Fighter pilots lose pride in flying for RAF because of bullying storm

RAF pilots are not as “proud” to fly for the military, a survey has found, amid allegations of bullying and discrimination engulfing the air force.

The level of general satisfaction at life in the RAF has fallen by 9 per cent since last year to 37 per cent, according to the latest UK Regular Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey.

It means satisfaction is at its lowest level since this question was first asked in 2007.

RAF personnel said they felt less proud, less engaged and less valued this year. The survey also found that confidence in the RAF leadership has halved in the last two years, now reaching its lowest level since this question was first asked in 2015.

The survey found that RAF personnel are now less likely to agree that they have confidence in their leadership, compared with the Army and Royal Navy.

Meanwhile, the proportion of RAF personnel who agree that their leaders are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace has fallen 15 per cent to 57 per cent since 2022.

‘Endemic culture’

It comes after leaked emails seen by The Telegraph showed that the RAF instructed staff to stop choosing “useless white male pilots” for training courses as part of its selection process for the air force.

An RAF source told The Telegraph that the “email clearly demonstrates the endemic culture that was created by the senior leadership to chase ridiculous diversity statistics that were patently unachievable”.

It comes after Group Capt Lizzy Nicholl, who took over the recruitment department at RAF Cranwell in 2021, quit over claims the service had paused the recruitment of white men to hit diversity targets.

Meanwhile, last November, multiple members of the Red Arrows were sacked following an investigation into its toxic culture.

The inquiry was launched after allegations of bullying, misogyny, assault, sexual harassment and drunkenness were reported.

The survey also found that the average wellbeing scores for life satisfaction and happiness among RAF personnel fell this year, while fewer personnel rated their anxiety as ”very low”.

RAF pledges to listen to survey

Adml Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of the Defence Staff, said both he and his leadership team are committed to understanding the feedback given in these results.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The wellbeing of our serving personnel is a priority, and this survey is key to helping us understand where improvement is required, and where measures we have introduced are working.

“We have already introduced a raft of measures including a new victim and witness care unit and policy reforms such as our new zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable sexual behaviour - which will ensure that anyone convicted of a sexual offence will be dismissed from service.

“We continue to build confidence in both the service justice and service complaints system so that personnel feel confident to report incidents and have faith that their complaints will be acted upon.”