I had my only experience of an AEF flight as the passenger in the back of a Chipmunk at Woodvale in 1987. I wasn’t an ATC cadet, I was a UAS APO student who happened to be staying in the OM and blagged a trip on a Friday afternoon.
The experience was a little underwhelming, I don’t recall the pilot speaking to me except to warn me he was going to do his aeros, the overall impression was that it was more for his benefit than mine. I had logged around 70 hours by that point so at least I was used to being in an aircraft, what a 13 year old cadet made of being shut in the back of a Chippie, not being spoken to and thrown around I’m not sure.
I definitely channel that experience when I’m flying my RAFAC charges these days - it’s their flight and all about them, I get to throw it around on my SCTs. Being next to them I can observe them closely to ensure they’re ok and do my best to ensure they’re not unwell, nothing kills the joy of aviation in a youngster like air sickness. If it does go badly then I can at least help ensure they get it all in the bag to minimize the mess.
So whatever they do select needs to be side-by-side, aerobatic of course, and possibly one of the new Rotax powered ultralights rather than with a Lycoming lump on the front, to make it a little cheaper to run. The current contract works out at something like £2000/ hour which could surely be provided a bit cheaper.