None of this should surprise anyone. It was always a foregone conclusion that MFTS would fail spectacularly - it could go no other way. The reason is this - prior to MFTS, the MOD ran its own FT system, and the driving force was Standards. The system was honed to provide the best quality training possible. This is no longer the case. MFTS is now run for a profit, plain and simple. Is there anyone who seriously believes that a profit driven system will provide a better prodect than a quality driven system?
Now, when you start to drill down into this, the reasons are clear and obvious. Ascent is a 'Special Purpose Vehicle' - a company 'invented' to run the MFTS contract. It has no other purpose and is not bidding for anything else..so why would they care about their reputation? They only existed to get the MFTS contract, and they achieved that. Job done. Also, Ascent is just another way of saying "Lockheed Martin and Babcock'. These are 2 companies that are not known for being charities - they exist to make a profit, and quite right too, why shouldn't they?
I have heard many describe the Ascent management as thoroughly incompetent and clueless. In fact, I have never heard them described as anything else. However, whether they are or not is dependant on what yardsick you use to judge them. Bear in mind they are not (poorly) paid to care about standards. They do not care about quality - quality costs money. They are paid to help Ascent make a profit and to defend the contract. They want to provide the cheapest solution they can to maximize the corporate profit. This means buying as few as possible of the cheapest airframes they can. It means employing as few people as possible and pushing them as hard as possible. It means minimizing flying and cutting corners wherever possible. Judged against this remit, the management suddenly look a lot less incompetent. They are doing what they are paid to do. The real issue is that this was blindingly obvious to everyone apart from the Senor officers who decided to implement this system. The sheer incompetence and dereliction of duty of those officers cannot be overstated.
Ascent have provided H135 for rearcrew training that are too small. H145's that 3 years after arrival still cannot teach overwater winching. Phenoms that are inferior as trainers to the aircraft they replaced, Hawks with insufficient engines...so these Texan woes are only to be expected. The MOD have got precisely what I and so many others told them they would get.
To the issue at hand. The DDH has 2 choices here. He either has the moral courage to do the right thing and to be seen doing it, or he protects his career. He should ground 72 Sqn immediately and launch a full and open investigation into the claims made here. If there is an accident and this is not addressed, he will quite rightly go to prison. I also have no doubt that he is was already aware of everyhing said here, but just kept looking resolutely out of the window rather than addressing the issue at hand. The genie is now out of the bottle and he no longer has that option. I pray the Press pick this up.
The parents of the students on 72 Sqn should all call the Stn Cdr at Valley and demand an inquiry - a public one. They should be calling their MP's and demanding a full public enquiry. They should be writing to newspapers.
The MOD wanted this system, and they must now accept responsibility for abject failure that it is.