Air forces Monthly Oct issue
 

The Oct issue of Air forces Monthly is carrying a article titled "Is the RAF Broken".
Interesting article high lighting the fact that the PVR rate for multi-engine pilots now stands at 24 for the year, 7 sqn commanders have PVRd and a couple of Stn Commanders and 87% of sqn Ldr pilots are leaving at their 38/16 point.

Also claims over stretched bad leadership crap procurement contracts lack of helicopters.
Also mentions that EADS has delayed the first flight of the A400M till the summer 2008.:rolleyes:

worth a read

Quite a few people jumping off Loader's 'train', by the sound of it....:hmm:

did he not say, if you want to leave, then leave!

I guess he's right then.

Just picked the magazine up and I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I suspect it will put across a partictular viewpoint rather than a balanced view. That being said, Jon Lake the author of the piece seems IMO to be one of the more balance corespondents on the AFM team.

I've been an avid reader of AFM for some time now, I like the style and general reporting, but it seems to me that they tend to publish quite biased articles - the one recently about the great victories Argentinian crews scored against the RN in the Falklands stuck in the throat somewhat. That being said, it's their trainset...


(Paused to let the mess catch fire! Gave me a chance to read the article...)

Thoughts on the article:

"Fighting the crocodile nearest the canoe". Agree - but with little money you can only address one problem at a time. Furthermore, some of the problems we are encountering don't have instant solutions, such as procurement programmes, manning and recruitment.

"Crippling of Defence Medical Services". This is something which worries me. On the occasions I have been given a forum to talk to senior management I have asked if any checks-and-balances have been put in place to protect our quality of life against the high value aquisition projects. I don't think I have ever been given a convincing answer.

(Regarding centralising AT assets) "lack the capacity to allow unrestricted operations". To me that is an unquantified statement - unrestricted can mean infinite numbers of ops. A finite number of aircraft will have a finite capacity.

There are many more examples of the article taking a certain point of view on current affairs. I think the general point it makes is valid, but over dramaitised. Would it make such an atractive headline if it read "RAF: not that bad, really!" ?

:}

Blunty

I was thinking about this the other day. Did he really say it? If so, as a Glasweigan, I could feasibly find that a teeny bit racist. Who would I complain to?

I haven't read RAF News since they got rid of the weekly senior officer's 17 year old daughter feature.

As for AFM, perhaps it's a good thing that the public are told that all is not peachy in the RAF, rather than listening to the govt propaganda: "Stretched but not overstretched". Yeah right.

Yeah, that'll tell the general public, get it in Air Forces Monthly, that should do it !

S_H :ok:

Good point SH. Better put it in Defence Recognition Journal instead.

SH

It is the likes of AFM that the wider media reads to get gouge on goings on. It doesn't have the ABC figures of Flight, granted, but it's still a useful platform from which to get the message across to a much wider audience.

Oh, and how nice to see a thread where specialist journos are not getting it in the neck and where there is (almost) some appreciation for what the likes of Jon Lake and others can do.

I was ovbiously asleep as I passed through the last stop, and it looks like it's THREE years before my train will reach Glasgow:{

For the most part I find AFM a good read. Even better is that I never have to look for it in another family members possession! :} As I mentioned earlier sometimes some of the articles fall a little wide of the mark for me but in general, tick VG. I've also found a regular flick through the pictures can seriously ease the pain of snap recce tests!

Is the Jon Lake who wrote the article this month the same Jon Lake who co-wrote the excellent book "Tornado - Multi Role Combat Aircraft"?

Haven't had chance to read the article as yet but the figures make alarming reading - assuming the sqn cdrs are all from front line sqns plus OCUs thats a fair old percentage considering the "hoops" those individuals will generally have gone through to be where they are.

It is those leaving at a natural break point (38/16 or 44/22) that aren't being captured and again, those stats are frightening- however, you can always promote from below to fill the gaps when, ultimately, you only need to be at the top of the pile to move up. Seems like more and more GD are doing barely two tours before promotion to sqn ldr. The true indication of the state of the front line will be the dilution rate (or perhaps even the average number of total hours (given that some new FJ flt cdrs may have less than 600hrs on type:eek:). At least the one good thing about having younger and younger flt cdrs / sqn cdrs / stn cdrs is that they can't be accused of being out of touch with the "yoof" because that's exactly what they are!

But don't worry. I'm sure the re-incarnated PMA are on top of the problem. Apparantly they are recommending that the Defence Budget (or at least what's left of it) be moved to Northern Rock for safe keeping :ok:

Some interesting points raised in the article however it gains real credibility by having a huuuge double-spread picture of me flying through the Lakes to accompany it...

:cool:

How can it? You're 38 and - according the article itself - will have already have left in a blur of PVR paperwork. :E

Unless you're the one bloke who they forecast will be here forever...:}

Touche!

Although I strongly dispute the inky part - I'm still not allowed anything more dangerous than potato printing! :}

Blunty

You need to get the alleged quote right.

When Loader visited recently his pep talk to troops in Basra was that being in RAF these days was like being on the train to glasgow. Its a bit rough and if they dont like it they can just get off the train!

The figure of 24 could be out of date,

ME poster has had 24 PVRs this year up until july. Previous record for whole year was 16 !!

I also hear that Ts and Cs have been retrospectively changed to prevent JPs from PVRing before graduation day. Lots of stick but where is the carrot?

Further point on the retention figures. I understand that they are so bad, the RAF becomes unsustainable if it continues. I suspect some tasty retention packages are being formulated as we speak.

Sounds about right - unsustantiated storied from the AFPRB lot that came to out neck of the woods, lots of multi-drivers are looking at PVRing this year.

The last bit especially - but then again, X hundreds of millions on 6 new Merlins is better headlines than X millions on spares for the existing fleet to get them working properly.

Yes they do - shoot the accountants. They are the crocodiles!]

Very little to do with the destinatioan, just don't think much of the driver's agricultural handling.

Of course, given the recent rule changes, I couldn't really comment. Only being a mate of someone currently serving of course. :}

Nige

Nice as it may sound I don't think there is any intention to develop any tasty retention packages. The 100K pre-tax for sqn ldr pilots has obviously not had much success if the 87% figure is genuine. At the end of the day you can always promote to fill the gaps and ignore the reduction in experience. Recruitment doesn't seem a problem so provided the sausage machine keeps producing keen youngsters to man the front line .... And of course the retention problem is not just seen as an aircrew problem.

As unlikely as it may seem to some there will always be those who wish to stay in for a full career - as long as that is enough to fufill the sqn cdr and stn cdr appointments, regardless (dare I suggest) of the quality then robert is your mothers brother. By then, hopefully in the MODs view, the boarding school "handcuffs" will kick in and the problem goes away. Now if boarding school allowance/CEA was to be removed in the next few years ....

Failing that perhaps a reduction in the front line to meet the real world availability of aircrew may be in the pipeline.:E

Personally I don't think it will be long before we routinely see non-aircrew stn cdrs at flying units and AOC 1 Gp / ACAS / CAS et al having nothing but medals above their left breast! Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing ...

BluntM8, tis true I am he....the only one (ish) who signed on for extra nonsense with Queen Betty. Grrrrrrrreat.

" .... a couple of Stn Commanders and 87% of sqn Ldr pilots are leaving at their 38/16 point ...."

And just how many Stn Commanders are currently under 38, please?

Jack