2.19 Flying training depends on having both civilian instructors, provided by Ascent, and military instructors, provided by the Department. The balance between military and civilian instructors varies by course and any change in the number of military instructors affects the availability of aircrew for military operations. In 2015, we reported that the Department recognised the risk that it would not be able to provide enough instructors. As a result, it was considering introducing incentive payments to retain pilots, or using more civilian, rather than military, instructors.
2.20 Currently, there are not enough qualified instructors across all types of training (Figure 12). For example, for elementary flying training, difficulties increasing the number of military instructors has led to courses taking longer than expected. Against an expected instructor availability rate of 80%, the actual rate in the first three months of 2019 ranged from an estimated 62% to 67%. Shortages resulted from problems with running instructor training courses and runway availability. The Department and Ascent continue to consider whether Ascent could make up the instructor shortfall.
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Figure 12
Requirement and availability of Military Flying Training System (MFTS) instructors, July 2019
The Ministry of Defence (the Department) has not provided the military instructors required for MFTS
| Training type | Proportion civilian: military | Civilian instructors | Military instructors | ||
| Required | In place (of which not qualified) | Required | In place (of which not qualified) | ||
| Elementary flying training | 40:60 | 24 | 23 (3) | 34 | 33 (1) |
| Basic jet | 25:75 | 7 | 7 (3) | 13 | 9 (4) |
| Multi-engine | 25:75 | 6 | 6 (1) | 15 | 14 (4) |
| Advanced jet | 0:100 | - | - | 42 to 45 | 37 (7) |
| Helicopter | 25:75 | 36 | 37.5 (2) | 102 | 87 (3) |
| Rear crew (includes Royal Navy observers and multi-engine aircraft | 30:70 | 7 | 8.5(3) | 17 | 17 (11) |
Notes
1 Figures show flying instructors and not ground-based instructors. Military instructor requirements based on the MFTS contract, with civilian requirements based on Ascent's estimation of need.
2 Military Instructors numbers are Full Time Equivalent (FTE) figures and do not directly correlate to individuals.
3 The Department and Ascent continue to introduce basic jet training, part of which includes training instructors. It expects this to operate from November 2019. Figures indicate requirements once training fully introduced.
Source: National Audit Office analysis of Ascent data
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