Crab, here's an example of why recruiting engineers for MOD SAR is a problem:
Senior Technician (Avionics)
United Kingdom, South West West Yorkshire
Salary: £24594 - £26694 per annum
Permanent opportunities in helicopter engineering and maintenance in search and rescue. We are recruiting forces or ex-forces personnel for vacancies in search and rescue (SAR) helicopter engineering and maintenance in the UK. We are looking for senior technicians with avionics experience at Boulmer (Tyneside), Leconfield (Hull), Chivenor (N Devon), Valley (N Wales) and Wattisham (Ipswich). Applicants will need to have reached Corporal/Leading Hand level or higher. Civilians with NVQ level 3 and apprenticeship with relevant experience will be considered. Candidates will need
Contract: Permanent
21/12/2007
I was earning that in the Mob back in 1999 as a S/NCO technician.
An avionics engineer nowadays wouldn't put their overalls on for that (it's a difficult enough task to get them to do so anyway
).