Crab.
A couple of points.
Yes you do have more hours to fly because you have the second crew and other commitments than SAR. However, our units are
also required to supply a second, serviceable machine. If this machine is u/s or needs maintenance then it gets worked on by the duty engineers, and off shift engineers working on overtime, who
also cover the duty aircraft! Afterall, you cannot carry out maintenance on that one.
Back to my question, how many engineers/ support staff do you have and how many will good old Wastelands bring along?(More taxpayers money down the Somerset drains!)
Where do you get the idea that the engineers get paid for extra duties??
If that were the case then they would be taking home more than the Chief Pilot!
Safety Equipment servicing is carried out by approved and qualified people who use it ie. the winch crews!
They are the only ones on the unit to receive extra responsibility payments! And quite rightly too!
Notams, maps and charts are the responsibility of the co-pilots and one of the winch crew, alongside their normal hectic schedule.
Oh. by the way,
yes the engineers
are the point of contact when the aircraft is airborne! If messages need to passed, talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey!( Not that your WAAF is a monkey he adds rapidly
!)
3D