Originally Posted by
bobward
Pr00ne,
I think you missed my point. As a former VRT officer and squadron commander ,I'm well aware of what the Corps budget used to be. With all the services likely to be hammered to pay for Covid (as per earlier posts elsewhere), I'm just worried that MoD might see a quick win, unlikely to stir much ire within the ranks of PPruners.
"Every little helps.."
BobW One of the issues with the present day 'Cadets' is the ongoing cost of equipment contracts and the lack of utilisation. These costs continue to accrue even when equipment lies idle. When you have a 'leaderless' organisation with no commercial background it becomes vulnerable to even more extreme costs as seen by the whole Cadet Gliding Pause/Recovery operation that cost a fortune and produced nothing. Not content with that huge foul up they then compounded the situation with a joke of a disposal of machines that were demonstrably capable of further youth use at little user cost. It is not rocket science, just follow the 'MONEY' and then see who is getting it !!!. The 'golden' days of ATC 'Gliding training' were achieved with basic machines that gave decades of use, supported by 2nd life transport that managed to give another 'airfield' life, and a fleet of winches that also gave decades of use and did not fail. It is obvious that the system worked well and did so because it was kept simple. The record is not in dispute, no aviation training organisation in the World could take 'non streamed' youths and get them solo with such success. The 'Solo' aspect was not just about going on to fly more complicated types, it had the effect of bringing about self development and decision making that was quite unique,and was run by capable 'enthusiasts'.