Share

cover art for When Pilots Quit - Why We Must Stop Telling People They Are Valued Unless We Truly Value Them

Fast Jet Performance

When Pilots Quit - Why We Must Stop Telling People They Are Valued Unless We Truly Value Them

I am expensive. Not that I have an apartment in Knightsbridge and wear Louis Vuitton shoes, no, but to the taxpayer, I am worth a lot of money. ​ Every trainee fast jet pilot in the last 7 years has come through a school that I have been an instructor on. Training each pilot has cost the taxpayer £4 million and there has been about 30 of them per year. Quick maths says that I’ve been involved in £840 million worth of training. And my own training costs, well I could only hazard a guess. There aren’t many instructors who train instructors (how to teach other instructors) how to teach the students. It gets complicated after that but, because I commanded the team that did just this, I know there’s not many. But ‘illusions of grandeur’ and humour aside, I turn 42 this year and I really need to start thinking about finding another job. Years of teaching air combat have convinced my neck and back that they would prefer to become mattress testers but I reckon they could still be involved in some pretty fierce typing if the right consultancy firm came along. My desire to stay in the cockpit meant that further promotion passed me by like a ship in the night but I am not bitter. As I approach 18 years of service I have only worn the shackles of a desk job once - in the job I am currently in and even now I still hold a cockpit for a couple of weeks of the month.

http://www.fastjetperformance.com/podcasts/when-pilots-quit-why-we-must-stop-telling-people-they-are-valued-unless-we-truly-value-them

More episodes

View all episodes

  • Matt Izzo - Weight Loss and Fitness Legend!

    01:03:33
    Matt lost 70 lbs 3 times before working out finally how to embrace a lifestyle based on fitness and healthy eating. Matt teaches busy people how to increase their energy & level up their lives with fat loss & sustainable lifestyle changes. He's also training for Ironman Florida and is an awesome dude - follow him on twitter @mattizzo
  • Eagle Dynamics | Digital Combat Simulator Interview!

    01:05:49
    A chat about the future of Digital Combat Sim with Ben Whiteley and Simon Pearson from Eagle Dynamics!
  • SHOCKING EMAIL from RAF - This HAS to STOP!

    24:22
    Here I discuss the forcing of diversity into the RAF and the problems associated with doing so after an appalling email surfaced asking Squadron bosses if they had any pilots who were 'not white men' to attend the Top Gun 2 premiere.
  • British Army Sniper - Craig Harrison

    01:15:35
    A chat with Craig Harrison, former British Army sniper and author of 'The Longest Kill'.In The Longest Kill, his unflinching autobiography, Craig catapults us into the heat of the action as he describes his active service in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, and gives heart-stopping accounts of his sniper ops as he fought for his life on the rooftops of Basra and the barren hills of Helmand province. Craig was blown up by an IED in Afghanistan and left battling severe PTSD. After his identity was revealed in the press he also had to cope with Al Qaeda threats against him and his family. For Craig, the price of heroism has been devastatingly high. - Taken from Craig's book, 'The Longest Kill'.Craig's Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cohcraigharrison/
  • Truth Bombs with Will Knowland, Former Eton College Master | The Patriarchy Paradox

    56:45
    In this video I speak with Will Knowland, former Master at Eton College who was dismissed over a video he published called the Patriarchy Paradox.'A view on patriarchy to provoke debate: 'if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear' (George Orwell). Use it or lose it.'Support Will on his Patreon www.patreon.com/knowlandknows'Truth Bombs with Will Knowland, Former Eton College Master | The Patriarchy Paradox' - Tim Davies, Fast Jet Performance (www.fastjetperformance.com)
  • Future Pilots and Drugs | A Hard Road Story

    26:51
    In this video I talk about Rob who hit a huge roadblock on his mission to be a fast jet pilot in the RAF - what effect did it have on him and what did he do about it?I also talk about DEVSOC, a humility and fitness community on Insta.
  • Simon Akam, author of 'The Changing of the Guard - the British Army Since 9/11'

    01:35:03
    A revelatory, explosive new analysis of the British military today!Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Britain has changed enormously. During this time, the British Army fought two campaigns, in Iraq and Afghanistan, at considerable financial and human cost. Yet neither war achieved its objectives. This book questions why, and provides challenging but necessary answers.Award-winning journalist Simon Akam, who spent a year in the army when he was 18, returned a decade later to see how the institution had changed. His book examines the relevance of the armed forces today ― their social, economic, political, and cultural role. This is as much a book about Britain, and about the politics of failure, as it is about the military.
  • The Problem with Military Flying Training in the UK

    34:54
    This can only be described as an appalling situation in the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) and very much in the public's interest.72 Sqn flies the Texan T1 at RAF Valley, the same base that is home to 25 and IV Sqn (formerly IV Sqn) flying the Hawk T2.In 2012, I was a Flight Commander on IV Sqn which was going through an almost identical situation to that which is highlighted in this Defence Air Safety Occurrence Report (DASOR). I eventually managed to convince the boss to get an external Human Factors assessment done by the RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine (RAF CAM) who came and conducted an Operational Event Analysis (a close look at flight safety). This led to the cessation of all student flying until I could train up my instructors who, as in this report, were not getting the flying currency and qualifications they required and were suffering from significant stress in the workplace.So, when the RAF tells me that they have learnt the lessons of UKMFTS during this time, this DASOR suggests otherwise.Personally, I don't believe the RAF and nor do a high number of service personnel pan-defence who sent me the same report. It doesn't seem like 'people are your greatest asset', here but it does help to clarify the RAF's retention issues.Lastly, for the author of this DASOR (who I do not know and did not send this to me), from an old grey bomber pilot - if you are taking flak, it usually means you are bang on target.(I informed the RAF that I was publishing this DASOR. This report is a Defence Air Safety Occurrence Report (DASOR) delivered through the Aviation Safety Information Management System (ASIMS) which states that 'The proactive reporting of air safety concerns by personnel from across the defence air environment (DAE) is fundamental in maintaining continual awareness of the risks facing our people.' - www.gov.uk)
  • Is Today My Last Day?

    16:05
    A Doctor in the frontline fight against COVID-19 emails to ask...'My question is how does a person maintain focus and protect oneself mentally when living daily with the threat of possible mortality.'...also some free self-hairdressing advice