Grob Tutor
ICAO G115The little composite aircraft that gives British cadets their first flight. Live Grob Tutor positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No Grob Tutor is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Grob Aircraft
- Role
- Elementary flight training
- Class
- L1P — Landplane, 1 piston engine
- Crew
- 2
- First flight
- 1985
- In service
- 1999
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the Grob Tutor
For a quarter of a century the Tutor has been the first aircraft most British military pilots ever touch. The Royal Air Force operates it for elementary flying training and, more visibly, for the Air Cadets — which means a large fraction of its sorties are somebody's first time in a light aircraft.
It is a small piston-engined composite two-seater, fully aerobatic, and deliberately unintimidating. The aircraft are civil-registered and contractor-maintained, which is why they carry G- registrations rather than military serials.
Sorties are short and local, clustered around a handful of UK airfields, so the type appears and disappears from the feed quickly.
Callsign prefixes
- CADET
- Air Cadet flying
- RRR
- Ascot — Royal Air Force
How to recognise it
- —A very small low-wing two-seater with side-by-side seating and a bubble canopy.
- —A fixed tricycle undercarriage and a two-blade propeller.
- —British aircraft wear civil G- registrations despite being flown for the RAF.
Common questions
+ Why do RAF Tutors have civilian registrations?
They are owned and maintained by a contractor rather than the Ministry of Defence, so they remain on the civil register even though they are flown for military training.
+ What is the Tutor used for?
Elementary flying training for RAF and Royal Navy students, and air experience flying for the Air Cadets — for many cadets it is their first flight in a light aircraft.
+ Is it the same as the G120TP?
No. The Tutor is the smaller piston-engined G115; the G120TP is a larger turboprop used for the next stage of training. Both are Grob and both are on this site.