Quote :'Airfield availablity is also an issue'.
Linton on Ouse, Topcliffe, Leeming?

And who's fault is that for closing them all down or selling them off.....?
:ugh:

If they need another airfield for training its got to be Leeming? Unless they can squeeze another unit into Lossie?

Why on earth would they need another airfield?

With the miniscule fleets that MFTS works with surely each and every one of their airfields has spare capacity? Especially when you consider the number of aircraft that were based at them some time ago.

Sure Linton is on C & M but why not Topcliffe? Still notified in the AIP(MIL) and could be used as a SLG vice Leeming. AIP says it's even got a radar.
Also Kinloss could be used as a satellite of Lossie unless the Army have already ruined it, not to mention Leuchars could be reprieved..

Again, for what? The tiny MFTS fleets have plenty of unused space both hangar and dispersal wise at their existing stations. There is no expansion planned, there are no more squadrons coming, the only issue is the continuing non serviceability of the Hawk T2 fleet.

Quite so. A few weeks ago I drove past Barskton Heath and Cranwell mid-week in the middle of the day during excellent weather. No aircraft flying at either station and nothing on the tarmac either...

And on top of this there is an Ascent proposal to dispose of the Prefect and Phenom fleets entirely and have prospective fast jet pilots transition from the new primary trainer (Tutor replacement) directly to the Texan T1 and then the Hawk T2 replacement, and for multi-engine pilots to transition from the primary trainer direct to OCU. I do hope that this proposal is given the disregard that it is due, or the tiny MFTS fleet will be even more ridiculously small.

One hears that EFT students destined for the ME stream now only get about 5 min solo flying on Das Teutor - surely that cannot be correct?

Because the airfields are open and hardly being used.
Use it or lose it.

Hawk
 

The Hawk is doing just fine.

BV

They have to have lunch hours or maybe it was a wednesday.

No more engine issues affecting availability?

LAL
 

Someone stated that ‘the only issue is the continuing non serviceability of the Hawk T2 fleet’.

That is not a true statement. The engine issues have not fully gone away yet but Hawk availability is much improved.

Along with various other disparaging remarks in previous posts it shows that many posters are relying on out of date, incorrect and biased opinions.

BV

" it shows that many posters are relying on out of date, incorrect and biased opinions."

On PPRUNE!!!! My God - I may have to cancel my 3 guinea subscription

Psst: It's only a rumour but don't let on.

I weekend fly with several people who've been through EFT in recent years. One solo circuit is all they got, although one had to repeat the trip so has two! Some are RPAS, another is ME-bound.

One thinks you may have misread what they opined, which I’m so told is just one of several options the enterprise is exploring. If I’ve read the same material as you, then the deletion of Prefect and Phenom would be commensurate with a growth in the Texan fleet in this scenario to deliver what in NATO parlance would be Phase One thru Three? Heresy you say! Where’s the elementary or the multi-engine aeroplane? Guess what, you don’t really need them unless your anchor firmly remains to a system derived from the 1930s.

Air 5428 Phase One PTS has successfully taken ab-initios straight onto PC-21 with ZERO issues at both East Sale and now Pearce with streaming occurring after Phase Two with multi-engine folk going straight to the OCU. Guess what? The kids have coped absolutely fine on C27, C130J, C17, KC30, P8, and E7.

RNZAF just use the Texan as a trainer before students streamed to ME or Heli. Obviously no Fast Jet option.

I never could understand that.
An Air Force with an operational fleet that features exclusively side-by-side crewed aircraft (both fixed & rotary-winged) chooses a tandem-seat trainer.