I have a question for those forum members with experience in the legal sector.
Is it possible that those young men and women who have been adversely affected by the unacceptable delays in their professional training, could raise a case against the MOD?
There's a generation of young pilots arriving on their Frontline types, in many cases in excess of 10 years since joining the Service. This represents an entire generation of pilots, who will be unable to have the career opportunities that they might reasonably have expected when entering into an employment contract with the RAF / MOD.
Pilots arriving on the FL after 10 years won't be completing their first tour until something approaching their 12/13th year of service. The current levels of competition on FJ promotion boards mean that even the most exceptional candidates won't be 'in the bracket' until completion of their 2nd tour (year 14/15). Even very high calibre individuals are likely to to require 3+ tours (year 16-18+) to be considered competitive for promotion within their respective cadre of peers.
If you were to trace through the likely career impact on young aviators directly caused by this MFTS 'debacle', and calculate the potential lost earnings caused by a failure to professionally train employees within a reasonable period of time, you could demonstrate loss of earnings through:- 1./ Lack of flying (sic retention) pay, 2./ Lack of promotion opportunity, 3./ Subsequent impact on lifetime pension earnings through point 2.
So could there be a case to answer? Could we potentially witness a future 'class action' against MOD?