Prince William becomes victim of privatization as RAF outsources SAR missions

American company, Bristow Group, will take over. Don't worry for Wills -- he'll be king someday. Prince William, a lieutenant, becomes victim of privatization as British Air Force outsources search-and-rescue missions.

Even the heir to the British throne can be a victim of privatization.

Prince William — aka Flight Lieutenant Wales — will lose his gig as a helicopter rescue pilot for England’s Royal Air Force because the job has been outsourced, blimey, to an American company, the Bristow Group.

British officials hailed the $2.4 billion deal with the Yankee company as an example of how the private sector could better serve the public.

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Search and rescues — handled for 70 years by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy — would be made four minutes faster with a new fleet of 22 choppers, authorities said Thursday.

The operation will be in full swing at 10 locations by 2017, officials said.

But that means William and his fellow pilots will be redeployed elsewhere.

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The prince, who stands to become the King of England after his dad, Charles, takes over someday from Queen Elizabeth, was certified as a Sea King helicopter pilot in 2010 and is stationed at a base in north Wales.

His search-and-rescue tour of duty was due to end this year.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/british-air-force-privatize-rescues-article-1.1299448#ixzz2PWyaAR78


Source: By Stephen Rex Brown / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS - 26 March 2013

Photo: Prince William, seen with his dad, Prince Charles, will no longer do search-and-rescue missions once the British Air Force outsources such work to an American company.
(Photo by AFP/AFP/Getty Images)


(26.03.2013)