Prince Harry to become Helicopter Pilot

[airborne_artist]

Did it involve painting a picture?

and with his art teacher nearby, it is alleged?

[Rossian]

Prince Harry

Geeeez! What is it with you guys? This subject always seems to bring out the mean-minded, petty chisellers sniping away from behind their noms-de-plume. Do you ever realise how you come across to other readers? A lady I knew a long time ago categorised such people as sh88ty pr*cks which I think sums them up perfectly.
The Ancient Mariner

[1.4G]

This is prune, the military forum mate. Just sad ex military people with nothing better to do with their time.

[hulahoop7]

Hmm

Are you sure your first name is not Charles?

I always find the biggest sh88ty pr*cks to be those people who cheat to get ahead. They can sometimes end up in the dangerous position where their lack of capabilites puts others at risk.. you know like being a pilot of a helicopter with a load of blokes in the back..etc etc.

But I guess its a great British tradition to have the oaf running the show.

[Tourist]

Hulahoop.

If, after training, he is a danger then fair enough to give him sh1t on here.

To judge him before he is given a chance just makes you a small minded jealous tw@t.

[percyprune]

Give him a break!!!!

Christ, give the guy a break!!!

There are 2 ROYALS who want to serve, all be it in limited capacities and all that happens is that they get slagged off!

UK military is on its knees, poor motivation, poor equipment and poor civil perception

Now, potentially there are two young gentlemen of high birth who want to do their best for their country. One of them will be King! And supposedly, mostly you, the very people who have signed on for the Piece of Silver have an issue with it

Give them a break, let them find out what is happening, give them time to mature in service, don't look at only today about you, but the future, when they are in their 40's, King and Prince, with their hand's on experience behind them. At least then there will be someone of influence who will understand what HM FORCE'S have to deal with.

Or is it expected that Euan Blair and Brown Minor will come to the colours and educate the useless and self serving politicians and their ilk about what being a soldier, sailor or airman is!!!!

Good luck Harry and Will's, enjoy, absorb and learn!!!

[spheroid]

UK military is on its knees

No its not.

poor motivation

Well, thats your fault - its your job

poor equipment

Some of it is.....but some of it is first rate.

poor civil perception

Possibly

One of them will be King!

One of them may be King!

[percyprune]

Harry and William

spheroid

My point was simply this:

• The UK military is stretched to its limits. On its knee's was the wrong way to put it. However I typed that after two bottles of a good red, so my thougth process was a bit muddled

• Motivation and leadership must come from and be directed from above, be it from a Flag rank or from a lance corporal. If there is a percieved lack of such motivation then the system will break down. The lack of such leadership from politicians will only exacerbate the situation. As an individual I can be motivated and I can try to motivate those around me, but it is not always an easy situation. Only this morning I was discussing this with a line engineer about motivation and qualification. He made the point to me that there are individuals who have lesser qualifications and types than he has, but who are in QA and recieve more pay! Thats fine if an individual wants to be in a QA position, but for the dedicated liney's it seems a tad unfair that they percieve themselves as worth less for the hands on job that they do.

• There is also the new and unsavoury influence of H and S to deal with, where the line between sensible and ridiculous is being blurred. Penalizing troops while in theatre for speeding on the ramp on a call out or dictating that standby crews cannot have a particular type of food, is taking things a little too far!

• Equipment: Agreed, some excellent, some not. However, the fact of the matter is that procurement and planning is quite often playing catch up with what is required in the field. Look at the lack of winches on the battlefield helicopters, which was only resolved after the mine field disaster.

• Civil perception: Once again, the perception felt within the Forces that they are not appreciated for what they do by the general civilian population. There are examples of fantastic support, the Red Arrows auction, which raised over 1.5 million pounds, however, the feeling on the ground within the Armed Forces at squaddie, sailor and airman level is that they are overstretched, under equiped and not appreciated for what they do. The fact that they are proud, motivated and have a burning desire to do the best they can is simply not appreciated.

As for the future King, he should be one of the two unless their father wants to hang in there indefinitely!!!

At the end of the day, all I am trying to say is, is that it is better to have someone at their level on board, than not.

percy

[FCWhippingBoy]

Sorry if this has been answered somewhere else ...

OK, so William was born 21 Jun '82, which means that at the time he served in the South Atlantic, Andrew was 2nd in line to the thrown and was unlikely to be king unless something happenned to Charles.

Currently, Harry is 3rd in line and is unlikely to become king unless something happens to William.

