New Air Cadet Pilot Scheme sends first pilots solo in the Grob Tutor
Air Cadets from three ATC Squadrons and a CCF (RAF) Unit have taken part in the first three-week intensive training scheme run as part of the Air Cadet Pilot Scheme (ACPS) programme. Flying from Leuchars the four Air Cadets became the first ever cadets to fly solo in a Tutor aircraft.
Under the ACPS the four cadets received the same training and support from OC No.12 Air Experience Flight (AEF) and No.6 Flying Training School that RAF pilots and those at University Air Squadrons receive. The ACPS programme works with selected University Air Squadrons and Air Experience Flights using their Qualified Flying Instructors to offer courses each year. The training follows the normal RAF elementary pilot training syllabus up to and including first solo.
Cadet Warrant Officer Knapp, Cadet Warrant Officer Hughes, Cadet Flight Sergeant Bhavsar and Cadet Flight Sergeant Able became the first to complete the programme in the Tutor aircraft, and were awarded their Gold Badges by Group Captain Sohail Khan, the Regional Commandant for Scotland and Northern Ireland on Friday 6 September.
Air Vice Marshal Ian Townsend the Air Officer Commanding No.22 Group, said: “I offer my congratulations to the first four successful RAF Air Cadets who have flown solo under the new Air Cadet Pilot Scheme. RAF Air Cadets, in RAF aircraft being instructed by RAF instructors is a simply superb combination of excellence, enthusiasm and safety. Well done to all those who have worked to bring together this new Scheme.”
The former RAF Leuchars, Leuchars Station passed from RAF control to the British Army in 2015 and is today home to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers (REME) and the Royal Military Police.
The RAF continues to operate a fully operational airfield 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from within Leuchars Station with a diverse workforce of about 50 RAF Regular, Reserve & Civil Servants, spread across Operations, Logistics & Engineering pillars, operating Air Traffic Control, a visiting aircraft handling section, a ground engineering section, an engineering support flight, a ground radio maintenance section, and a Mechanical Transport section.
