Spot 4, Some interesting stuff.
Unfortunately an All MEARW system at DHFS would be hideously expensive. No point in trg pilots basic stick & pedal stuff on an ac that costs 4 times as much per hour as a squirrel. Some squirrel and some Griff is a good compromise, although I do accept some hours are used simply to swap types.
OTP at Middle Wallop does a good job of moving pilots from 705 standard to Lynx/Apache standard. Multicrew training is an area that is not as good as the RAF, but then, not all AAC pilots will fly with an aircrewman.....
It is the Navy who are short changed by DHFS as they have to leap from 705 Sqn straight onto op types. (apart from their SAR Buoys who DO go to 60 Sqn) That is why their OCUs are 10 months long!!! (hideously wasteful) It is also why the Navy chops people who have passed 705 Sqn to a 'low average' standard: It cannot afford to carry any training risks because there is this gap between 705 Sqn and RN OCU's.(wasteful and harsh for some people who could have made perfectly acceptable pilots) The fact that their SAR Bouys DO in fact do MEARW on 60 Sqn underlines the fact that there is a big hole in their training system for those not going SAR.