the paper indicated that the total savings would be in the very low single millions, and was therefore not worth it.
.. and that was at the very best - within the margins of errors of calculation it was possible that no savings at all would be made ....
.... the core difference then was that the SNCO pilot "return-of srvice" was much less - ie, it cost the same to train, you paid them less but they left earlier, so you had to replace them sooner.
It's all about pay and status - if you can't get 'em to join for £Xk, you won't get 'em for £X-Yk .... and then ask 'em to be guard commander too!!
And remember, you can't (I'm 99% sure) join t'Army directly from outside as an SNCO pilot, so you sign on the dotted line in the hope you will et a pilots' course later on hmmmmmmm??
In all it's a very complicated system with many variables - it ain't broke (much) so do we need to fix it??