I understand this thread is mostly about police aircrew ,both pilots and observers, with a vested interest in keeping their jobs.
What I find hard to take on board is the fact that air ambulances are funded from charity donations. These helicopters save lives every day.
Missing person operations are really closer to air ambulance work than the police.However the police air ops justify a substantial chunk of police budgets and taxpayers money via their mispers.
If missing persons,stolen cars and petty crime were removed from police air operations the numbers would suggest more budget cuts.
Perhaps the way forward is a combined police and air ambulance with the latter having priority.
On a final note the suggestion that a security high alert re terrorists somehow justifies huge sums spent on the helicopter operations over London every day is bunkum.
The incident in Westminster a few weeks ago and todays Sweden attacks demonstrate that
the money needs to be spent on the ground and not in the air.
In closing let me direct you to this BBC story that really sums up my point.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articl...g-into-trouble
I like this paragraph.
It normally tweets pictures of the London skyline or enjoys a bit of banter with other police forces but one official police account is in trouble for posting an aerial picture of Michael McIntyre.
The image was taken from the sky by a police helicopter and posted by the National Police Air Support Unit's Twitter account - @NPASLondon.
It's claimed the comedian's privacy was invaded as he didn't know it was going to be published.
The post showing the comedian has since been deleted.
