Not tongue in cheek at all. The reason our aircraft are u/s for 88% of the time is because we over-maintain them. In the air force we have approx 12 maintainers/engineers per aircraft. Bristows have 2. Our helicopters require in the order of 6 maintenance hours per flying hours. Bristows require 3 per flying hour.
The aircraft in the Armed forces are here to provide work for our engineers....not to fly