Flying training questions 1
I'm writing a no-notice article on RAF FJ pilot training from ab initio to frontline. Perhaps because of the recent changes, official pubs and online resources are contradictory, outdated, incomplete or confusing. The deadline is a matter of days. There is not time to get answers from Corporate Comms, but I don't think that I'm asking anything that's remotely sensitive. Any help would be gratefully received.
A
What are the academic minima required today? What is the minimum standard realistically acceptable to OASC? Apart from the obvious – asthma, hayfever, diabetes, epilepsy, what diseases are an automatic ‘PMU’ for pilot candidates at OASC? If anyone cares to post the key eyesight and anthropomorphic height/weight/knee-to-buttock limits for pilot training, I’ll happily incorporate them in the article.
B
What proportion of EFTS pilots are UAS UBs, VRs and direct entrants? Roughly what are the numbers? (I know that “DEFTS is a Military Flying School tasked to train up to 130 Army and Royal Navy student pilots every year.” An RAF comparison would be interesting.)
C
After all the recent reorganisation, who uses the 160 hp Fireflies, and who uses the 260s? How has this changed?
D
Several official and semi-official sites talk about 14 UASs, though I still count 15 flying units.
1) Aberdeen, Dundee & St Andrews UAS
2) University of Birmingham AS
3) Bristol UAS
4) Cambridge UAS
5) East Lowlands UAS
6) East Midlands UAS
7) Universities of Glasgow & Strathclyde AS
8) Liverpool UAS
9) University of London AS
10) Manchester & Salford Universities AS
11) Northumbrian Universities AS
12) Oxford University AS
13) Southampton UAS
14) University of Wales AS
15) Yorkshire Universities AS
Where am I going wrong? And when did Queens fold? Weren’t there 17 UASs a few years ago?
E
I read that: “VRs are unsponsored officer cadets (OCs) of the RAFVR and as such are eligible only for attendance pay, travel costs and messing allowance.” In my day they were airmen with the status of officer cadets (Cadet Pilots). Is this no longer the case? If not why not (equality of status with the UBs, perhaps?) When did it change? Does VR membership still last for six terms as standard, or do most VRs now go on until they finish their studies?
F
I read that “Sponsored University Bursars are sponsored students, selected by the Directorate of Recruiting and Selection (DofR&S). They are Officer Cadets (OCs) who receive a bursary, which varies in value according to branch, on the understanding that they will, on satisfactory completion of their degree studies and UAS training, join the RAF for at least a short term commission.” Are there no longer University Cadets – Acting Pilot Officers paid an appropriate salary? When did it change?
G
I read that: “On successful completion of IOT, the Officers selected to be pilots are posted to a University Air Squadron (UAS) for ‘Direct Entry Training’ where they will fly 90 hours in a light-weight aircraft, the Tutor. Those Officers who had previously attended a UAS during their studies (and flown 90 hours) are exempt from this stage.”
How about officers who have completed fewer than 90 hours on a UAS (those who join with only five terms to go, for example)?
H
I read that: “Until the disbandment of JEFTS, Yorkshire UAS was one of two UASs in the country to have a "direct entry flight". This flight was formed because JEFTS was running at maximum capacity. This flight took some of the direct entrants that would otherwise have be trained on the Firefly with JEFTS, and gave them the same course as they would have received had they been with JEFTS.” Which was the second UAS with a Direct Entry Flight?
I
I read that: “Further rationalisation of the RAF EFT task in 2003 has seen the closure of the Church Fenton sqn and the transfer of all of the Direct Entrant students to 14 of the UASs for their training.” Which 14? Which ones don’t parent Direct Entrant studes?