What exactly is the difference between Andrew's circumstances in '82 and Harry's now?

Granted, the publicity would potentially be greater these days, but surely the opposition knew of Andrew's presence in theatre in '82 also?

I can understand the reason for denying William the opportunity to serve operationally, but why Harry?

[knowitall]

"I can understand the reason for denying William the opportunity to serve operationally, but why Harry? "

last time i checked the argentinians didn't cut prisoners heads off and broadcast it over the internet

nor did we have the world wide web and 24 hour news channels reporting Prince Andrews every move in 1982


times change

[zorab64]

It's sad the Military should be slagging off their colleagues so readily (you're meant to stick together, girls & boys), it just sounds like snobbish jealousy - especially given the Times report today that both support for, and recruitment into, the Services is significantly greater than in recent years/months.

The Services have an ability (and the funds) to train to a level that is unaffordable in Civvy Street - and are highly regarded as a result. Military Wings are not "gifted" to those unable to cut the mustard, although those of slightly lesser ability may be posted to slightly less demanding roles / aircraft. Sadly if HARRIERPILOTNAS is actually anything like that, he does not put his Service or his trade in a good light by his poor use of basic English, however bigotted - (it's "their" cornflakes, not "there". Post #13).

See thread in Rotorheads for more!

[Faithless]

Well said Percyprune.

Good luck Harry and Will's, enjoy, absorb and learn!!!

Harry has had combat experience and wants to return...Hats off to him

All this is new to William as he lacks combat experience....he has tasted flight after serving with all three services and wants to fly as a career.

You should be privileged and honoured he wants to fly with RAF.

To Royals serving Granny & Country, and for the respect they give to all three services, I for one take my hat off to them.

Well done lads and welcome to the best area in the Military.....Aviation.... What ever service it be!

[airborne_artist]

And he passed:

"Prince Harry is to train to become an Army Air Corps (AAC) helicopter pilot after passing the unit's selection process, Clarence House has said."

He has passed grading, it says.

Full info

[NickGooseBrady]

I have it on very good account that he didn't go to the bar at Wallop once until he had squared away his checks. He was also a little slow at picking up CCT flying but otherwise nailed it. He has passed just like anyone else. Well done Sir! Not bad for a "Strawberry Blonde" either.

[PPRuNeUser0139]

'Arry

Good luck..!

[FLY 7]

on passing the selection process.

Personally think it's great that William and Harry are carving out their military careers in helicopters.

And, to Harry for presiding over the 'Children of Courage Awards' at Westminster Abbey earlier this week. Those who were there said he was absolutely brilliant.

[midsomerjambo]

Quote "To complete the flying course, the Prince spent 13 hours in a Slingsby T67 light aircraft receiving lessons from an instructor but did not have to fly solo."

How come he didn't get to solo? I'd have thought for the stude's own confidence and self-belief you'd always want to send him solo in whatever he's trained in, and I'd have thought 13 hours was more than enough to send him to bash a few circuits on his own. Now admittedly I'm only a glider pilot (who can't afford a PPL ) so I don't really know what would be required. Can someone tell me what the requirement to first solo as a powered ab-init would normally be (I'm assuming, perhaps wrongly, that there would be a minimum dual time).

MSJ

[B_Fawlty]

Sadly if HARRIERPILOTNAS is actually anything like that, he does not put his Service or his trade in a good light by his poor use of basic English

I think previous posters more in the know about these sort of things have determined that he/she belongs to that esteemed trade of Walt-ery for which a haphazard approach to spelling, random useage of upper case letters and an excitable fondness for exclamation marks are very much de rigueur.

[Parson]

Midsomerjambo,

I don't think the Middle Wallop grading course is aimed at going solo, though I'm sure a few do. If he follows the standard AAC course, he'll have a another 40 hrs fixed wing before he goes rotary.

[Art of flight]

Unless AAC flying grading has changed recently it still aims to grade applicants for suitability (or otherwise) to attend the full Army Pilots Course, ie try to weed out the probable failures and the training risks prior to loading on an expensive flying course.

None of the 13 flying hours are solo as each exercise is designed to allow the student to demonstrate to the instructor an ability to learn and fly each exercise to a satisfactory standard in the limited flying time available. A solo sortie would be difficult to grade so is therefore not part of the grading course.

Generally students solo within 8 hours of starting the full course.

Good luck to them both and hope to see them at Wattisham, now, any sons and daughters of our politicians like to have a go?