INVOLVEMENT
ARC I do realise things are different nowadays,however there will be no Cadets who have ever had a winch launch in an open cockpit machine therefore nothing to compare with. The involvement on the field is down to an individual schools
operations,but i do not see why the old premise of staff cadets showing the day visitors what to do is any different. Having seen a Cadet Squadron filling shopping bags at a local supermarket; none of whom had a gliding badge what the hell has happened to the organisation.
Half the fun of going gliding were the simple things :- holding wings for launching,attaching cables,assisting strapping in,riding in Landrovers on recovery ops, in other words 'helping' with the days operation and learning lots about team work and how it all came together to go flying. The fact that most of the 'jobs' were being done by other Cadets made it even more of a exercise in a possible (that could be me) scenario. If you have never experienced that sort of operation how can it can be judged.I bet if you gave the average Cadet the chance for a days proper involvement at a Viking site or filling shopping bags it would be no contest.I do have to admit that 'recovery' duties could be made quite entertaining with some 'off road' excursions' en route to the recovery point !! (cadets loved it)