The PVR's might fly in but unless something has changed they do not have to be accepted do they?
Not an ideal situation to have unhappy people flying, however I am sure that the professionalism we have heard so much about on the SAR thread will prevail.
After all when you sign on and take Betty's shilling you are doing so as a member of the armed forces not as for example a SAR pilot. Bars on PVR have been applied before. An example being the army bar on aircraft technicians leaving by PVR as Lynx was comming in to service due to the requirement for more staff.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned in respect of the hours required is that such things are set in conjunction with insurers. They lower time the pilot the higher the premiums.
I wonder if the aircraft are being insured commercially or whether the government is offering some form of indemnity.