RAF QFI Instructor Grades
 

Hi All

Could someone explain to me the different QFI instructor “grades”. I know there’s B2,B1,A2 and A1. I’d just like to know what they mean and the experience you need for each level etc?

Thanks in advance

You just need a pair of clean white gloves.

B2 = Just graduated as an instructor. Restricted privileges and not able to send solos. Required to be re-assessed after a period of experience (6 or 9 months? - it's been a very long time).
B1 = Standard/average instructor.
A2 = Upgraded to "above average" following further assessment by a CFS examiner.
A1 = You know more than the examiner.

If you know the relative density of the fluid in the turn and slip, alongside the rate of expansion under thermal variance of said fluid, then you qualify at the basic lower grade, - it gets deeper beyond that, probably into the BS EN ISO chemical spec of the bolts used in the elevator trim tabs...

Subject knowledge is important, but more important by far is the ability to impart it…the clue is in the final word of the qualification. Sadly, in my extensive experience, examiners place much more emphasis on the former.

B2s are able to identify, describe and wash with water. A1s can walk on water. Welsh A1s don't even get their feet wet.

CG

.................and after A1, you might be eligible for consideration for a QWI course...............

Thank you all for your very useful replies.

Not to forget the two A1s in an F4, who landed in the undershoot while pattering away to each other......

...doubtless still muttering - 'speed with the control column, rate of descent with power'

Not to forget either the Staish, who decreed summary punishment for the next pilot to land in the undershoot, only to do so himself......

When I went through CFS on the Bulldog in 1990, the course consisted of 6 weeks of groundschool. Then 27 weeks of flying, accumulating some 84 hours of flying. Graduates from the course were graded B2 and you were then monitored by your CFI flying with you about once per month, with another session in Standards after 6 months. Within the next 3 months you would be reassessed and normally upgraded to B1, which was 'average QFI' standard. After another 18 months, including a few more Standards visits, you would be encouraged to attempt an 'A2' upgrade. This required a fair bit of pre-course study, then 2 hard weeks at Standards flying about a dozen flights of 'A2 work-up' interspersed with theoretical knowledge and 'student' briefings. If deemed satisfactory (which was never guaranteed), you then went to CFS for Exam Wing assessment. This required a 'primary' teach, including a full 'student' brief, then the flight itself during which you would also need to demonstrate aeros before a 'secondary' teach. In my case it was 'Stalling 2', then 'Instrument Flying' and finally short-field grass landings. After that you had a quick debrief, then a long session of theoretical knowledge grilling. Your genial CFS 'trapper' would then, if you were lucky, advise you that you were to be recommended to Commandant CFS for award of the 'A2' (Above Average) QFI category...

'A1' QFIs were 'Exceptional' and very rare!

On leaving the unit at which you were teaching, if you were posted to instruct on something else, you started as 'C-to-I' (competent to instruct) before being assessed by Staneval for confirmation of QFI category on the new type.

In the 1960s and during liquid refreshment in the bar at Tern Hill on a Friday, an A1 QHI became involved in a squabble with the CFI. The event degenerated and the CFI said something like: "I'm removing your A1 cat immediately". On Monday the now uncategorised pilot (not withstanding a DFC) refused to fly. CFI tried to persuade said instructor that it was just bar time banter but the 'victim' insisted that only a formal board could restore the A1 category. It took something like the AOC to restore order but it was great fun whilst it lasted!

The story about the QHI being struck on the head with a shoe by an irate wife and a fight between the lady's husband (wg cdr) and the said QHI (flt lt) resulting in wg cdr being posted away and QHI getting a tour in Hong Kong is another story!!!

Old Duffer

Interested to read BEagle's account of the fixed-wing method of upgrading to A2 - a LOT of time and training given to the candidate. I don't know if it's still the same (as I left the service some time ago), but in the rotary world (same instructor categorisation system) all preparation was done in the QHI's own time - no work-up or outside assistance, and preparation only possible using your own Staff Continuation Training. However, as my A2 was done while on the Chinook OCU I don't know if things were done differently at 2FTS; I don't think they were. The actual CFS Exam Wing assessment followed exactly the same procedure as for the QFIs.

There was also the massive kudos (yeah, right... :E) of having 'cfs' after your name in the Air Force List for A2, and 'CFS' for A1.

