The hours issue wasn't that bad; arriving at a UAS to do EFT, I had a 90 hour course ahead of me rather than a 60 hour course for a JEFTS mate. On top of that, I had all the "essential exercise" currency ticks that made sure I left my EFT after three years with slightly over 100 hours. I was still compared to a bloke with better continuity, but at least that bloke only had 60 hours, and I had a PIFG, had done IP-tgt runs, and been immersed in life on a front-line base for the duration of my degree.
The decision to drop the UAS EFT syllabus to 60 hours, matching the direct entry one, and then introduce DE flights on UASs was the one that shocked me. Nothing brought home how up against it you were than pitching up to fly one of your token 60 trips, while watching another guy fly the same trip as one of three that day on Fg Off pay, with no degree to worry about. Then you'd pitch up 3 months later and he'd be finished and off to Linton.
A common BFT course does make sense, and those beancounters saying "no" might like to have a look at Linton nowadays. A fleet of 80-odd Tucanos; loads of QFIs leaving, and barely any starting; too many pilots in the RAF nowadays; and complaints about the streaming point. Seems to add up beautifully to wheeling out the full fleet of Tucanos, keeping the squadrons there at their full complement of QFIs, and sending EVERYONE there.
We own the aircraft, we have the pilots, and there're plenty of QFIs there sitting around wishing they had more hours to fly. Why not?