Electives trump elections any day

Forget the US presidential election, it’s over. Air Force Cadets would rather get involved in Electives!

CAPTION: Cadet Shivani Patel from 601 Squadron at Keswick Barracks and Leading Cadet Jay Dolphin from 619 (‘City of Onkaparinga’) Squadron at Seaford get a ‘hands-on’ understanding of the inner workings of an aircraft engine.

In addition to the primary home training syllabus, the AAFC offers cadets a wide variety of elective subjects – some 20 different elective topics.

6 Wing cadets have recently been getting involved in a number of aviation-related electives and courses.

600 (Aviation Training) Squadron comprises a headquarters and six specialist flights.

Apart from gliding and powered flying opportunities, the squadron supports other activities including the Aircraft Engines Elective, Aeromodelling Elective and Radio-Controlled Aircraft training.

And they also operate various flight simulators including the historic Link Trainer.

The Aero-Engines Flight recently ran the Aircraft Engines Elective at RAAF Edinburgh.

Cadets were given an introduction to the history and operation of aircraft engines.

The cadets got their hands greasy and learnt to use the right tools for the job, disassembling and assembling engines and components of various sorts.

The Link Trainer at Torrens Training Depot is gearing up to continue operations in 2017, training cadets to fly with no outside visibility.

The Link Trainer is an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight simulator for a piston-engine aircraft with one engine.

During WWII, the Link Trainer was used to train pilots to fly at night, in cloud and in bad weather, using only instruments.

Now, cadets can learn the basics of flying with no external visibility from a qualified instructor.

Meanwhile, a trial was recently held for a Radio-Controlled Aircraft Course to be run by 608 (‘City of Gawler’) Squadron in 2017.

Cadets will learn about and fly radio-controlled fixed-wing aircraft.

This course will run over about eight weekends, each including a component of theory and preparation, and a day of flying at a local Model Flying Club airfield.

Those who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Achievement – but they may also qualify for their Bronze Wings, awarded by the Model Aeronautical Association of Australia for modellers flying models under 2kg.

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