The Aircrew Instructors' Course (AIC) at Scampton in the early 90s was a bit quicker. As described by the Course instructor, "We took the year long degree course to be a school teacher and removed all of the kids' psychology and namby pamby bits and expanded what was left into two and a half weeks". It was basically a Ground Instructors' GIT course but with the emphasis on briefing and demonstration technique. You graduated as either B1 or B2 and then had assessments later on the squadron/OCU to gain A2 then A1.

I recall a gifted test pilot whose career was blighted by his 'less than complimentary' pre acceptance report of the Hawk. He languished at CFS and specialised in refresher flying for VSOs one of whom, after receiving his debrief and being asked for comments replied by awarding him with an instant A1. It was well deserved and recognised as such by those who knew him.

beardy,RDC, perchance....?

It certainly did require a lot of self study for the QHI A2. As someone who held both QHI & QFI qualifications, I can say that as was usually the case, a helicopter pilot is left very much to his own devices, or at least was in the 1980s. My QHI upgrade was carried out by a visiting CFS examiner and in my case it involved giving a 45 minute lecture on helicopter icing. At the time there was no helicopter icing section in any of the RAF Air Publications (!) so I had to visit Boscombe Down Handling Squadron in my own time to glean sufficient information to feel confident (I’m eternally grateful to Geoff Connolly for his assistance). I subsequently worked full time in my office over three or four weekends and in the evenings making up OHP slides and preparing the lecture. I was upgraded to A2….just before I was posted to a fixed wing tour! I was pleased to discover on my return to helicopter instructing some years later that 33 Sqn, who held the Norway commitment, had stolen my notes and slides and were using them to brief their pilots about winter ops. But the swines wouldn’t give them back!

That old BS never gets old, does it. Though I will admit it's the only memorable line from 2 weeks at Newton. Mind you, skipping over the 'kids' psychology' does kind of explain the behaviour of certain 33 and 230 Sqn JPs!

CG

QUOTE=ShyTorque “I’m eternally grateful to Geoff Connolly for his assistance”

Geoff did my helo famil when I arrived at Shawbury. It made an incredible impression on me. I can remember that sortie in its entirety like it was yesterday, over 35 years on. An outstanding instructor

I think we also have C2 & C1 status awarded to the guys who are aren't proper QFIs but are experienced on their own type!

Usually found on the front-line or OCUs, they are very good at showing you that you’re not very good, but no ability to show you how to actually do it right! 😀

CFS A1 and A2 cats became totally irrelevant when I saw a non commissioned instructor totally balls up a lesson on Dominie electrics in front of a checking CFS…to a point where the students were re-taught by another instructor.
Normally you’d expect said instructor to be held back a year.
In this case bar politics came into place and the instructor was re-checked on an easy lesson. A2 achieved, A2 worthless.
The new A2 instructor was subsequently removed from instructional duties for all the wrong reasons in 2010ish, for all the reasons CAS is on fire.
A2 became worthless the day CFS guy gave his Special Fwend an A2. Same story today, about the A2 ‘Fwend’ would more than satisfy any newspaper to put the next nail in.
A B2 qualification became the same as an A1 instructional qualification that day; let’s not talk nonsense about an impartial and acceptable training system, it was rancid back then, and there’s no evidence it has changed.

No, it devalued or made worthless the categories awarded by a single NCO examiner, not the entire CFS system. If the NCO aircrew training system was indeed rancid at the time, that was a problem induced by those in it, perhaps a bit of cultural drift driven by the few rather than the many?

When I did my own A2 QFI upgrade there was a process that lead to a recommendation you were suitable to upgrade before you got anywhere near an examiner. There were 4 separate elements required for an A2; you had to be assessed as Above Average for pure flying skills, ground (ie professional) knowledge and, crucially, your ability to instruct in both domains. Failure to clear any one of those 4 bars meant no upgrade.

Any system that recognises and uses categorisation of professional skills and competences relies on the integrity of the people making those judgments. That means putting good people into the training regime in the first place, otherwise overall standards start to slip.

That sounds a bit like "PIN number"

[QUOTE=popeye107;11290418]CFS A1 and A2 cats became totally irrelevant when I saw a non commissioned instructor totally balls up a lesson on Dominie electrics in front of a checking CFS…to a point where the students were re-taught by another instructor.

Blimey, what was complicated about Dominie electrics?

