from Alert 5 via the Daily Telegraph.
Well that's that. They're cutting muscle and the future of the force from the budget now. I wonder why they couldn't just reduce by attrition?Up to 100 student pilots will be told the news on Tuesday with some of them only a few hours away from becoming fully qualified to fly fighters, helicopters and transport aircraft.The cuts will mean the waste of an estimated £300million already paid for training the pilots, plus the cost of redundancies. The training of RAF pilots can cost up to £4million a man.There are fears that the sackings will lead to a shortage of helicopter and transport pilots on the front line in Afghanistan.Tomorrow, one in four of the 400 student pilots will be taken aside to be told their commissions have been terminated when Air Vice Marshal Mark Green, the head of RAF training, visits each of the three flying schools.Up to 20 trainee fast jet pilots, 30 helicopter pilots and 50 air transport pilots will be axed, The Daily Telegraph understands.
