Page 51 - Cadet Review Spring 2023

the air in the winch-launched Viking gliders. As they had all completed the necessary training at their Squadron, both theoretical and on flight simulators, they were all able to complete the requirements for their Blue Aviation Wings.
In addition, four cadets attended 11 Air Experience Flight at RAF Leeming, and after a similar safety briefing all got to enjoy a flight in the Air Cadets' Tutor aircraft. Having also completed training at
the Squadron three of them qualified for their Blue Aviation Wings, Finlay Hope, Daijo Jentin and Freddie Murphy-Chaplin. Corporal Joshua Clark had already qualified prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, but was equally delighted to get back into the air as an air cadet.
Circumstances beyond the control of staff
and cadets can sometimes impact on the cadet experience: on another occasion, Cadets Damian Bednarczyk, Kiyron Fisher and Neo Graham also visited RAF Leeming for Air Experience Flying with No. 11 AEF. Unfortunately, the weather conditions found that the wind speed was outside the safe parameters for cadet flying. Nevertheless, their time was not wasted as they were able to visit the Air Traffic Control Tower and learned about the various roles required to ensure safe control of aircraft, both in the air and on the ground. Damian Bednarczyk and Neo Graham, were selected to attend the next visit to the AEF (unfortunately Kiyron Fisher was not available), along with cadet Lily Dillon and they were then able to complete the requirements for their Blue Wings.
Lily Dillon said of her experience of these two aviation opportunities: “Since I joined the Air Cadets, I have been very eager to take part in the flying and gliding opportunities that my squadron offers; I was lucky enough to be selected to partake in both. When I was selected to go Gliding with three other cadets, I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had never been flying in a small-scale aircraft before. However, that didn’t stop me from being unbelievably excited.
All the staff and pilots running the experience were really kind and nurturing, not once did I not know what to do. The topic of safety plays a main role at the beginning of the day, but after the presenta- tions, videos and a live demonstration, all cadets
are confident with the emergency procedures to be acted upon if anything were to go wrong up in the
Cadets
and others took little persuasion to part with money in order to consume the cakes on display
air. Therefore, everyone feels confident and safe whilst flying. Not only was I learning about safety procedures, I was learning about the Viking gliders, for example, I finally learnt how winches helped gliders take off by watching my peers being pulled into the air in their aircraft. All of us at some point helped the staff pulling the gliders along the runway and sometimes, running with the wing to help them to take off.
We were also given a lesson by a friendly instructor about the physics behind aircraft and the reason
why they are built the way they are before having a go on a few different flight sims, where I was taught how to do aerobatics virtually. It was certainly a very memorable day for me, and an incredible experience. For flying, I had a picture in my mind of what this experience could be like, but I knew that it would be slightly different. It was different, which meant that I enjoyed it for different reasons to Gliding.
This time, when we arrived, we were given overalls and gloves to wear over our uniforms, which were the right size and not uncomfortable. Like gliding, the instructor played us a safety video, which showed us all how to react to an emergency before going up in the air. Each one of us had to re-enact the procedure in a model seat of an aircraft with a disabled parachute on our back, which meant that each of us had seen it multiple times (so we were all confident.) This meant that we could also put on our parachutes properly when getting ready to go out to our aircraft.
We weren’t allowed to go past a certain point outside on the side of the runway for our safety, but we could all still see each other climbing into the Grob Tutors, taking off and landing every couple of minutes. Helmets with microphones were given to us to wear on our heads and a cushion to allow us to be high enough on our seats to see out of the front of the plane. Take off was entirely different to gliding, a lot smoother, and once I was in the air, my instructor allowed me to take control of the aircraft and
helped me to change the way I moved the controls
to the correct way. My instructor told me historical information about the area, where we were and facts about himself, which really interested me, but he also made me laugh often.
I think that if an Air Cadet is ever given the opportunity to go flying or gliding, they should sign up, as they are the best experiences you could imagine. I could never have hoped to have done any of this before I joined the Air Cadets.”
Flight Sergeant Toby Mathews prepares the Flight Simulator for some Synthetic Flying Training
CADET REVIEW SPRING 2023 51