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Old 19th Oct 2015, 07:40
  #702 (permalink)  
Thorr
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Salisbury
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I agree with the view that the real issue here is the staffing side, bringing several hundred volunteers back up to standard is going to take a lot of time. Also, a large number would have left and the natural throughput of new staff via the staff cadet system has also been depleted. Not forgetting the admin burden of medicals in an Air Force already paired down in this respect, CRB checks etc, etc. Turn over of staff was already a problem, the average staff cadet may stay for a few years, go off to University a may come back after, but staff do not tend to stay for as long as they used to. The other issue is all training up to G1 is in-house, which you can't do if you haven't got the instructor resources to hand. Then, you also need to build a new engineering system to support, is there an appetite to set up a new mgsp?

To my mind, the way forward may be to set up half a dozen regional gliding centres, which offer gliding scholarships 5 days a week. The organisation could be staffed by ftrs. Weekend air experience/GIC could continue but on a more limited scale. At least then the aircraft would be better utilised. If each centre had 8 aircraft, and utilised 6 keeping 2 spare, each centre could deliver 12 scholarships per week, and 600 per year. That is 3600 per year. I think the current model works on a target of approx 2700 per year.
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