Prince William and His Work as a Helicopter Pilot


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The “wonderful” East Anglian public have been praised for allowing the Duke of Cambridge to carry out his vital work with the air ambulance unhindered.

Prince William joined the East Anglian Air Ambulance as a pilot last July.

With the inevitable limelight that usually follows him around, there was concern his work would attract unwanted attention but an air ambulance spokeswoman said how pleased they were that people appreciated the serious work he was doing and were letting him get on with the job.

“As a charity we’re delighted that the region has supported his work and allowed him to get on with the job – the very important job he’s chosen to do,” she said, speaking after the charity’s annual meeting on Saturday at Culford School, near Bury St Edmunds.

“The general public has been wonderful – just letting him get on and accepting he’s someone trying to do a job like anyone else.”

The Duke is part of a team of 12 pilots – eight based in Cambridge and four in Norwich – who fly above the region responding to an average of five calls a day.

“We all feel he’s very much part of the team,” she added.
Click to expand...
Read more: ‘Wonderful’ East Anglian public thanked for letting Prince William get on with his work as ambulance pilot - Health - Eastern Daily Press
 
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I do believe that there are restrictions that are applied to off duty times but what they do with their off time is their own business.

One rule that always made sense to me, from experience, is that no alcohol is allowed for 12/24 hours leading up to a shift which is a just plain sensible and like many other occupations, there is a limit to how many hours one can work without a rest period.

As many may see William's job as being "fun" or "cushy", the stark realization is that it is a very stressful job and can make the difference between life and death.

If anyone does choose to believe that these rules and regulations keep William from doing royal duties though, I am selling teeny weeny little fairy homes that you can't do without if you buy a fairy from royal rob.
 
I'm not understanding all this noise over William's job. I think the man is focusing on work hours, so he can carry out his busy royal duties that's coming up. The royal tours are coming, and The Queen's birthday celebrations are around the corner. The Cambridge's have a very busy year ahead.
 
William, 33, works about 80 hours a month for his shift with the East Anglian Air Ambulance, which is about two-thirds the amount of hours his fellow pilots that work full time put in, PEOPLE has confirmed.

The charity he flies his helicopters for gave William its support, saying he was a "respected and integral team member." (William donates his salary to charity.)

"Like all our pilots who fly on behalf of EAAA, the Duke of Cambridge is a highly experienced and skilled professional," a spokeswoman says.

"Our pilots work in collaboration with the clinical crew by landing as close to the scene as possible and by expediting a fast and efficient onward journey where necessary by airlifting patients to the most appropriate hospital.

"Each member of our four person crew takes a full and active role in the work of the charity. The Duke of Cambridge is an active, respected and integral team member."
Click to expand...
Read more: Prince William's Bosses Defend His 20-Hour Work Week : People.com
 
I really don't believe the unnamed sources that claim William is never at work. The people who work with him know that he doesn't need to be there if he didn't want to be there. He is not working because he needs money unlike most of us who need to work to pay for stuff. The free publicity from him working at EAAA is worth a lot of attention and donations.

The RAF SARS guys spoke glowingly of William. He has done this type of work before so why would he get bored with it as the articles claim.

The lives of people he has already saved and will save on future missions is a greater legacy than anything he will do as a Royal.


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community
 
There are too many unnamed sources/third party in the whole Telegraph article for me to take it seriously.
 
It's funny how anytime a newspaper wants to push a certain angle 'unnamed sources' just happen to come out of the woodwork.

Charles will slim down the monarchy and discard his siblings with 100s of charities left in the cold, so say Palmer's unnamed sources.

William doesn't work at his job, so say the Sun's unnamed sources.

Harry is a love sick puppy and wants to get married right away, so say the unnamed sources of any number of papers.

I make my judgements by what's in the public record and clearly William works and is a valuable member of the team
 
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It is unfair to criticise his role with the air ambulance as he is working for a good cause and using his specialist skills he has spent so long acquiring.

My only argument is that he has had 15 years as an adult, yet is still not a full time royal. I am personally against a large working royal family, but it should most definitely include the Cambridges, rather than the more distant royals.
 
Now we are getting some concrete facts about William and his work hours instead of those silly rags and all their unnamed sources;

1) he works about 20 hours a week

2) he gets four days off at a stretch, during which he can do anything he wants except fly a plane.

3) he has performed three royal duties this year
 
Yes, GracieGiraffe, let's look at facts, and expose the unfair hatchet job of EA.

