Originally Posted by
EnigmAviation
A noble effort Chevvron, and initiative etc overflowing, and no doubt some young Cadets did benefit, BUT...............as we all know, there must be standards set, monitoring, and above all adequate insurance cover in place. It only requires one incident or fatality to take down such schemes and that's probably where a risk averse HQAC brought matters to a close. Superficially, it appears killjoy, but in overall terms, and whilst it had no fatals, it was probably a good call for overall flight safety reasons. I'd much prefer to see the return of full scale RAF operated VGS operations with the range of full and adequate training in terms of both numbers and quality and extent of training, rather than the extremely limited "dishing out of a coloured badge for one launch" - a bit like stickers handed out in A & E to kids having a stitch put in or an injection.
Forgot to add that the instructors for the Flying Scholarships, which all resulted in a 'Restricted' PPL(M) (25 hours) and a presentation of a specially produced 'Wings' badge by the AOC were both 'assessed' by CFS and one of the assessors actually flew in in his own Shadow microlight!