Leon et al,
The 500 hour requirement was still in ATC rules and regs late last year, when I checked it. There are also other criteria which I don't recall at the moment.
There is also a get-out type clause which mentioned that those criteria might be waived, subject to the pilot in question being interviewed by someone high up the chain of command.Please excuse me if I've paraphrased the rules more than a bit.
As an ATC CI, and holding PPL with 300 or so hours, I did look at offering rides to cadets to get some of them airborne whilst this hiatus is still going on, hence my checking the rules. As I didn't have the 500+, that strangled the idea at birth.
As an alternative, surely there are several flying schools around the country that could fly cadets, if the paperwork system could be sorted out?
According to recent EASA rules, flying training organisations have to be registered and vetted by the CAA, to allow them to train people to PPL standard. Were the Air Cadet authorities to start with these groups, surely something could be done?
It breaks my heart to talk to the kids every week and not be able to get them airborne, which is the reason why so many join the ACO. It's what attracted me to it over 50 years ago.