1999 - Flight Lieutenant S C Stocker
At the time of the re-organisation of Flying Wing, in April 1999, Flight Lieutenant Simon Stocker was a Course Commander responsible for the administration of one ab-initio course of students. However, he was selected to be the Deputy Long Course Flight Commander under the new Squadron structure. After only one month, the existing Flight Commander, Flt Lt Wyatt, left the Squadron on retirement from the RAF and Simon took over the appointment. As this had been anticipated, he did much of the preparatory work in setting up the new Long Course Flight in terms of its organisation, physical location and administration. He is responsible for monitoring and supervising all ab-initio Fast Jet Advanced Flying Training in the RAF. This generally involves responsibility for 33 students on 3 courses, but has peaked at 39 students when courses have overlapped. To put this into context, prior to ‘mirror-image’, this responsibility was shared between three squadrons; each commanded by a Squadron Leader and with approximately 30 Flight Lieutenant QFIs. When the staff of the CFS Flight are subtracted, Simon has approximately 20 QFIs with which to complete the task; this does not take into account other absences from the Squadron. The mere fact that the task is accomplished at all speaks volumes for the hard work and dedication that Simon puts into the job. He always has a detailed understanding of the training requirements of all the students and his mature and sensible judgement on all training matters can always be relied upon. Not afraid to put in extra hours in the office, he manages to keep on top of the vast amount of paperwork generated and is frequently the last person to leave the building. That is not to say he is consumed by admin. He often stays behind to give extra instruction on navigation planning and tactical formation flying. Never satisfied with the status quo, he seeks out better ways to improve the quality of the Phase One syllabus and he is always looking for more effective and efficient methods of training. This includes improvements in the tracking of student progress and the writing of end of course reports. Despite the scale of his task, he has still managed to upgrade to A2 standard and complete the IRE work-up during the year. Additionally, despite 3 young children, he and his wife, Fred, are excellent supporters of Station and Squadron life. For his outstanding contribution to the achievement of the Squadron’s task during 1999, Flt Lt Stocker was awarded the Geoffrey Bromet Memorial Trophy.
