Barnstormer1968 and the rest of the ill-informed:
For those of you who haven't noticed, the Hercules fleets have been comprehensively neglected over the last decade. The k-models have given tremendous service but is now to all intents and purposes dead or at least it will be post-SDSR. An effective replacement is still some way off.
Meanwhile, the mighty J has been doing the lion's share of the work for many years as the K fleet has progessively declined and is now starting to creak with a resparring programme about to commence which shouldn't have been required until well into the 2020s.
So why the surprise when the RAF and specifically the AT fleets are constantly pushing s**t uphill with such chronic underresourcing. Let us be under no illusion here, the boys and girls who are still left at Lyneham would be happy to decamp to El Centro several times a year and give the army all the para training it can handle but that's just not possible any more. So don't blame the RAF and instead vent your ire on the true villains in MoD and the treasury.
To quote The Right Stuff: "No bucks, no Buck Rogers".
And as for giving the Falcs a hard time, do remember that their day-jobs involve running PTS so that should afford them a certain amount of priority - regardless of whether or not they've got smoke cans strapped to their ankles, they still need to jump fir Christ's sake!