Congratulations to Corporal Jay Carter from 1094 Squadron City of Ely Air Cadets who on Saturday 13th August flew solo for the first time in an RAF Viking T1 glider.
Jay completed an intensive and challenging week long solo gliding scholarship course at 644 Volunteer Gliding Squadron at RAF Syerston by flying solo taking off on a winch launch up to 1,000 feet, then flying a complete circuit before coming in to land at just under 70mph.
Corporal Carter has been away from home for over two weeks now as he completed his ACLC Gold Leadership Course at RAF College Cranwell last Saturday before heading straight to RAF Syerston and a week of flying lessons with the RAFAC Volunteer Gliding Instructors of 644 Squadron.
Jay can be seen in the first photo with 644 Squadron’s Air Cadet Liaison Officer, Flying Officer Heather Smith who completed Jay’s check test flight this morning before sending him up on on his own for the first time.
The remainder of the photos are Corporal Carter taking off and landing with an instructing pilot in the rear prior to his Solo flight.
Corporal Carter said, “I’ve had a whirlwind two weeks and the best time of my life.
Last week I faced the challenges of the Air Cadet Leadership Course and this week it was a very different kind of challenge in piloting my own aircraft.
I cannot possibly even begin to properly express my gratitude to everyone here at 644 Volunteer Gliding Squadron
The pilot training that the RAF Air Cadets Volunteer Gliding Squadrons offer is second to none. You follow the total safety ethos of 2 Flying Training School from the very moment you walk through the gates just as if you were starting training as an RAF Pilot.
There’s simply no difference between the approach and the professionalism of the VGS Instructors and regular RAF Flying Instructors as they all follow the same protocols and the highest standards.
I’ve been pursuing my Gliding Wings since joining the Air Training Corps and I followed the progressive training syllabus training at Swanton Morley PTT Ground School achieving first my Blue and later my Bronze Wings before being fortunate in being selected for a Silver Gliding Wings Course following my Flying Scholarship Application.
I would encourage every cadet to pursue their ambitions and work towards their goals. In a couple of months time I’ll be 18 and my focus now is paying something back by training the younger cadets following me and I also hope to continue my gliding within the RAF Air Cadets.
I will be completing my ground school Instructors course on Squadron next week and then I’ll be focused on training younger cadets on Airmanship and Aircraft Handling and completing their blue wings ground school training so they can achieve their blue wings just like I did”
Well done Jay, we look forward to welcoming you back on Squadron at Ely and getting those blue wings cadets on their path following in your footsteps.
We have also included a few extra photos of Jay on ACLC.
From 1094 City of Ely Squadron Royal Air Force Air Cadets
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