ATC Fly Again at Halton
After a break of some years the Air Training Corps (ATC) have taken to the sky again with flights being financed by RAF Halton non-public funding to resume air experience training. The break in air experience for ATC came about due to the lack of available aircraft and this cessation of flight became known as the ‘Cadet Pause in Flying’.
On a very breezy but sunny day recently, Air Cadets from the Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire Wing enjoying flights provided by Halton Aeroplane Club (HAC) members, (Service, Veterans and Civilians) piloting their own aircraft and some owned by the HAC.The aim of the day was to provide more than just the experience of flight, so after a briefing which included a fully interactive walkround of the aircraft, the cadets carried out pre-flight checks and were split into two groups of cadets, those who already had flight experience and those who had none. After all the preparations the cadets were then taken individually for a 30 minute taster flight.
Squadron Leader Jocelyn Tack, Wing Executive Officer, said: “We have been trying to find a way to get the cadets up and flying again so I approached the Station Commander to look into how it could be financed. He came up with a solution and now we can return to making full use of the facilities here.”
Chairman of the RAF Halton Aero Club, Gp Capt Mark Manwaring said: “The Air Cadet Air Experience Flying has been successfully secured through RAF Halton’s Station Commander allocating some of the non-public funds raised commercially to mitigate the recently announced reduction in the footprint of the Volunteer Glider Squadrons (VGS). Indeed, RAF Halton-based 613 VGS has been earmarked for closure.
The vast majority of the Staff and Instructors at the HAC are ex-Air Cadets, and like myself, owe the great head-start in life and subsequent careers in aviation to the Air Cadet Organisation. The provision of this aviation package, which includes interactive briefings and 30 minutes of flying in our aircraft is our way of putting something back into the Corps.The package we have pulled together is based upon their Principles of Flight Syllabus and the level of knowledge displayed by the cadets is very impressive. We believe that at the end of the day with us, their understanding of how an aircraft flies is consolidated with this practical experience. One or two of them have proved to be future Typhoon pilots.”