Originally Posted by
Sky Sports
I think cadets flying in fast jets is pretty much a thing of the past. Its just another one of those activities which is a health and safety nightmare for HQAC, and has subsquently been turned into a paperwork/red tape/ hoop jumping minefield for staff.
The organisation has become so risk adverse, that anything mildly exciting has been banned/made impossible to run. Afterall, no activities = no accidents = medals all round! Doesn't matter that staff and cadet numbers are reducing, at least there is no bad publicity from a sprained ankle!
On this specific point...
I bagged a Harrier back seat trip when a Puma crewman at Gutersloh. Yay for me! Looking back- qualified, sensible aircrew bloke gets a 6-7 minute rundown on ejection and off we go.Later, I became an instructor at 6FTS, and taught abandonment drills to baby navs going onto the JP. Which I had never been near! I've looked back often on that trip, the memory of which I treasure, and wonder how I'd have fared if push came to bang. Maybe leave the Cadets to helicopters and Hercs (for a short while longer).
CG