Does anyone know what happen to this guy after being grounded?
 

YouTube - FIGHTER PILOT - REJECTION- TV Series 1981

I don't know why but I feel really touched watching this clip. I think it's just a situation which I hope I not face while doing my pilot training.

Does anyone know if he over come his problem? Restreamed for navigator?

Ric

How so?

He didn't make the cut. End of! Some are good enough some are not, you just have to accept it and get on with it :bored:

wannabe87 - Lets hope you receive a little more compassion when it happens to you then.

ricster - Good luck in flying training. According to the postscript in the book: Trevor Lewis (an RAF apprentice) did not rejoin the ranks but left to read electronics at Reading University, with the new ambition to become a research scientist.

That probably came across a little harsh- it wasn't meant to!

Yes of course anyone would be absolutely devastated if they didn't make it (myself included)- but at the end of the day the people in the know think your not good enough then you have to accept it, pick yourself up try again or try something new.

Ricster is also at university so would need to apply and get through AIB first....

YouTube - FIGHTER PILOT Landing Instruction - TV Series 1981

And if this was the standard type of instruction he had for his landing training I feel a little sympathy....

Nothing like the power of negative reinforcement to get the best out of people :ouch:

Does anyone know what happened to John Mcrea ? I remember hearing he was actually chopped but the show pretended he wasn't to give the impression of a happy ending.

I am not a failed pilot or anything else forces-wise, but I did apply for an initial interview for RAF Pilot, plan B ( which from the start looked distinctly like my destiny, as I was already experienced with military PDR & recce' cameras in my job with BAe ).

All the questions I was asked seemed frankly class-related - AND I DON'T NORMALLY HAVE A BEEF WITH THIS SORT OF THING - rather than being asked anything about my engineering or aeronautical knowledge ( I had a small /medium amount of enginnering trainining, & a short course in aeronautics ) - but that was swept aside in a nano-second, the main question was " what did your father do ? " - the only thing which perked
the interviewer up was when he found I'm into sailing, which apparently is an 'officer class' activity.

I bailed out there & then ( I would never have had the confidence, but probably would have the skills to be blunt ) - since then in sailing I've seen several Joint Services & particular forces yachts performing spectacular croppers - sailing requires more than confidence/ arrogance too!

As for John Mcree, No he wasn't Chopped. Know this to be fact, as my brother met him at Lossie a few years later while he was working on Buccs. As for what happened to him later...

Google is your Friend.

BBC FIGHTER PILOT, JOHN MCREA - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums

And if you look in the New Year's Honours List, you'll see J Mcrea's name in the CAS's commendations for his work as an elementary standards QFI.:ok:

Thinking back to TACP days, I recall him being involved with pre-Granby TIALD trials at Boscombe.

MO did his own self build I think, near Lyneham possibly.

Seems like the lads done well ! Glad it was an urban/air cadet myth.:D

And apologies for the tangent-does anyone know where Craig Docker is ? The urban/cadet thing said he went VC10 nav then Tornado's?

I know that one of the participants, Brian Bellars, eventually became admin sec and we met when he became my junior accts officer at Honington. By that time he had acquired a totally loopy dog.

Quote: "And if this was the standard type of instruction he had for his landing training I feel a little sympathy...."

A good example of instruction from the bad old days. This clip was used during my CFS course (1991) of how not to instruct!

It was also used on the GIT course around the same time for the same purpose. It raised a lot of a questions IIRC.

It was the reason why the Aircrew Instructors Course (AIC) was instigated. Having watched the video, it is actually not as bad as its reputation would have you believe.

I raised this last night with someone who was there at the time. The so-called 'landing instruction' was a total fabrication 'sexed up' for the programme.

Having watched it for the first time, it is very bad. It would make it worse though if the instructor was shouting.

Calm down!.Calm down!

Seconded Beags, it was indeed clever editing.

I went through CFS at the same time as John McCrea many Moons ago (I know, those that can't do, etc :ooh: ) and the stories he told about the creative editing involved were a real eyeopener....the manipulation involved in both the "landing instruction" and the infamous " no time off/ no leave whingeathon" piece were very interesting............

IMHO someone in the production team had an agenda and manipulated situations and footage to support it.

Reality TV Eh? Has it ever been real?

Good enough series though, and I even bought the book, which I loaned to my Nephew who was planning to apply following university. - He didn't of course... Perhaps the thought of no time off was too much for him.

Just watched the clip, and it got me thinking of my driving course at St Athan. Suffering a similar standard of abuse, masquerading as instruction, I ignored the directions and parked up, removed the keys and threw them at the instructor, and delivered a damning diatribe on his 'welshness' and parantage.
Wonder if anyone ever terminated their flying career in a similar way. - I bit more difficult, I acknowledge.

Before anyone else goes mad about the standard of instruction shown in this series let me point out one or two facts.

There was no editorial control throughout the series. Many hours were spent giving the film crews the very best access to the briefing and debriefing of these students. They only used about 5% of that material and prefered to get their "REAL" information about life in the RAF from the crewroom, the Mess bar or the local pub! Indeed, they bought plenty of barrels to create the right atmosphere.

The course in question, when it arrived at Brawdy, was hounded by the film and production crew. So much so that one has to wonder how much this impacted on their performance. The standard of instruction was certainly not a factor in any of them failing the course, however, they were affected by the filming and the later publication of their failings.

When the series was put on air, most instructors on the Staff at Brawdy were astonished by how badly the RAF was portrayed. Some felt the producer had a hidden agenda and it was rumoured he had been chopped from pilot selection at some time! That aside, considering the amount of time and effort put into giving them best access to the operational areas, the final result was very dissapointing.