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Central Gliding School | |
---|---|
Active | 9 August 1971 – present |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | Royal Air Force |
Type | Flying training school |
Role | Glider instructor training and flying training oversight |
Size | 50 personnel |
Part of | No. 2 Flying Training School |
Home station | RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire |
Motto(s) | Doctrina nostra incitat |
Commanders | |
Commandant | Group Captain Baz Dale |
Insignia | |
Abbreviation | CGS |
Aircraft flown | |
Trainer | Grob Viking T1 |
The Central Gliding School (CGS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of gliding instructors for the instruction of Royal Air Force and Air Cadet personnel. It is administered under No. 2 Flying Training School and is responsible for the standardisation of the Air Cadet gliding syllabus and its instructors. [1]
The Central Gliding school was formed on 9 August 1971 at RAF Spitalgate by merging No. 1 and No. 2 Gliding Centres. It was renamed the Air Cadet Central Gliding School in 1984. [2] It delivered gliding instruction and air experience to Air Training Corps cadets. Gliding Instructors from the ACCGS were regulated and examined under direction of the RAF Central Flying School (CFS) at RAF Cranwell. ACCGS and CFS examiners carried out currency and competency checks annually on Volunteer Gliding Schools (VGS) and their instructors. [3]
Instruction at CGS includes the delivery of Grade 2 (G2) and Grade 1 (G1) instructor training. The G2 course (approximately 4 months long) includes pilots seat conversion training, enabling the pilots to fly from both the front and back of the Viking T1. [4] The Grade 1 syllabus allows pilots to conduct instructional sorties to cadets, and supervise flying above 500ft AGL (above ground level). G1 instructors are then allocated the ‘QGI’ (Qualified Gliding Instructor) qualification at RAF Syerston and are then able to deliver the Gliding Scholarship syllabus. [4]
The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer youth organisation of the United Kingdom; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focussing on military aviation. Part of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC), the ATC is sponsored by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the wider Ministry of Defence (MoD). The majority of Air Training Corps staff are volunteers, though some staff are paid for full-time work; including Commandant Air Cadets, who is a Royal Air Force officer as part of a Full Term Reserve Service commitment. In 2013, the officer in command (OIC) of the Air Training Corps was Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty.
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Royal Air Force Syerston, commonly known simply as RAF Syerston, is a Royal Air Force station in the parish of Flintham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. Opened in 1940, it was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a bomber base during the Second World War, operating Vickers Wellingtons, Avro Manchesters, and the Avro Lancaster heavy bombers. Post-war, it became home to Jet Provosts of the 2 Flying Training School. It is now home to the Royal Air Force Central Gliding School.
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The Grob G109 is a light aircraft developed by Grob Aircraft AG of Mindelheim Mattsies in Germany. It first flew in 1980. The G109B followed in 1984. It is a two-seat self-launching motor glider in which the pilot and passenger or student sit side by side, with good visibility provided by large windows.
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