And at the bottom of the first page they have moved the goalposts..... in a big way.
We now have a new date of birth of NPAS of 1/11/2017.
That means the stuff created before the national borderless service can be ignored..... which means that the HMIC report sits in a time period where the NPAS was not yet complete so perhaps this might be an excuse for that report to be discredited?
Where did all the years go...??
The links to attachments that are allowed under the FOI request reveal two letters that are now a year old and appear to suggest that the West Yorkshire hierarchy were on their knees trying to get an audience with Amber Rudd, the then Home Secretary [or her successor] to plead for cash for newer helicopters. Of any meeting acheived we have no details and there are large redactions anyway. Perhaps fortunately in the light of the attempt at a rebirth noted above they do admit to being a wee bit older than the November 2017 date in the text!
So, what organisation would accept a 2-3 year delay in the acceptance of a new airframe especially when it has employed at least two fixed wing pilots on significant remuneration at least three years before the newly announced service acceptance date? I thought they were short of money? One wonders whether the pilots will be eligible to retire before the P68 arrives in service.