1.When you compare Charles and William in the year they welcomed their 2nd child. William did 122 engagements in 2015, Charles did 93 in 1984.

William had a second job during this time. Did Charles?

William was a ‘part-time’, 2nd in line royal. Charles was a ‘full-time’ PoW.

William turned 33 that year. Charles turned 36 that year. hmmm.

2. Prince Frederik of Denmark only did 87 engagements last year and he’s the Crown Prince. Full-time Prince Daniel of Sweden only did around 125. Neither of these two men have outside jobs to my knowledge, and neither had a newborn last year or a one-going-on-two year old. hmmm
 
GracieGiraffe said:
Now we are getting some concrete facts about William and his work hours instead of those silly rags and all their unnamed sources;

1) he works about 20 hours a week

2) he gets four days off at a stretch, during which he can do anything he wants except fly a plane.

3) he has performed three royal duties this year
Click to expand...

He works an average of 20 hours a week. He won't be working any hours during their trip to india (1-2 weeks) therefore he has to make that up elsewhere, meaning some weeks he'll be working 30 hours a week.

The "average" has been conveniently and quietly dropped from the discussion by the press in order to make him look worse.

Also lost, by those who want to compare his workload to a person driving a desk for 40+ hours a week, is that it isn't driving a desk.

There are 8 pilots on the Cambridge EAAA base, and 20 hours of shift time a day (2 10 hour shifts), ~30 days a month. That's 600 hours, minimum, shift time; if all pilots were working the same amount, that would be 75 hours of shift time each per month. We know that some flights have two pilots, but "most" do not. So let's assume 1/3 of the shifts are covered by 2 pilots; that's 800 hours of available work. Divided by 8 pilots, that's 100 hours a month.

Complicating it slightly is that they have both full and part-time pilots. The full-time pilots work 30-32.5 hours a week according to the Telegraph.

No-one is working 40 hours a week at that job.

Is he working fewer hours than his full-time counterparts? Yes. But so are the other part-time pilots.
 
miss whirley said:
Yes, GracieGiraffe, let's look at facts, and expose the unfair hatchet job of EA.

1.When you compare Charles and William in the year they welcomed their 2nd child. William did 122 engagements in 2015, Charles did 93 in 1984.

William had a second job during this time. Did Charles?

William was a ‘part-time’, 2nd in line royal. Charles was a ‘full-time’ PoW.

William turned 33 that year. Charles turned 36 that year. hmmm.

2. Prince Frederik of Denmark only did 87 engagements last year and he’s the Crown Prince. Full-time Prince Daniel of Sweden only did around 125. Neither of these two men have outside jobs to my knowledge, and neither had a newborn last year or a one-going-on-two year old. hmmm
Click to expand...

I am stating facts. You are making comparisons that are in many ways apples and oranges.. different countries, different era, changing perceptions in the role of royalty. If the people of Denmark or Sweden are happy with the amount Fred and Daniel are doing, let them say so, or let their press call them out. If they do say 5 engagements every 10 years for a half hour at a time does this mean the British can't call out one of their royals?

I don't know how many engagements Charles did, or what the public thought of his role at the time. I was always under the impression that he was immersed in the Prince's Trust at this time. I don't think people suddenly in late middle or old age go from being half-idle to suddenly working on all cylinders. In any event, in the 1980's the public was far more obsequious towards the royals than they are now. They accepted his behavior, more or less, whatever it was. Why that means the public 30 years later should accept the same from William is beyond me. Perhaps they do expect more from Will than they ever did from Charles, but it's not like they're asking for some 50 hour work week doing some stressful, tedious job.

In any event, I don't see why a man fast approaching middle age shouldn't be putting in about 40 hours a week. The pattern is clear with William; over the past 10 years we have seen a consistent shirking of his royal role and royal duties in favor of doing a "regular job". These regular jobs, air ambulance pilot, search and rescue, are all very admirable at first blush until you realize someone else who could use that salary could do the job and work the 120-130 hours per month the other crew members do, thereby carrying the same burden as the others on the crew. This someone else can't promote charities and causes in the UK the way William could.
 
hel said:
He works an average of 20 hours a week. He won't be working any hours during their trip to india (1-2 weeks) therefore he has to make that up elsewhere, meaning some weeks he'll be working 30 hours a week.

