SS
Unless you are in a unit that regularly flies more than 12 hrs in a 24 hr period, that is absolute nonsense.
B1
Not neccesarily. Lets think about it a minute. (something you fail to do regularly)
First; the figure 1700 hrs/year has been thrown about. That is a lot of very busy helicopters that obviously wont be airbourne for 12 hours but there is a high possibility that at least one will be up at any given time in a particular region.
Firstly lets stop getting personal here.
Now then, yes the 1700 hrs figure was mentioned here, but if you read the post fully, you'll see that it was an example figure and therefore cannot be taken in any context as a useable figure.
What you said was;
Chances are pretty good that the aircraft will already be flying when it becomes apparent that there is a need for firearms involvement so the aircraft wont be fully fueled
Contrary to your comment, I did think about it and in order to say that the chances are pretty good that the aircraft will be airborne when needed, does actually mean that the aircraft would have to be in the air for a greater time than it is on the ground. I would also stick my neck out and say from experience, that the chances are that even regionally it wouldn't be so.
Thats the thing about chance, you have to stack the odds in your favour to succesfully predict them!