Greetings
After 4 years, why should there be many aircrew left out of the original 656 Sqn? There is now a good mix of experience in each of the AH units and in particular there is a good mix of experience and other talents in the operational units. Getting 4 years out of each AH pilot would be a great feat; you should really be complaining as tax payers about the AH pilots that do not do 4 years before going onto a desk job.
In these days of a buoyant civilian flying market, it is always going to be a struggle to entice aircrew to stay, particularly as there is a high operational tempo. From what I see in the AAC, and I get a privileged overview of the whole thing, we continue to produce the goods required to our number one customer, the squaddie.
The jobs within the JHC and aviation in general are opening up. When Wessex pilots can become kingair pilots, AH pilots can go to 8 Flt, and our desk johnnies that want to continue flying can remain in the services by going Blue, it would appear that there are a lot of variety and challenges in service flying to be had.
The need to retain experience on our types is obvious, but it is no where near as dire as some posters might like us to believe. Mr Ab initio is producing the goods and the sausage machine is working well, as it always has in the services.
On another note, I attended the CFS conference this week. There was a lot of chat about QHI/QFI pay. All very encouraging.
Jeep