Historical information for each of the last five years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The required and actual training instructor number for each aircraft type in the armed forces as at 9 July 2009 is provided in the following table. These figures are for RAF flying instructors in current flying instructional positions of all ranks.
Training instructor numbers fluctuate on a day by day basis as individuals are reassigned, medically downgraded or leave the service. The overall aircraft fleet is currently undergoing significant change with some aircraft types drawing down and new aircraft coming into service, such as with the rapid expansion of the Merlin Force. Numbers of training instructors are responding to reflect these changes and action is being taken to ensure that current operations are not affected.
Aircraft type Required training instructors Actual training instructors Hercules C130J 37 38 Hercules C130K 8 8 VC10 25 22 TriStar 5 5 C17A 3 3 HS125 1 1 BAe146 1 1 Tornado GR4 50 39 Typhoon 27 20 Tornado F3 0 0 Harrier GR9 8 11 Nimrod MR2/MR4 32 29 Nimrod R1 7 7 Sentinel R1 5 5 E3D 25 21 King Air 30 24 Dominie 34 32 Tutor EFT 33 45 Tutor UAS 15 21 Tucano 51 49 Hawk 71 60 Puma 19 21 Chinook 25 23 Merlin 17 15 Squirrel 19 18 Sea King 15 12 Griffin 49 45 Augusta 109 1 1 Reaper 1 1 Islander 1 1