There are disadvantages and advantages to both granted what I was saying was that the defender can accomplish the role of the heli when necessary . No it cant hover , so what? move around wx ???? that lost me a bit are we saying fixed wing aircraft can only fly in straight lines? and operate safely lower ?? to what end ? Yes they can go lower and move slightly slower but at 60 kts at 1000ft the job can be accomplished just as well with the modern camera systems, in fact some systems are not good at all much lower .
Yes Helis are better for the police role and most forces who use islanders do so cos they are penny pinching eejits and any ASU worth its salt would elect to have a rotary , that is not the debate . The point is which of the following can not be accomplished by an islander :-
Pursuits
Persons searches
Photographic tasks
Incident management tasks
Surveillance
I could go on
apart from casevacs and the very infrequent "land on to arrest" They can do the job when necessary . Its not really worth a head banging "I dont think so" is it .
In fact in the long long career I have had in asu's both fixed wing and rotary the only difference I have noticed in capabilities is in that of the observers. It is much easier to be an observer in a heli for many different reasons but to the troops on the ground it makes no difference at all. The end result is almost always the same .
But hey at the end of the day every observer and pilot knows Rotary is way more fun and thats what we should all have . and have CSO's observing in them
no wait thats wrong I think
