I think you make some good points DDW, particularly regarding the standards our dear friend the MoD was achieving during some later periods of the service. I am not averse to whipping off the rose tinted specs and stamping on them.
Regarding salary ranges, the figures that have stuck in my mind, been quoted by Crab, and been quoted by others on this forum, have tended to be the top end of what, inevitably, is a range. And while the PA Scale range is a large, all-encompassing aircrew range of £37000, the BHL salary ranges are going to be more specific narrower ranges.
What we also have to take on board is that the numbers Crab and colleagues were given at the first approach were during a period when O&G was still awash with money and helicopter crew change in all territories was raking it in. Fast forward to April Fool's Day 2015 and the oil price was halved before spending the next year nearly halving again. Pencils were getting sharpened at both ends and used to write on both sides of the paper. Sacrifices were being asked.
So take the pilot top numbers (maybe chief pilot top numbers) and put a range downwards of £20k? £25k? Think of the SAR TC numbers as having a range of £12k maybe? Then think sacrifices being asked all round. Maybe the numbers make more sense like that.
None of that changes what some Master Aircrew are making on PA Scales. Nor does it change how little a first tour freshly qualified milSAR co-pilot might have been making while being accelerated toward captaincy.