Wish we all could do this.
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In theory there is nothing to stop a parent setting up a trip to a gliding club and inviting their kid’s friends from the ATC squadron but realistically it’s not that easy, especially if you were to formalise it.
I’m aware that the CCF is fortunate to have the school to fall back on when we want to run activities that HQAC are unable or unwilling to let us do. I really feel for those cadets who will go through a potentially 8 year cadet career without ever having the chance to get in an aircraft
What if that parent was a staff member on squadron?
As long as it is made perfectly clear that there is no RAFAC involvement, they don’t access RAFAC databases for contact our medical information you can probably do it in theory. But outside of a school setting I’d personally be cautious about doing it as you are then blurring the lines between cadets and personal and increasing issues of safeguarding. (That’s why I’ll never use a cadet, even one with an established business, as a babysitter even though I used to babysit for CFAVs and teachers all the time in 6th form)
Quite true. And since the groundschool and PTT only came hand in hand with a gliding slot at a VGS, you can see why it was a blocker for the award of wings for hundreds, if not thousands of cadets who had flown at an AEF.
At one point, we had 27 cadets who had flown at an AEF, but couldn’t be awarded the blue wings, because they were waiting to fight for one VGS slot we got every year!
Going forward, it will be interesting to see how many of the new blue wings…sorry, badges…will be award after a VGS flight, compared to an AEF flight!
We had a parent who arranged a paintballing birthday party for his son and all but 2 of those that went were from us and one of the CIs went as they were family friends. I was questioned about it as the cadets told their mates from other sqns, it took the dad providing an invoice to show we’d had nothing to do with it.
If had the money going spare I would buy private flying and gliding for the cadets. Just need a lottery ticket to come up.
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Or an AGS or a VGS well before they restarted flying
We were not expecting 8 cadets flown in one day to be seen as a triumph and a success story…
Oh they absolutely are, 
without doubt those I talk to recognise our frustration
It’s a success compared to a few years ago…
This is good.
Hopefully, they will be the ones driving the change towards a greater capacity.
Hopefully, they are the ones who are saying to their OC’s, "Sir, now we don’t have to spend the morning doing groundschool, can I suggest we move towards morning slots and afternoon slots, like the AEF’s? More gliding all round sir. Our frustration will go down and reputation up!
Hopefully, this change started as soon as the removal of groundschool and PTT was announced.
Hopefully, the plans are already in place and we will start to see more slots being offered soon!
Shall I hold my breath?
God, I hope not.
Part of the attraction of gliding for me as a cadet, is that you get immersed in the operations. It’s not about being sat in the crew room until its your go. It’s about getting stuck into the launching, recovering and being able to see what exactly happens.
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Well, those VGS staff are all part of the RAFAC just as you are. It’s obvious from your comments you don’t have much respect for your VGS colleagues.
I have been lucky to have been an ATC Sqn OC and a VGS OC so this type of sniping at VGS staff is nothing new to me.
Perhaps a better understanding of the challenges involved would benefit some and maybe then appreciation of the value of things would grow?
seconded.
As a Cadet my VGS was with Vigilants so mine was very much sat in the crew room waiting but talking to those who went to Viking VGS it is much more hands on and was jealous of that exposure they got.
Having been to a Viking VGS since it isn’t as hands on as I expected, but it is post-pause when output is still ramping up. there is still plenty of hanging around.
I wouldn’t be upset at morning/afternoon slots though, it night help improve the feeling that output is increasing and speed up the “sausage factory” of the VGS - I have never understood why AEF is a half day, yet VGS is a full day commitment when the majority of non-flying time is sat in the crew room/watching the action/sat watching Top Gun on DVD.
but there are other differences between AEF and VGS I don’t understand either and is a can of worms we don’t want to open in this topic!
661 have been doing this for a while.
Did morning and afternoon slots when we we’re flying 24 a day. The amount of units that turned up on the wrong slot was annoying seems the RAVO could not quite manage the quantity or direction 
Since when are AEFs half days? We’ve never had that option.
Benson only gives that option. Maybe because it services people from distant lands so getting them there at 0800 is impossible, but 1300 is manageable. Closer units get mornings, distant ones get afternoons.
Wittering and Cranwell both do morning and afternoon slots.
As do Cosford.
We’d get a morning session and once dine then give the Cadets an hour to whizz round the museum while the staff took advantage of the cafe
I do not understand crowing about something that was a regular occurrence. It highlights how very low the threshold for “success” has fallen.
Not sure if morning and afternoon slots are a good idea for VGS, unless they have all the gliders out and ready to go for say 0900. My experience taking cadets gliding is they were waiting for the cadets to turn up to help get them out, which chewed up time and then putting them away at the end of the day, when I wanted to be gone. If gliding wasn’t as sensitive to weather, so a morning or afternoon could be lost. A day is better just to give more chance to get airborne.
5 AEF always ran am and pm slots from when I were lad and before.