Who's Office might this be?

[DaveB]

Good luck with that Rob At least you won't have to fly in anything as vile as the MD902 Greater Manchester Police livery To be honest.. the real thing doesn't look that bad.. it's the FSX paint that's vile. I dunno what the author used as a reference but it's SO the wrong colour, I refuse to fly it. Perhaps a project for the future Won't be any more difficult than this little tinker..


ATB
DaveB

[Vancouver]

I've today completed and submitted my application to join the National Police Air Service as an observer so who knows, I might be in G-NMID for real soon!

Was my first day back at work after 3 weeks off, I glance on the intranet and see it was advertised whilst I was away and is due in... Tomorrow!

Queue mad panic!!!

Good luck with that then, I would imagine the applications far outweigh the spaces. I used to have a colleague who applied for the Met unit at Lippetts Hill, he was one od several hundred applicants for one observer position, and he was a qualified helicopter pilot. Needless to say he didn't even make the paper sift, the less said about who actually did get it the better.
I wonder are the Met still going solo or have they joined the NPAS? I've been out a while. When I was there they had Bells now I see they have gone down the Eurocopter route and changed the livery,
http://content.met.police.uk/Site/airsupportunit

[DaveB]

The 145 is a pretty cool helicopter mate and has a lot more capacity than the old Bell. You're going back to the days of Bodie and Doyle there!

If you want a shuftie at what everyone is using.. try here: http://www.ukemergencyaviation.co.uk/index.php
It's a smashing site and without it, none of my Police helicopter paints would have been done

ATB
DaveB

[thehappyotter]

Cheers guys. I'm not holding my breath, it was so rushed. Everyone else would have had a fortnight to prepare their application, I had less than a day.

I think everyone's joined NPAS too Vancouver, although I'm not 100% so I may be wrong.

[Vancouver]

The 145 is a pretty cool helicopter mate and has a lot more capacity than the old Bell. You're going back to the days of Bodie and Doyle there!

If you want a shuftie at what everyone is using.. try here: http://www.ukemergencyaviation.co.uk/index.php
It's a smashing site and without it, none of my Police helicopter paints would have been done

ATB
DaveB

Oh I can go back even further to No Hiding Place and Maigret lol
Thanks for that excellent link.

[PaulC]

I think the Met are going to be the last ones to join NPAS but I'm still on paternity leave so can't verify that, I'm relying on memory.

[thehappyotter]

If you're anything like my mate who's just got back from paternity I bet you can't wait to start work and get some rest!

Still no reply. They say no news is good news and all that...

[tonymadge]

Yes the Met will be probably the last to join, NPAS are recruiting 30 observers to cover shortfalls etc, it is the first recruiting they have done, at West Mudlands we did a recruitment for 2 one to replace me and another guy leaving in the summer. We did our own which is a paper sift, RAF Cranwell tests which were designed for air ops, very good people their. then written exam followed by two flight tests, once thats all done a board interview.
NPAS were keen on Cranwell as it was not expensive, however from what I have gleamed they are doing their own two day assessment instead. To be honest the Cranwell method was tried and tested and proved its worth as it pin pointed weaknesses and strengths, it showed who would be suitable for training in the role. But the bean counters at NPAS have taken control and it will be devised by empire builders I fear.
I know the west Mudlands are due to join in October along with the other members of CRASU (central region air support) East mids, Notts, Central Counties and west muds.
I hope NPAS goes well as it in theory is a step in the right direction, at CRASU we operated borderless air support and it on the whole worked reasonably well.
I think that after a couple of years things will be ironed out and it could be very good, the ominous warning signs are there though with this Govt, they have already reduced the number of aircraft and bases, I fear that to save costs they will do more of this. Biggest problem for the larger forces like the west muds and the Met are that at present they have instant response 24/7 in the future there will be only 4 24 hour units to cover the country so the big cities could get less service at certain times....
But in spite of that if I was starting over again I would jump at the chance of joining NPAS as its a great job, no its the BEST job
So good luck and give it your best shot.

[DaveB]

Tony..

Did you ever have anything to do with this one..


As per.. the model isn't the correct verion. WMPA was an AS355F1(later, F2) and the Nemeth Police model is an AS350. Oddly, their AS355 doesn't have a Police version So.. just about everything with it is out of kilter.. exhaust, rear upper fuse aft of the exhaust, skid steps, rear rotor guard and of course.. PapaAlpha didn't have a hoist. Otherwise.. it's close Not quite finished it yet. Needs a couple of exit signs and an AS355 title on the fin I did it because it was there really and there's only one published paint for it.. Cambs Police

This is yet another version of Police helicopter blue too. It works ok on the EC135 (see Surrey Police on the Nemeth thread). Not so sure about the AS350. It's just one of those colours that FSX doesn't light/like!

ATB
DaveB

[tonymadge]

Yes I worked on WMPA at the start, it was in this colour scheme and never had the high vis colours until it was sold to PAS part ex for the 902
Fond memories of that cab.