Probably still safer than a Grob Propzfalloff
I’m hearing that cracks in the prop assembly are the latest issue. Whether in the hub or blades or how bad, are not questions that I am able to answer.
PN, I won’t specify what the reason is, but it isn’t the prop hub or cracks in anything.
For everyone harping back to “the old days”, sadly we don’t live in “the old days”, and actually the Grob is an excellent aeroplane for what AEF is trying to achieve - apart from the unfortunate mid air collisions, each incident so far has been walked away from. Having seen the fields that the two landed in at Cranwell, I’d rather not have been in a Chipmunk. The main failing is that it’s contractorised, and a contract that pre-dates both Haddon-Cave and the advent of the MAA and associated regulation documentation, concepts and safety culture.
The biggest concern is that with gliding and powered flying being something of a hit and miss affair it makes all attempts to recruit youngsters into the [size=4]Air[/size] Cadets futile. Like many we’ve not had much AEF in the last 18 months, 3 cadets and 1 detail out of three for gliding.
It’s OK in some respects to turn up and be confronted by weather as we have no control over that, but it’s the number of technical problems that seem to be cropping up and taking an age to rectify.
We are tasked with getting numbers up and the main draw, the opportunity to experience flying, seems to be unimportant. I lost the best part of 2 intakes last year due to no flying. At my last intake a parent asked me about the flying as he’d heard we hadn’t had much and I trotted out the safety aspect of the ban and that we were up and running again. We have been doing the usual AT and FMS things we do, but for 13 this was not enough and not what they joined the Air Cadets for.
While I appreciate that we are at the behest of technical/safety issues, we need some lateral thinking at the higher levels to ensure that the cadets get that flying experience or we have no USP.
AEF in my opinion doesn’t need to be twin seater gliding or flying…
I would be more sympathetic to issues that crop up if we had AEF via other means, a Herc flight, or to jump in a Griffin every so often.
the trouble with that is:
1 - the locality of some RAF stations with the capability (ie not fast jet) in comparison to ATC units can be significantly further than VGS/AEF which logistically could be more effort than it is worth
2 - the “operational requirements” of the RAF, availability of pilots on the weekend/evening and general servicablity of the aircraft would make it very hit and miss
however (and I know point 1 is ignored by this next bit) we seem to get enough Cadets flying on a Summer camps with is not in Tutors so the RAF isn’t unfamiliar with the idea of flying Cadets in the back seats…it is just a shame the opportunities only come up on camps…
The problem wrt summer camps is the numbers of cadets that get to go, the most I’ve had in the last 18 years is 14, and all but one other in single figures.
TBH if they know that there is a problem with flying and it can be arranged why not take a coach load of cadets for a passenger flight in something or if it’s too far if possible arrange for the something to come to somewhere suitable nearer.
There needs to be someone in the organisation that if the two-seat option isn’t available, seeks to get something in its stead, that maybe multi seat.
[quote=“glass half empty 2” post=17924]
There needs to be someone in the organisation that if the two-seat option isn’t available, seeks to get something in its stead, that maybe multi seat.[/quote]
Or people are proactive and just go straight to the point and ask. Certainly the stations with the aircraft to offer pax sorties will have fairly proactive ACLOs.
I think (hope) we are in a state that will change. A lot is luck - if for example you’re served by 7AEF, I think flying will be very limited for some time, as ALL the aircraft are used for CFS and EFT tasking on weekdays. Once things have settled down “at the sharp end”, then things may return to normal. Long term this problem will disappear as the flying training task falls to MFTS, so I expect the AEF task will piggy back onto whatever is left of the UAS system.
As for gliding, let OC 2FTS get his feet under the table.
AtCranwell on camp every cadet got a PAX on kingair.
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[quote=“juliet mike” post=17926]AtCranwell on camp every cadet got a PAX on kingair.
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But not the Camp Commandant… 
Yup, but I believe one was arranged fur him, but he couldn’t attend the slot.
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