Originally Posted by
Thud_and_Blunder
Interested to read BEagle's account of the fixed-wing method of upgrading to A2 - a LOT of time and training given to the candidate. I don't know if it's still the same (as I left the service some time ago), but in the rotary world (same instructor categorisation system) all preparation was done in the QHI's own time - no work-up or outside assistance, and preparation only possible using your own Staff Continuation Training. However, as my A2 was done while on the Chinook OCU I don't know if things were done differently at 2FTS; I don't think they were. The actual CFS Exam Wing assessment followed exactly the same procedure as for the QFIs.
There was also the massive kudos (yeah, right...
) of having 'cfs' after your name in the Air Force List for A2, and 'CFS' for A1.
It certainly did require a lot of self study for the QHI A2. As someone who held both QHI & QFI qualifications, I can say that as was usually the case, a helicopter pilot is left very much to his own devices, or at least was in the 1980s. My QHI upgrade was carried out by a visiting CFS examiner and in my case it involved giving a 45 minute lecture on helicopter icing. At the time there was no helicopter icing section in any of the RAF Air Publications (!) so I had to visit Boscombe Down Handling Squadron in my own time to glean sufficient information to feel confident (I’m eternally grateful to Geoff Connolly for his assistance). I subsequently worked full time in my office over three or four weekends and in the evenings making up OHP slides and preparing the lecture. I was upgraded to A2….just before I was posted to a fixed wing tour! I was pleased to discover on my return to helicopter instructing some years later that 33 Sqn, who held the Norway commitment, had stolen my notes and slides and were using them to brief their pilots about winter ops. But the swines wouldn’t give them back!