Prefect T1

About the Prefect T1

ROLE

Under the new UK MFTS construct, the Grob 120TP Prefect (Prefect T1) is replacing the Tutor T1 in the elementary flying training Role with 57 Sqn at RAF College Cranwell.

CAPABILITY

Nominally based at Cranwell but operating out of nearby RAF Barkston Heath, the Prefect brings turboprop power, digital avionics and retractable undercarriage to elementary flying training. These features make it entirely relevant to the next stage in UK MFTS, whether students progress to the Juno helicopter, Texan II basic trainer or Phenom multi-engine platform. It will eliminate the need for students to learn glass cockpit flying later in their training and establish a digital precedent all the way to the frontline.

TYPE HISTORY

Grob’s 120TP (Prefect T1) is an extreme evolution of a line of two-seat sporting and aerobatic aircraft that began with the Grob G 115, first flown in 1985 and including the G 115E, ordered in quantity for UK service as the Tutor.  First flown in 2010, the 120TP (Prefect T1) employs a composite airframe and turboprop power, plus digital avionics and a glass cockpit.

Affinity is supplying 23 Prefects under UK MFTS and having been contracted on February 2, 2016, received its first pair of aircraft on November 16. The fleet built rapidly and the type was ready to begin operations on August 1, 2017. With five machines on the ramp at Barkston Heath, Sqn Ldr Balshaw, from the RAF Central Flying School, and Ascent Chief Pilot Nigel Scopes took off from Barkston Heath for the first training flight of a new UKMFTS machine since the Hawk T2 entered service in 2009.