UK MFTS Fixed Wing Flying Training : The Future
Not a chance. A few things borrowed from the bar...a minor ‘bosses talk’ at best. There is a more sinister force at work here and these innocent lads will be scapegoats for it.
MFTS is terrified the country, the press and most importantly the taxpayer will learn how appalling it is. It is destroying training yet costing more than the system it replaced.
It was a huge mistake. Those who implemented it are culpable of negligence. The Press will soon be all over this, and rightfully so. Those responsible for this completely foreseeable waste of taxpayers money must be held to account.
MFTS is terrified the country, the press and most importantly the taxpayer will learn how appalling it is. It is destroying training yet costing more than the system it replaced.
It was a huge mistake. Those who implemented it are culpable of negligence. The Press will soon be all over this, and rightfully so. Those responsible for this completely foreseeable waste of taxpayers money must be held to account.
This is yet another way in which MFTS is vastly inferior to the system it replaced.
When you see one of those Ascent Press Releases talking about a course graduating from Shawbury, ask what they have actually done - ask if they received training in those crucial skills that they would have been taught under the previous system. The answer is no.
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Apparently, Ascent's plan to fund the purchase of more 145s (who would have thought their initial numbers were woefully inadequate) involved offering the AAC a bunch of 135s at a highly inflated price, well over the cost of new ones............I believe they were told to ram it.
How do these people stay in business? Oh yes, Govt handouts and a poor contract......
How do these people stay in business? Oh yes, Govt handouts and a poor contract......
Perhaps the same senior officers who f**cked this up in the first place are now trying to work out how to rob Peter to pay Paul and acquire new 145s so the training contract can actually start to work.
All the risk with this contract seems to fall to the taxpayer and someone thought this was a great idea.
The setup of Rotary MFTS is complicated. Ascent managed to get the MOD to agree to a contract in which Ascent design the training, Ascent select the Aircraft, Airbus ‘run’ the aircraft, but the MOD pays for them. Bear in mind that the reason for MFTS was an NAO report saying that training cost too much and took too long.
It was, of course, a naive report- training is expensive.
Regardless, MFTS was set up to save money and time in training, and this is clear in every decision taken by Ascent. They selected the cheapest aircraft, and the huge proportion of training that is for rearcrew just stopped, as the H135 is unfit for purpose...but my goodness they are cheap!
The MOD made a fundamentally flawed decision to proceed with MFTS, but they did, and the question is how to fix it. It presently costs more per trainee than the previous system, takes far longer, and produces an inferior product as key elements are no longer being trained...all of which was clearly foreseeable by the instructors on the shop-floor.
I believe there should be a parliamentary inquiry into this situation to determine if it really is the grossly negligent use of taxpayers money that it certainly appears to be.
It was, of course, a naive report- training is expensive.
Regardless, MFTS was set up to save money and time in training, and this is clear in every decision taken by Ascent. They selected the cheapest aircraft, and the huge proportion of training that is for rearcrew just stopped, as the H135 is unfit for purpose...but my goodness they are cheap!
The MOD made a fundamentally flawed decision to proceed with MFTS, but they did, and the question is how to fix it. It presently costs more per trainee than the previous system, takes far longer, and produces an inferior product as key elements are no longer being trained...all of which was clearly foreseeable by the instructors on the shop-floor.
I believe there should be a parliamentary inquiry into this situation to determine if it really is the grossly negligent use of taxpayers money that it certainly appears to be.
Gentleman Aviator
all of which was clearly foreseeable by the instructors on the shop-floor.
Incidentally, have any ME students graduated yet on the few Phenoms which haven't collided with each other?
Has anyone yet seen any report on the 2 Phenoms (ZM335 & ZM336) which had the mid-air on 3 July 2018?
Has anyone yet seen any report on the 2 Phenoms (ZM335 & ZM336) which had the mid-air on 3 July 2018?
anyone yet seen any report on the 2 Phenoms (ZM335 & ZM336) which had the mid-air on 3 July 2018?
Not actually correct - the real situation is worse. The rotary course includes a large maritime element, which all graduates of MFTS have NOT completed. More than 2 years after the arrival of the new maritime training helicopter, the H145, the overwater and winching phase is still not happening.
This is yet another way in which MFTS is vastly inferior to the system it replaced.
When you see one of those Ascent Press Releases talking about a course graduating from Shawbury, ask what they have actually done - ask if they received training in those crucial skills that they would have been taught under the previous system. The answer is no.
This is yet another way in which MFTS is vastly inferior to the system it replaced.
When you see one of those Ascent Press Releases talking about a course graduating from Shawbury, ask what they have actually done - ask if they received training in those crucial skills that they would have been taught under the previous system. The answer is no.
Vortex - my very first student as a baby B2 QHI at SARTU (1989) decided he definitely didn't want SAR post Shawbury - his flying was fine over land but went to pieces inexplicably over the water. An overheard comment from one of his course mates led to the penny dropping for me - he had deliberately failed the sortie. After a firm debrief in which he was reminded that if he didn't pass SARTU, he didn't get his wings at all, suddenly he was good as gold again.
Baldeep - good post
Baldeep - good post