Page 12 - Linton Link

Thamer Guzai RSAF they were not the flying gods streaming had promised!
Fresh from the trials and tribulations of fast jet lead in, with only a handful of red pen air sickness additions to their CRFs, the 5 originals of 273 were joined by recently streamed Fg Offs Dave Mack, Rob Smith and James Spratt. Apparently, the newcomers were so awesome that they wouldn’t have to do the lead in before heading to the Tucano.
The next port of call for 273 was Ground School. They would learn all things Tucano under the watchful gaze of Alf Akers and Flt Lt Sal Lord. At this stage, we were also introduced to our Course Commanders Flt Lt Liam Matthews and Jon ‘JT’ Trueman although it did take us a while to process that Liam was in fact a QFI and not just another member of YUAS. As part of the ground phase we also began to learn our checks in the CPIT under the scrutiny of the squadron QFIs. Most of the course, diligently got stuck into their FRCs hoping to gain the elusive spare mental capacity once they started flying. However, some chose to fall back on their sim experience gained back in their rooms in the mess, one member having logged 300+ hrs on F18 playing with teenagers online would surely have no problems learning his checks... As reward for completing ground school, we embarked on a week of Adventurous Training in the Dales with the PEd staff. After the relative comfort of the IOT course at Cranwell, the RAF contingent could only imagine that this week was comparable to SERE C or SF selection with most wondering at what stage they would be hooded and sat in front of Ant Middleton.
Once on squadron got stuck into their initial sim trips and eventually got their first trips in. We would also welcome a new member to the course, 2nd Lt Mubarak Alatawi RSAF. Mu
had joined us from 270 course as he had to complete the dreaded air sickness course. 270s loss was our gain! We did though receive the news that Liam would be leaving us as Course Commander. Apparently, he thought that reinstating the Tucano display, after a 5-year absence, as the 2019 pilot and carrying out all associated paperwork and assurance meetings would be less admin than managing us! Thankfully we would be led through BFJT by JT however this did mean that we had to buy a carrier pigeon to satisfy his antiquated methods of communication.
“A reindeer related ruckus at the Christmas draw generated a few laughs for those attending and some paper work for the B Flight Commander”
December brought our flying tempo to a low both with weather and a very busy social programme. A reindeer related ruckus at the Christmas draw generated a few laughs for those attending and some paper work for the B Flight Commander on the following Monday morning.
The new year saw the course all achieve their first solo. Our solo barrel provided the stage to unveil our course outfits. A full denim affair a la Jean Claude Van Dam in the Coors adverts tying in perfectly with our
shiny new course badges. Hopefully to be seen at many more Linton functions. Battling the bad weather, aircraft availability and low priority 273 have managed find themselves split either side of the Prog Test at the time of writing.
273 have plenty to look forward to in the coming months, both on course and around the station and surely there will be lots to share in the next Linton Link!
BFJT 274
At the beginning of the year cse 274 arrived on station, bringing 6 new BFJT students to 72 Sqn. They will be the final BFJT course carried out on the Tucano, with all further BFJT training being moved to RAF Valley, flown on the Texan.
The course members include Lt Matt Clark, Fg Off Alex Humble, Fg Off Oly Lazko, Fg Off Joe Bird, 2Lt Hamed Al Harbi and 2Lt Bin Ragoosh. The course has been self- proclaimed as The Last Tucano Jedi, let’s hope they live up to that.
After completing ground school, the course was given a short holding period, to improve continuity when the flying phase commences in April. This has been used as an opportunity to plan various Sqn visits, Skiing AT which also includes APDLT (AT which is part of the BFJT syllabus), along with flying some SIM sorties to help get ahead of the game. Some students have spent more time at Linton than others, most notably Joe Bird who has successfully integrated with the York populace.
Looking forward, 274 have a planned graduation date of October which will see them bring an end to the BFJT training at RAF Linton on Ouse, they will then move onto RAF Valley where Joe Bird will most likely learn Welsh from the locals.
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