TC,
There are two sides to that argument. What if the sooper dooper, equipped for WW III, doppleturbine, mega beast was out hunting for a little girl lost somewhere on the moors and a shout was made for a covert op on a drug runner offshore. Do you call off the task, RTB, refuel and set off, leaving the foot soldiers to slog through the marshy heather, or would it be better to have a Thunderbird 2 to launch ?
Old Heliman,
Point taken on the crewing requirements, but I'm cheap !!! You could probably have eight of me for the price of one old, bold twin turb vet.
But given the experience across the Atlantic why do we have massive, massively equipped helicopters in these roles. Everyone's happy to beat up the CAA with "the Yanks do it this way and their accident stats aren't any worse than our's", yet there's a sharp difference when it comes to the way the different airborne units operate. Are their accident/arrest/whatever rates any better or worse than ours, with their R22s/R44s/Jet Rangers?
PS I do also take on board the fact that the CAA has a fit at the thought of singles scooting around over cities (as indeed do I !) but surely they would make sense for some of the less well off Rural forces, at the very least.