Kenny, I don't think the issue is whether or not AAC pilots could fly the KingAirs - of course they could, when trained to do so. I think the issue is more whether it is financially sensible to use AAC or RAF pilots in the role.
It is a fair bit of extra training to learn to fly a two-pilot Airways aircraft like the KingAir. In the AAC the KingAir 350 would be a career sidestep out of RW - indeed plank flying has sometimes been regarded as part of "resettlement" in AAC. Also, given the apparent shortage of AAC Apache pilots I would think the AAC would be reluctant to exacerbate the problem by streaming twenty or so of their pilots into a longish KingAir training progam. In the RAF, however, the Guardrail would just be part of the multi-engine career path, so the investment in training would be amortised over a longer career path, and they already have a pool of trained multi-engine pilots to pick from.
I guess the AAC historically got away with operating the Islanders as they are a lighter and simpler aircraft, single-pilot aircraft, which was used mainly in a liaison and light-surveillance role, and there were only a couple of them until the Defenders came along.
It will be interesting to see who gets primacy over the KingAirs - my guess is that they will go to the RAF.
Last edited by richatom; 18th May 2008 at 07:24.