£30K retainer and £1K per day on ops. Is this some Tom Clancy novel? People always talk about these jobs and fatastic salaries, but having met some of the 'contract pilots', it isn't that fantastic. It would be great if you could sit down the pub waiting for your pager to go off and the next big op to happen. Do the people on the £30K retainer drive round in a large black van with a red stripe down the side and tell you that they "love it when a plan comes together"?
Realistically, if such a job existed, I would be the first in the queue - no staffwork and trying to gain ground in 'merit' based promotion and just the chance to fly. Sign me up.