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108foreign air forces and to conduct similar quality control and assessment visits, culminating with an in depth verbal report to the appropriate Commander, followed up by a written report under the signature of Commandant CFS. However, the frequency of these overseas visits was much less than in the past. Many overseas air forces had moved away from their original RAF roots; by the 1980s products of the British aircraft industry were far less in evidence overseas, having been superseded in many countries by US, French or Russian aircraft, the exception being the BAe Hawk advanced trainer. The influence and culture of the nation providing equipment was bound to predominate in the customer air force. Concerns over security meant that Examining Wing%u2019s overseas visits to some nations, for example Singapore, tended to be restricted to training rather than operational units, however, CFS agents from appropriate front line units and Qualified Weapons Instructors would often join a CFS team if required by the hosting nation. The sortie content of a %u2018Trappers ride%u2019 overseas would depend very much on the status of the individual flown with. A student pilot would be asked to fly a general handling sortie appropriate to his experience and the stage he had reached on his course. This would include some form of emergency handling, and often some genuine flying instruction should the host nation staff request it. Many overseas flying instructors were CFS graduates, so they would be asked to brief and fly a typical instructional task with the examiner taking the role of student. General handling flying skills and emergency procedures would also be undertaken. If the instructor possessed a CFS instructional category it could be upgraded should his performance merit it, but this would also involve a ground oral test. Qualified pilots who were not instructors might be asked to undertake a routine task typical of their specialisation, or simply fly a general handling sortie; the Examining Team would try not to disrupt the unit%u2019s routine excessively in order to maintain cordial relations, and would often form part of a crew on a training or operational task, using the sortie profile as a method of assessment. Let me turn now to some specific overseas visits undertaken during my tour as OC Examining Wing, 198781989. Typical of one of the largest overseas visits was the annual assessment of what was then titled the Sultan of Oman%u2019s Air Force (SOAF), now the Royal Air