PETER FOSTER / LONDON
Anew era in multi-engine pilot training for the UK Royal Air Force was ushered in on 16 December, with the delivery of the first two of seven leased Raytheon Beech King Air B200 transports to the service's training school at RAF Cranwell from the Beech facility in Kansas.
Serco will operate the aircraft under a service-delivery contract which will deliver 5,500 flight hours a year for a period of five to seven years. The next two aircraft will be delivered to the UK in January under the agreement, with the final three to arrive in March. The King Air deal also covers the provision of 3,000 simulated flight hours a year to meet the RAF's full multi-engined pilot training task.
To run under an initial five-year agreement with an option on two one-year extensions, the Serco-managed operation will continue until the UK Military Flying Training System (MFTS) comes into operation. A decision on the wider MFTS project had been scheduled for 2007, but this is now believed to have slipped until 2009.
Four RAF instructors have converted to type under the arrangement, with two now undergoing conversion with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, which also operates the type. The remaining instructors will begin conversion at RAF Cranwell in January, ahead of the first training course in April. The last intake to undergo instruction on the RAF's current Jetstream will graduate on 19 March.
Source: Flight International
