I do hope none of you detractors are SAR pilots - if so you clearly don't either understand or value what your SAR TC do - in UK anyway. Great to be crewed up with you............
I know how well our rearcrew were trained and they earned every pound of their non-market force pay.
You cannot deny the fact (MOD Payscales are hardly fake news) that they are paid far less in BRS for doing the same job they did in the military - whereas the pilots are paid more than they were - I believe that decision was made by ex-mil officer pilots who didn't have a huge regard for their rearcrew.
One thing that is blindingly obvious when you look into the wider world of SAR TC across the planet - you can pay what you like but the quality will reflect that pay and pretty much anyone can call themselves SAR TC but precious few wouild be able to hold a candle to UK trained SAR TC, especially the ex-mil.
BRS have queered the pitch for the next SAR contract- they had the chance to set a high standard of Ts and Cs and fell at the first hurdle. The next contractor will have fewer legacy TC and will either have to spend a lot on training new ones or just drop the standards of UKSAR.
AS365N$ - a 1 week course to be a HEMS TC.........really, do you really think that makes them any good?????? And, as pointed out earlier, do not confuse HEMS with SAR TC - very different roles.