Sacked RAF pilots replaced by foreign personnel

[MrFlibble]

Sacked RAF pilots replaced by foreign personnel - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8594356/Sacked-RAF-pilots-replaced-by-foreign-personnel.html)

The Ministry of Defence is “actively seeking” foreign personnel to pay for “surplus” training places left by British personnel dismissed earlier this year, a minister has admitted.

The Daily Telegraph revealed in February that scores of RAF pilots in training are being sacked to save money. A defence minister has now admitted that because the trainees were dismissed at such short notice, the staff and equipment for their training are still in service and must be funded.

To help meet those costs, foreign pilots will be trained. Trainee pilots from countries including Algeria and Kenya are understood to be taking up the vacant training places at RAF bases.

The sacked trainees included some who were only a few days away from becoming fully qualified to fly fighters, helicopters and transport aircraft.
The cuts are said to have badly damaged morale in the RAF, which is now actively engaged in Afghanistan and Libya.

Lord Astor of Hever, a defence minister, confirmed that the sackings have left many empty places on RAF training courses. In the House of Lords, Lord Astor was challenged about the impact of sacking the RAF trainees.
He said: “It will take some time to remove the resulting additional spare capacity from the training programme and we are actively seeking to offer any surplus training slots to foreign students." Training for foreign students is provided “at full cost” to their home governments, he said.


Words fail me... :ugh:

[Seldomfitforpurpose]

Seems like an eminently sensible financial plan to me, not usually our strong point I know but cant see a problem here.

[TurbineTooHot]

Nothing new or insensible about this dude. We've always trained other nations Aircrew, and let's be fair, it actually maintains roles therefore prevents further job losses. Job jobbed.

[BOAC]

Mr F - we are obviously missing something here - what is it that bothers you?

[Jabba_TG12]

Words dont fail me... the words "quelle" "surprise" and another word beginning with f that rhymes with "clucking" spring very very readily to mind....

Re-arrange into a well known phrase or saying...:E

[Tiger Tales]

Mr Flibble is an enthusiast and not in the military so he probably doesn't really get the full picture.
You can't blame him for believing everything the press prints these days though. What with the amount of 'leaks' around these days the MoD should employ a few plumbers!

[beardy]

Words fail me

He'll never make QFI then.

[Jambo Jet]

This could all go wrong pretty quick.

Suppose the RAF start to train 100 or so foreign officers to fly.

Then the impact of the so called exodus hits home and the 170 sacked guys get asked, would you mind staying after all.

Cant then train them because the QFIs are too busy with the foreigners.

[MrFlibble]

Jambo pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I've trained alongside chaps from Oman, Iraq and Qatar through IOT and EFT - dont have a problem with that, and as SFFP and TTH have said it keeps QFI's in work. Having been to a few airline jobs fairs since being deselected myself, the main thrust seems to be that the commercial sector will be picking up quite rapidly over the next 24-36 months.

Once the gates open and a large number of experienced SPs go civvy-side, and *if* the call goes out for some of the deselected recruits to return to training to fill the gap down the line, there's may be a bit of a problem if all the training course spots are filled by pre-paid foreign studes.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Presumably this is because the training is contracted out and therefore already paid for for some years. Anyone know how long?
Also, if we can't fill the places with politically acceptable foreigners, how much will we have actually saved by chopping these 170 baby pilots? Just the fuel I guess?

Always remember an Iraqi who, on finishing Valley, didn't fancy being shot down in the Iran-Iraq war. Last heard of running a chip shop in Hull.

[Aynayda Pizaqvick]

Jambo,
Better that than going 'crap, now we need a whole bunch of new pilots and we have no QFIs/QHIs/Aircraft to train them!' At least this way we get to keep a few more people employed and the training system in good shape for when things do kick start again (and make a few bob in the process).
Seems infinitely sensible here too.

[Anonystude]

It would be an interesting exercise asking how many of the 'deselected former flying students' would choose to come back into FT and remain in the RAF, especially those further on in training...

I suspect there wouldn't be many.

[Could be the last?]

Wasn't this the whole point of MFTS, the ability to sell free places to the highest bidder?

As a result of the downsizing of aircrew numbers, this looks like another contract already signed for that we can't escape without massive penalties........

[minigundiplomat]

Wasn't this the whole point of MFTS, the ability to sell free places to the highest bidder?


Problem being, we are never going to be the highest bidder anymore!

[Dengue_Dude]

Do QFIs still have to talk in 4 colours?

[AllTrimDoubt]

Only after the 4th beer...

:}:E

[dropintheoggin]

The spare capacity in the FT system has been sold off in the past and works very well. If you can get Johnny Foreigner to pay capitation rate per hour then it makes financial sense while maintaining a decent, structured FT system. It was never part of the plan in MFTS as far as I know.

[Could be the last?]

Dropin.....

This was always the case in some form or another, you just had to read between the lines!