3D - we are about to find out if civilianisation works as all the SARF engineering will be supplied by AW/VT contract. AW have a vested interest in making it work but are rumoured to have said they will accept a loss of profit on the contract before a loss of face (ie failure to meet availability). They are the provider of the spares and the Design Authority for the aircraft so whatever goes wrong is their fault!
Your flying hours are less than ours which means we have more servicing to do and therefore more people needed - add to that the fact that we do have a remit to supply 2 aircraft on standby and you start to see the need for more engineers. If you had the same engineering task, you would need more engineers as well.
Yes we have dedicated storemen and safety equippers - you just pay guys extra for the extra duties, which rather implies they are not busy enough in their primary duties
The WAAF making the coffee runs the ops desk and is responsible for keeping all the flight info, maps and charts, notams etc up to date and is the main point of contact when the crew are airborne - I guess your engineers do this as well
