I'm embarrassed by this FRI business, and saddened. There have been some very long faces at morning briefings the last couple of days amongst the rear-crew. For one of my crew yesterday, this was just the latest in a long line of slaps in the face, the previous one being a pay-rise of a whopping 11p per day on promotion to Flt Sgt, thanks to the Pay 2000 lash-up. That said, they did their stuff as usual when we got scrambled last night in quite sh*tty wx, lots of good advice and suggestions and the usual good-humoured banter on the way home from the hospital - it was a pleasure to fly with them.
Your Airships,
If you're reading this, please don't make the error of under-estimating the value of these men and women. Their morale was already low as a result of the iniquities of Pay 2000. There are quite a few 30-something officer aircrew who are feeling quite highly valued right now, and good luck to them. You also have a bunch of 30-something rearcrew who feel let down. If DAAvn was prepared to stick his neck out for his people, could I ask the same of you on behalf of ours? Persuading people to stay on is cheaper in the long-term, as you don't have to train replacements "out-of-phase", as it were. Why else the FRIs?