Do I pay for my flying? Her Majesty got me the helicopter hours, but my £35000 got me the ATPL Aeroplanes. I do a bit of 152 flying for fun.
Nearly 8000 in my log book, 3000 of them EC135. Quite a few of them counter terrorism and police.
I am an accountants whipping boy? Of course I am, any professional pilot is. Doesnt mean that I dont know what I am talking about.
Where you are REALLY really wrong is the deterrent effect of an aircraft. It cant be proved of course, but those of us experienced KNOW it works. Sadly we have nothing but knowledge to back it up.
What you dont realise, is that we agree with many of your points. Money does have to be saved, bases do have to be cut, streamlining is necessary, we HAVE to modernise.
Our argument is that it has been done using lies, deception and simply incorrectly. The wrong decisions have often been made, some excellent decisions as well. The good bad ratio hasnt been good enough.
How could i sum it up........
The bosses should say: the service IS reduced, some areas WILL have poor coverage. Unfortunately we are so skint this is the only option, so 'suck it up'
Not the, everything is wonderful and improved bull.
Just tell the truth.......