Blagger - couldn't agree more about the AEF.
They are generally well-minded guys with the love for flying. But let's remember one thing - they don't get paid! (with the exeption of OC/DOC). Is your bog-standard line AEF pilot going to want to go through all of the hassle of getting CFS qualified, then with every sortie, going through the Brief-Teach-Debrief-Report cycle with periodic standardisation and assesment? All these guys want to do is pack in as many hrs as possible. I can't see AEF pilots wanting to live at Cranditz to qualify - Are CFS standards going to detach to AEF stns to qualify these guys?
What about the hrs issue? How many AEF guys are still professional CivAir pilots? Can you imagine the Chief Pilot of CosyAir telling his boss that he's unable to fly as he's used up all of his hrs instructing UAS studes? (...enter Beags with the regs...)
The 'plan' (if i may be so rude as to call it that) appears to be based around the couple of AEFs in Middle-England where pilot recruitmant isn't a problem, and most staff are ex-senior officers/QFIs....that is not the case everywhere else.
We're in for a very interesting cross-over period, methinks.
Uncle G