Royal helicopters and William

[FancyBiscuitsLevel]

So, not seen any threads on this - the story broke at the start of the week that the two new helicopters the RF took ownership of at the start of last year have already flown the distance of twice round the world. Anne is the biggest user and the explanation has been to allow multiple engagements on the same day and to allow secure access to more remote locations.

But in that, there was a detail about Prince William, last year he took the helicopter 52 times between Kensington palace and their new windsor home. Now, this is only about an 1 hour drive. There are regular train services between central London and Windsor. While the headline focus has been on the multiple uses for engagements on the same day by Anne (which to be clear I don’t begrudge if that’s the only practical way to do it), this travelling between your two homes that aren’t that far apart by helicopter feels excessive for someone who’s work is supposed to be focussed on the environment.

Well, it can be done but keeping a commercial level licence valid means making the time/effort.........

King Willem-Alexander (Netherlands) holds a fixed wing commercial licence, still (I think) puts in the odd shift as a pilot at KLM or/and has operated a Dutch government aircraft within the last year....

IIRC when the Jordanian Crown Prince was over and he and William visited a helicopter base there were comments about WIlliam keeping up his flying hours.

Edit to add: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2emkvdjnrjo

He doesn't want to try and live on £30k a year though, does he, or pay his own electricity bill!

When you are that rich the one thing you can't buy is time but you can save a lot of it not sitting in traffic. Lot of my customers have helicopters, 5 mins commute from Chiswick to central London. Helipad is a common essential as is subterranean car park and swimming pool in London. Some people have country estate, coastal estate and London town house, helicopter makes more sense and it is more anonymous.
The royal family are no different than other mega rich people.

Other mega rich people arent telling me about how to save the environment while having a carbon footprint about 100 x that of an average person.

@smilesy - There is no need for such a big escort, the danger to others, all the outriders and massive disruption. I used to see Diana driving alone in London and I have seen Harry (before his marriage) driving alone in a plain car in London.

The Duchy of Cornwall belongs to the state - which is why it pays no tax.

Are you confusing the DoC with the Crown Estate? Which does technically belong to the Monarch, but the revenues of the Estate are placed at the disposal of the Government for the benefit of the nation. The Sovereign Grant is drawn from the profits of the CE.

The Duchy of Cornwall is an entirely private estate which provides income to the heir to the throne and family. The do voluntarily pay tax on their income.

The Duchy of Cornwall is an entirely private estate which provides income to the heir to the throne and family. The do voluntarily pay tax on their income.

No, it's not an entirely private estate.

If we became a Republic, they would not be running off into the sunset with the Duchies. They are state owned

Voluntary tax, yes, but not how much

In danger of stating the obvious - Diana nor Harry were the Monarch or the Heir and hence had no real State role.

I realise that but I was responding to a poster who said that William wouldn’t have to wait in )the not inconsiderable) traffic between Windsor and London because he would have outriders

If you're basing that viewpoint on the highly flawed (& at times laughably inaccurate) report by Republic I think you'd be in with a shock.

Both duchies are owned by the state, therefore they are not private estates. Charles and William run them, and take the profits from them for themselves.

The only reason their management wasn't taken back in 1760 is because at that time they were worthless.

So now that they are worth many millions, Charles and William can be paid a wage to continue to run them and the state can take the profits.

The State doesn't take the profits of either Duchy. It takes the profits of the Crown Estate

Some of us baulk at 'Good King (or Queen) Anyone' 😎

I’ve been in a helicopter once. Never again

Never been in one and never intend to.

I'm old enough to remember Mike Smith's chopper just dropping out of the sky and even now it seems to be a trend.

I think the salary might be a non starter though.

ETA beaten to it several times over 😁

Have been in a helicopter once - a half hour trip around Cape Town.

Loved it - the views were spectacular - but a bit too noisy and juddery for every day travel (and I get travel sick!).

a bit too noisy and juddery for every day travel (and I get travel sick!).

Don't quite a few of the I'm A Celeb contestants get a bit green in a whirlybird?

In a total derail I'm now wondering how many sick bags the royals fill 😝

William would still have wealth e.g. the money he inherited from his mum, just like Harry. I imagine properly invested with legitimate tax avoidance measures employed it would provide for the family.

Given the poor safety record of helicopters, I find it astonishing that it is a frequently used transport method of the heir to the throne

Aren't they a pretty safe method of travel?

Trouble with assessing helicopter safety is that there's a whole spectrum ops with different risks..

At one end you've got the lightweight legendary crashy types like the R22 beloved by flying schools and some newbies..at a similar level you have some of the millionaire "all the gear, no idea," new licence brigade...being.able to run a business or be a TV personality doesn't automatically equate to being a sensible safe aviator...

In the middle of the stats you have the single pilot air taxi brigade, can be good but when under pressure might buckle to the demands or perceived demands of their passenger (cf the Kobe Bryant accident..that wasn't the helicopter at fault there, it was the pilot that caused that one)..

At the safest end of the spectrum you've got the two pilot well regulated heli companies operated along the same lines as the scheduled airlines.they are pretty good safety wise though even then you get the occasional real nasty.

No. Quite the opposite. Because if/when they go wrong, they go really, really wrong.

i get fed up with any thread that might be not gushing about the POW gets derailed by awful posts about her not being I’ll.
it is tiresome.
she and her husband are human, sometimes they get it wrong. They are not private individuals. So people have a right to comment on it.

What happened in the KB accident?