What will happen to GR4 pilots?
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What will happen to GR4 pilots?
So what will happen to the GR4 pilots when they are finally decommissioned?
Will all of the pilots be made redundant or will they get the opportunity to train for the Eurofighter or the F-35?
Will all of the pilots be made redundant or will they get the opportunity to train for the Eurofighter or the F-35?
Last edited by Typhoon93; 19th Aug 2014 at 22:19. Reason: grammar
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How many ETs and F-35's are on order? I know there is a load of the C variants of the F-35's for the carriers although I believe the MOD has ordered both B and C variants.
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They could use them as re-enactors at a RAF Waddington 2015....errrr 2016, it will allow them to prance up and down in front of the crowds in their flying suits 
That or the F737
Sorry I shouldn't
That or the F737
Sorry I shouldn't
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RP - no C's?
So who are the C's going to? US Navy?
I thought the C's would be more suitable for the carriers due to the folding wings(?) like the F-18.
T.
So who are the C's going to? US Navy?
I thought the C's would be more suitable for the carriers due to the folding wings(?) like the F-18.
T.
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The UK carriers won't be equipped for conventional jets, only the vstol ones.... Silly decision in my book.
Typhoon93, as a serious answer, we don't maintain a force of 7 squadrons up until OSD then chop the whole lot en masse. There's a phased draw-down, so on a given year, there are only handfuls of pilots who need new jobs (circa 15 per front line squadron).
Some may be sent to QFI roles like they would be regardless of the GR4's fate, and their future employment can be worried about further down the line. Some will get promoted or move to staff officer jobs. Some will go to Typhoon, some to Reaper, some to completely different aircraft streams, some will leave, and others will go to more esoteric jobs.
The last Sqn I was on that folded, I can't think of any pilot who isn't still flying something, except by choice.
Some may be sent to QFI roles like they would be regardless of the GR4's fate, and their future employment can be worried about further down the line. Some will get promoted or move to staff officer jobs. Some will go to Typhoon, some to Reaper, some to completely different aircraft streams, some will leave, and others will go to more esoteric jobs.
The last Sqn I was on that folded, I can't think of any pilot who isn't still flying something, except by choice.
5F6B,
Yes, you're right about where the current batch of GR4 pilots will go, but the problem is the guys that are already in those roles/posts end up with no flying jobs to go back to. Plus, Typhoon will need to be sending some guys to be QFIs too, in order to have Typhoon QFIs further down the line. We've been through all this before when I was at Group. Trying to maintain critical mass for FJ aircrew then leads to shorter flying tours so that you end up with second and third tourists - the seed corn for QWI and Flt cdrs - with too few hours to become supervisors.
Manning and Air Cmd need to start working this and the training pipeline PDQ or it will get ugly.
Yes, you're right about where the current batch of GR4 pilots will go, but the problem is the guys that are already in those roles/posts end up with no flying jobs to go back to. Plus, Typhoon will need to be sending some guys to be QFIs too, in order to have Typhoon QFIs further down the line. We've been through all this before when I was at Group. Trying to maintain critical mass for FJ aircrew then leads to shorter flying tours so that you end up with second and third tourists - the seed corn for QWI and Flt cdrs - with too few hours to become supervisors.
Manning and Air Cmd need to start working this and the training pipeline PDQ or it will get ugly.
Courtney, well aware of the challenges right now; lots of papers on QFI sustainment and future requirements meander across my desk! I have no answers, and neither does anyone else it seems. We need more than we have a front line to sustain, but the picture changes alarmingly whenever you ask Ascent...
5 Forward 6 Back , many of us warned that this would happen, but were told that as mere Sqn Ldrs, we knew nothing about 'the big picture'....
As ye sow, so shall ye reap!
Part of the benefit of the old UAS scheme was that it generated and sustained a significant cadre of QFIs and gave novice QFIs an opportunity to learn their craft with students of widely varying levels of aptitude. But with the dumbing down of the UASs in 2005, thanks to the infamous Marston report (which was to UASs what Beeching was to the railways..), there are very few RAF QFIs needed to maintain the Kraft durch Freude activity at UASs these days.....
As ye sow, so shall ye reap!
Part of the benefit of the old UAS scheme was that it generated and sustained a significant cadre of QFIs and gave novice QFIs an opportunity to learn their craft with students of widely varying levels of aptitude. But with the dumbing down of the UASs in 2005, thanks to the infamous Marston report (which was to UASs what Beeching was to the railways..), there are very few RAF QFIs needed to maintain the Kraft durch Freude activity at UASs these days.....