@MTOW, Wiley and Andu
Apologies for the late reply. I'm wearing 3 hats at work and organising a major training course so we have guys ready for TS11. I try to forget work at home to get a break.
Regarding the SIM, 0700-2000 is pretty normal for training use. More is available and can be negotiated with the operator. In between it's down for maintenance, block upgrades and development for role expansion. That's what I meant by fully booked. All available sim slots are filled.
To operate 24/7 would require more instructors and the loss of any OT&E for new procedures/hardware/role expansion. Our sims are used for development, not just raise/train/sustain. It's been said before but increasing numbers means another FEG must lose. Personnel manning is neutral. To increase our CE means the body must come from within the existing structure. I'll give an example, for those that remember the ABNOPSO position coordinating tactical training. Now it's been rolled into an ops job at the same time with long range planning. Same work, double volume as you cover both responsibilities. Oh and keep flying at the same time, instruct, maintain currencies, do that minor project for an upgrade, investigate an ASOR, do a QA on fraud, keep your IR up to date, finish the required courses for promotion, sit in as deputy when the FLTCDR takes leave, draft PAR's/PRP's etc..
The merging of jobs decribed above freed up a position. Loss of Dev FLT at 285 freed up some more and now you have some people who can man up 4Sqn, 2Sqn, 36Sqn etc...
The other item that consumes resources is the continual retraining when we block upgrade. The 5.4 J is not the same as a 6.1 or 7.0 J. These must be planned for as the last upgrade took the J sim offline for months as it did for each airframe going to 5.4. The currencies had to be managed so that nobody went uncurrent during this period. Block upgrades are ~2-3 years apart.
To answer a previous question. Herc's do no EFATO or double assymetric training airborne, it's all sim based. The 707 accident forced a rethink of this training.
Our training woes are being worked on. I just wouldn't like being a bograt pilot awaiting basic conversion at the moment.