Nick, the guys Brian is mentioning learn to fly in Astars through the Australian military. I think there has just been a misunderstanding.
While on this subject: Does anyone remember the accident in the US where the Astar on a news job ended up crashing onto a rooftop with all of us trying to decide whether it was hydraulics or a tail rotor failure?
We all watched the footage and I was today just thinking if there had been a resolution to that accident.