DB;
SolsoeSid - I am with "Tam" on this one. You are way off the mark. The guy does a stunt for Charity and you use it in a negative way.
Have you forgotten that HRH the Duke of York did the same stunt and he is a helicopter pilot too with a fine record in the FI for flying into the smoke from burning vessels with his Seaking to help the lads who were in deep trouble.
Maybe you want to get some in before you continue trashing this blokes reputation. Have a go at me instead. At least I probably deserve it!!
Spend just a few moments thinking how your thoughtless childish jibes send such a poor message about our profession to a guy who we should really be encouraging as "One of our Own".
Posting the drivel that you do does not make you seem clever. It just brings the rest of us down into the mire with you.
I was hoping to leave it at the letter post to H500, however;
Firstly you must remember that a lot of people do charity events for different reasons. For example, there is a difference between those that run the London Marathon to raise money for charity. Some support a charity to run the marathon, while some run the marathon to support a charity.
Prince Andrew was a highly trained Naval Pilot. Trained by highly experienced instructors over a long and intense period of time during which phases are built in to chop the candidates not up to the grade. (Not simply the ones with loads of money). Oh, just one little point.....he was flying the incident you mention during a war!
How much 'in time' do I need to have your permission to express my opinion and I'd be very interested to know what I need in order to be 'in'?
My childish jibes and drivel, as you put it, are there purposely in this instance NOT to encourage "one of our own", because I don't want 'our' numbers to decrease more than can possibly be avoided.
There is a great difference between saving lives or doing what is necessary as the incidents suddenly present themselves, but to set up a private Thunderbirds operation with a bunch of mates seems to me, at best, foolhardy. I'm sure that there might be a few floater jobs around or why not set up a properly organised and managed reaction unit if someone wants to do the emergency service type flying. However, ask yourself the question...why don't they want to do it that way?