King Charles and the Prince of Wales joint engagement

[AnnieSF]

It's lovely to see the King returning to more of his official duties after his chemo. This was his first joint engagement with the Prince of Wales since 2022 as the POW took over as Colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Corps.

You think someone who no longer has a pilots license would be allowed to take the front seat and the controls of an Apache helicopter?

Anyway here you are:

"Prince William previously worked as an air ambulance helicopter pilot after serving as a Royal Air Force Search and Rescue pilot. It's believed that he continues flying to rack up hours in the air in order to keep his pilot license."

people.com/royals/princess-charlotte-prince-william-flew-helicopter-commonwealth-games/

It's normal to have a pilot and co-pilot.
It's not about having dual controls so someone can sit there playing pretend. They each have a job to do.

@ShamedBySiri

I’m sensing a tone and I’m not really sure what’s prompted the above?

I was maybe trying to head off any ideas that the PoW had been let loose single pilot on an Apache…I know you may realise what’s involved but a lot of folks really do think you can just jump from aircraft type A to aircraft type B with minimal checks and balances and head off into the wide blue yonder- you can’t.

Certainly when the Royals were flying on visits to bases or similar, or were trying to retain proficiency whilst travelling with the likes of the Queen’s Flight back in the day, they’d usually be paired up with a Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI)….

That has advantages, means there’s somebody there to get the Royal out of the poo if he/she mishandles the aircraft and it also means someone other than the Royal gets to shoulder the blame if the aircraft gets bent (see the link at the bottom).

I’m not sure if your final post was aimed at me but I’ve done both the captain and co-pilot gig over the decades and also just a bit of instructing, dual controls and all that, so I do understand the terminology and who does what and when.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7472903/Moment-Prince-Charles-crashed-Queens-Flight-jet-1m-smash.html