From The United Kingdoms
                RAF pilots bale out to join the airlines
     THE Royal Air Force is heading for an unprecedented shortage of
 pilots as ebbing morale coincides with a boom in job vacancies with
 commercial airlines.
     The Telegraph has been told that Air Chief Marshal Sir John
 Allison, Commander-in-Chief, Strike Command, held an emergency meet-
 ing at his headquarters in High Wycombe on May 18 to ask pilots what
 could be done to improve morale and persuade more to see out their
 full contracts.
     Up to a quarter of RAF pilots are believed to be applying to
 leave the service using a new voluntary redundancy scheme, or at
 least considering leaving. Morale is believed to be at an all-time
 low because of uncertainty about the replacement of ageing Tornados
 and Jaguars, fears that the RAF will face even more cuts in person-
 nel and status from the imminent strategic defence review and an
 increase in the number of lengthy stints that have to be served on
 distant peace-keeping stations.
     A demographic timebomb in the commercial sector, with hundreds
 of pilots approaching retirement at the same time over the next two
 to three years, means that disaffected RAF aircrew will have well-
 paid jobs to go to, a situation that did not exist at the time of
 the last dispiriting round of cuts. One pilot said: "I will lose a
 huge chunk of my RAF pension entitlement, but the upside is that I
 will make all that money back and more with a commercial airline.
 I know a lot of people who are on the same route."
     Many pilots have aired their grievances in newsgroups. One serv-
 ing pilot wrote on an electronic bulletin board devoted to flying
 gossip: "There comes a time when the cons outweigh the pros. Seven
 months in the desert in a 12-month stretch has broken the back for
 me." When a commercial pilot who once served in the RAF answered
 this complaint by saying that RAF pilots did not realise how lucky
 they were, another serving officer immediately said: "If the present
 state of the RAF is so good, why are so many people jumping ship?"
     Imminent EU regulations that would prevent military pilots using
 their logged hours of airtime towards their commercial licences have
 motivated some aircrew to act now to safeguard their chances of a new
 career. An RAF spokesman said: "It is an issue also affecting other
 countries". The biggest outflow of aircrew is in the middle ranks,
 the experienced flight-lieutenants and squadron leaders, particularly
 those who are within three years of the age of 38, when any can leave
 freely regardless of contract.
     One pilot who was at the meeting with Sir John said that he was
 told money was not the answer. He said: "To say that there were a few
 contentious points would be putting it mildly, but the big cheese was
 left in no doubt as to what the boys feel is awry. The C-in-C was
 left with the message that most of the aircrew didn't actually want
 to leave, but feel they are being forced out by a multitude of facts
 that could have been avoided if previous regimes had had the backbone
 to stand up to the tree-hugging blotter-jotters of the MoD and the
 Treasury," .
     RAF aircrew complain bitterly that unlike their Cold War duties,
 which involved stations in Germany where their families lived with
 them and their hours were predictable, they are now more likely than
 not to be on peacekeeping duty. The service has fast jets in Turkey,
 Saudi Arabia and Kuwait keeping watch on Saddam Hussein, and others
 on constant duty over the skies of Bosnia and the Falkland Islands.
     There are now only two bases in Germany: there were five in
 1990. Laarbruch will close next year and Bruggen by 2001. So pilots,
 navigators and their support staff spend long periods away from home.
 They also claim that there is even greater uncertainty about their
 future. Labour's strategic defence review will not increase the
 amount of money that the RAF has to spend. Frontline forces are like-
 ly to be cut back in favour of support units of new American C-17
 transporters able to carry tanks for the Joint Rapid Deployment
 Force to which the Ministry of Defence is strategically committed.
     The RAF spokesman said: "We know we have a problem with the
 supply of pilots and we are hopeful that we can find a way of deal-
 ing with it." Ironically, one experiment with reservists that the
 MoD has begun may exacerbate the problem. Since last August, two
 Tornado crews have been acting as part-time fast-jet pilots, taking
 time off from their jobs as commercial pilots and crew for
 commercial airlines.
     But this could encourage even more pilots to leave, as it is the
 thrill of flying upside-down at twice the speed of sound that per-
 suades many to stay in the service. Other concerns centre on equip-
 ment. One pilot said: "The Hawk trainer is knackered. There's no
 money to replace it, but people are beginning to worry about sitting
 in a plane like that for hour after hour training the bods who are
 going to come after us."
     On the Internet site, another serving RAF officer who is due to
 leave in the next 18 months said that he blamed the civil servants
 who were so keen to contract-out services like the maintenance of
 fast-jets. He said: "There are people mending airplanes in that
 famous military organisation who I wouldn't let near my dishwasher".
 An RAF spokesman said: "We know there is this problem and we are
 taking steps to counter it."
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            BA staff count cost of cabin crew strike
     BRITISH Airways's 62,000 staff yesterday paid the price for last
 year's cabin crew strike with a sharply reduced profit-sharing payout.
     Staff will share Pounds 16m, equivalent to just half a week's pay,
 compared with Pounds 94m or three weeks' pay last year because BA
 failed to hit profit targets. The dispute knocked Pounds 125m off BA
 profits but cost savings and efficiency improvements made up some of
 the lost ground and full-year figures were only 9pc down at Pounds
 580m. BA needed to make profits of Pounds 624m to pay staff a week's
 bonus.
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