I don't think this surprising about no pilot slots, because on baseops.net it appeared that they gave out a lot more via OCS compared to years prior. The RPA aspect could be interesting because they are losing them faster than they can replace, at such a fast rate that they are back at handing out RPAs in the UPT schools for the next fiscal year.
I am curious, from a historical perspective do they ever announce the stats like they do for the traditional rated board? If memory serves me correctly there were over 200 alternates last year. Let's assume for class of 15 they had 200 too, how many were picked up from that alternate list? 10,20, 50%?
With the backlogs for both RPA and UPT, and both working at 100% capacity, I am not sure how many more they can offer RPAs or even CSO. Kevster commissioned in May 14 with a UPT slot, and the last I read, he is now hoping to start in Nov. He waited 8 months to go casual, and now will be on casual for 10 months.
~ Just saying I am not sure how long they can keep this delay to continue for the rated side.
It appears to me they have enough students to fill the schools, just not enough man hours to get them through the program.