Originally Posted by
beardy
You may be so disappointed, the cadets I fly on the AEF are not. Moreover they are demonstrably safe.
Funny, but I also fly on an AEF and the idea that air cadet flying over the past ten years was demonstrably safe is just plain wrong. One of the themes of this whole thread is that the loss of life and aircraft disaster was predicted years and years ago when the MOD started to civilianise flying. The poor maintenance practices on the gliding side are simply another symptom of a poor system.
I soloed in a T31 at Swanton Morely in 1974, it was run professionally using old wooden gliders and well seasoned staff. When I later flew cadets in the RAF, OC Ops at Valley took a personal interest in the Chipmunk flying as did his counterpart at RAF Binbrook and much later Pete Stonham at Manston.
Cadet flying was safe and efficient back then because at every level the RAF staff involved and VR made sure teenagers were not put in harms way.
Cadets would get some STEM benefits from self build and self flying projects and I am aware of at least one ongoing in Northern Ireland. The Luftwaffe learned to fly in primary gliders like the Sandlin in the 1930s and the USAAF Academy still runs a gliding programme. Sullenberger was part of the USAAF gliding scene many years ago. Basic flying skills are far more important than the MOD think and this area has been neglected for too long.