Crab,
I try not to misquote you, nor malign you, but it does seem that anybody who disagrees with you (it is not just me) is accused of starting a pi$$ing contest as you start to tantrum. Now please read my comments below and respond in an adult manner, perhaps after reading about Transactional Analysis in your CRM notes.
The trouble with the Defence Vote is that many of the costs are buried, does that precise figure of "circa £50 million" include all the civil servants supporting the MOD, or is it just the day-to-day running figure of the 6 RAF SAR flights? If it is the latter then the true cost is much greater than "circa £50 million". A lot of time and money is wasted by the MOD during the procurement process, especially by the incompetents at Abbey Wood and elsewhere; for example the Nimrod fiascos, Typhoon over budget and years late, Chinook Mk2 FADEC, Chinook Mk3 unable to fly IMC and latterly the Apache coming into service without crews to fly it. In the end the front line suffers, such as you taking 20 years to get FLIR. In the civil world there is an element of Darwinism, if you screw up you lose money and get sacked - you don't get promoted and moved onto the next job. See link below, paragraph 27 is particularly relevant:
http://www.publications.parliament.u.../386/38607.htm
As far as your comments go on training, you may be better trained over a wider range of disciplines, by which I presume you mean things like tactical flying and I agree that is relevant for a military pilot. However, as far as civil SAR goes such extra training is irrelevant although good fun for the crews!
btw Where is Crabette?
DtD