Used to love those afternoon Dominie sorties where after a heavy mess lunch,the pilot in the LHS fell asleep shortly after take off and the NCO Eng/AEOp instructor flew it through the London TMA.
Good job there were a few Navs in the back keeping it the right way up and someone hammering out submarine sightings on the Morse key.

Hmmm, I feel sure that at the time I did my QFI flying on the Bulldog it was 'cfs' for A2, and 'cfs*' for A1 (both designations in lower case).

These RAF QFI designations, and many others, were explained in the RAF List, at the time.

Hmmm, I feel sure that at the time I did my QFI flying on the Bulldog it was 'cfs' for A2, and 'cfs*' for A1 (both designations in lower case).

These RAF QFI designations, and many others, were explained in the RAF List, at the time.

MrB: Just checked with my copy of the 1996 List and you are right - lower case for both designations, correctly explained for A1 and A2. (There were also similar abbreviations for Crewmen and Nav Instructors with a CFS category - cfs(c) and cfs(n), both with asterisk versions.)

And if you think that is complicated see the enormous list of qualifications decoded in the August 1914 [Great War] Army List.
On and on and on .........

What did the asterisk mean in 1996, years after I left?

cfs* = A1.

The cfs tag has no real meaning outside MOD and is not supposed to be used as a post-nominal even when serving, though some people think adding it to their LinkedIn profile will help them.

Indeed the rotary world was a much more self help case, but I am talking about the 80’s. However, this did reflect the environment we worked in at the time. EG single pilot Puma detachments: self auth, own servicing whilst having a grand time around mainland Europe.

Did my initial A2 on the Gazelle at Shawbury where 3 of us, successfully ganged together to study and self brief prior to examination.

Back to the Puma, C to I (as above) with an A2 check. Further standards check (all self study) recommended testing for A1. Dates booked (on the Sqn), but a little adventure called the Gulf War intervened.

Never did upgrade. My next posting was as a Flt Cdr on the C130….

Me

There was also the massive kudos (yeah, right... https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/evil.gif) of having 'cfs' after your name in the Air Force List for A2, and 'CFS' for A1.
Plus the 'silver' Pelican ! ... a bit grubby after 50 + years !

At Valley in the early 80s, it was rare, but not impossible, to achieve B1 on graduating from the CFS course, thereby skipping B2. Not sure on other aircraft.

Thank you. I seem to recall that in the past it meant CFS staff.

Thanks for the corrections - as you can probably tell, I never did look at the Air Force List and obvs misunderstood what the very nice man from Exam Wing said at the end of the debrief :hmm:

Slight digression if I may be permitted.

What were the Ground School Instructors' gradings after Ground Instructor Training Course?

I did mine [to teach Met] c. 1970, cannot remember where [Newton? Upwood?] and found it superb ....... later in career I was a senior instructor at the Met Office College, Shinfield Park, and realised how well my brief GIT had prepared me, in contrast to other instructors who were, shall we say, not "teachers" but "lecturers". There is a difference!

I think I was a humble B, and a few Met folk held an A? We were checked by trappers fairly often.

Signed OLD GIT.

From memory (not necessarily to be recommended !), the Upwood GIT award was a B, on completion..
As you say, an excellent course, apart from lack of magnetic strip with resultant self-mobilising aircraft ! :{
A tale remaining in memory from that course was regarding one of their previous instructors (Charles ?) who was (apparently) possessed of the most magnificent speaking voice - such that he (after much pleading) agreed to read the lesson at Sunday Evensong. Sizeable congregation and Charles , in resonant baritone, held forth on the marked passage "... and Jesus said to the assembled multitude ...", at which point he paused, cast an imperious gaze across the listeners, and continued ... " andf I must say, I entirely agree with Him..."
He was not asked for a return engagement !!

The “mil symbols” of cfs and cfs* still exist and are used on JPA to identify A2 and A1 instructors - QFI, QHI, QMAI, QTI, etc…

That has always been possible on both rotary and fixed wing but you have to pass the QFI/QHI course with an Above Average assessment. I know a few talented gits who left the QHI course as B1s.

Shawbury was the place to do your A2 because the support system from Internal Standards was there to help assess you and improve your flying and knowledge - you still had to do a lot of personal study though. It required you to stay at Shawbury after your QHI course which happened for quite a few unless the front line units wanted people back straight away.

The AAC had no such systems but I don't know what the RN had at Culdrose.