On a very frosty morning on the 19th of January 2023, 9 cadets (and 4 staff ) from 148 Sqn, set off to RAF Leeming, tired but excited and looking forward to a day of Flying. For most cadets this was their first time attending AEF ( air Experience Flight). After arriving at the AEF building cadets attended a safety briefing, with 1 or 2 cadets managed to forget to pull their parachute during the training drills as the nerves kicked in, finally then getting their flight suits once these were completed.

Despite the cold everyone was eager to get out and watch cadets from another Sqn, who had arrived earlier, to take off from the runway as well as a couple of University Air Squadron (UAS) pilots who were finishing for the morning to come in. Some worry started to spread after hearing that an aircraft may have technical issues, however these issues were thankfully soon remedied.

During the wait a debate was what movie to watch on tv, the dreaded Mama Mia was chosen – soon to be spurned by the rest of the room who begged for it to be skipped and instead changed to a more obvious choice: Top Gun ( the AEF Staff must surely have gotten bored of watching this by now).

One by one each cadet was kitted up with helmets and complimentary aviators that were too cool to pass up and escorted by a member of staff to the Tutor aircraft.

We all thoroughly enjoyed flying and couldn’t get enough of it, eagerly chatting about who had the most exciting flights. On the whole a utterly fantastic day of flying was had by all.

The Journey home was considerably quieter than the one to AEF, however a quick rest and a bite to eat at the services meant that we all had enough left in the tank to help clean Eric (the Sqn Minibus)

Endless thanks go to all of the staff who made it possible for us to go flying, it was a dream come true for many of us and perhaps the start of a lifelong passion for aviation for most.

Cpl L.Williams