How much flying & why
I spoke to some Cadets recently and asked about Gliding as there is a VGS fairly close.
Not good, and mainly down to weather and poss lack of qualified staff which means VGS seems to need input from 2 FTS to operate.
One Cadet who is keen and available has been waiting two years to get airborne so it makes you wonder if this is not unusual.
There was an attempt to get the vigilant fleet refurbed under the LAA and use them for AE, available to youth organisations. It was VERY DOABLE in practice but of course did not pass the scandal of the selection process at MOD and the real worry that it might actually work and then people would wonder why the Cadets had lost them. We all know what actually happened and of course we also the fate of the aircraft ( can not beat a good carpet sweep with an official broom).
The Cadet system has just become another job producer for the RAF who for decades were happy to leave it to volunteers until someone pointed out how much actual training and flying the organisation was doing at so little cost and with so little input from the mother body. Oops cant have that lets reorganise it ourselves with more senior 'paid' staff that will screw it up, and it did.