The "average" has been conveniently and quietly dropped from the discussion by the press in order to make him look worse.

Also lost, by those who want to compare his workload to a person driving a desk for 40+ hours a week, is that it isn't driving a desk.

There are 8 pilots on the Cambridge EAAA base, and 20 hours of shift time a day (2 10 hour shifts), ~30 days a month. That's 600 hours, minimum, shift time; if all pilots were working the same amount, that would be 75 hours of shift time each per month. We know that some flights have two pilots, but "most" do not. So let's assume 1/3 of the shifts are covered by 2 pilots; that's 800 hours of available work. Divided by 8 pilots, that's 100 hours a month.

Complicating it slightly is that they have both full and part-time pilots. The full-time pilots work 30-32.5 hours a week according to the Telegraph.

No-one is working 40 hours a week at that job.

Is he working fewer hours than his full-time counterparts? Yes. But so are the other part-time pilots.
Click to expand...

Thank you for putting this into perspective.:)
 
hel said:
He works an average of 20 hours a week. He won't be working any hours during their trip to india (1-2 weeks) therefore he has to make that up elsewhere, meaning some weeks he'll be working 30 hours a week.

The "average" has been conveniently and quietly dropped from the discussion by the press in order to make him look worse.

Also lost, by those who want to compare his workload to a person driving a desk for 40+ hours a week, is that it isn't driving a desk.

There are 8 pilots on the Cambridge EAAA base, and 20 hours of shift time a day (2 10 hour shifts), ~30 days a month. That's 600 hours, minimum, shift time; if all pilots were working the same amount, that would be 75 hours of shift time each per month. We know that some flights have two pilots, but "most" do not. So let's assume 1/3 of the shifts are covered by 2 pilots; that's 800 hours of available work. Divided by 8 pilots, that's 100 hours a month.

Complicating it slightly is that they have both full and part-time pilots. The full-time pilots work 30-32.5 hours a week according to the Telegraph.

No-one is working 40 hours a week at that job.

Is he working fewer hours than his full-time counterparts? Yes. But so are the other part-time pilots.
Click to expand...

Hel, I really love your posts. You always use so much common sense and critical thinking.
 
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Yes, but according to EA's sources William is relying on others to fill in for him.

In 1984, following Harry's birth, Diana asked Charles to cut down on his Royal engagements in order to spend more time with his little sons. Charles complied. He did grow closer to his boys but the tabloids noted that he was performing fewer engagements.

Charles had fifteen engagements in one three month period in contrast to his sister, Anne's fifty six. The Express noted that 'Anne's peak of production 'has coincided with her brother's sizeable withdrawal from the Royal round because of his desire to spend as much time as possible with his children'.

So Charles's lesser number then was due to his wife's wishes. There's been no such explanation coming from KP about William's low numbers.
 
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GracieGiraffe said:
In any event, I don't see why a man fast approaching middle age shouldn't be putting in about 40 hours a week. The pattern is clear with William; over the past 10 years we have seen a consistent shirking of his royal role and royal duties in favor of doing a "regular job". These regular jobs, air ambulance pilot, search and rescue, are all very admirable at first blush until you realize someone else who could use that salary could do the job and work the 120-130 hours per month the other crew members do, thereby carrying the same burden as the others on the crew. This someone else can't promote charities and causes in the UK the way William could.
Click to expand...

People in the UK take a very different view. William having a job is very popular with the public

24th - 25th April 2015 , YouGov polling asked the following question -

Last year Prince William began training for a new job as an air ambulance pilot. Do you think he should continue working as a pilot, or should he concentrate full time upon his Royal duties?

He should concentrate full time upon his Royal duties? 10% agreed.

He should combine his Royal duties with his job as a pilot? 76% agreed.

Don't know? 14%.

So I think it's pretty clear the British public is more than satisfied with William's role in the BRF

Don't mistake tabloid gossip for public opinion
 
And don't take 1 poll that a lot of people wouldn't bother taking, as a sign it is 'popular' either. The articles may be rubbish or not, but the comment sections are from the public. And while you will find support you will also find a lot of people pointing out 'finding a new job? I thought his job was prince'. I'd say a lot more than 10% of people aren't happy.

Now if he was actually working, and by that I mean paying his own way in the world, people might not mind so much that he doesn't seem to want to work as a prince. Just like his flying job, even if a part time prince, people expect him to work for his money. Royal money means royal jobs. Now if he wants to donate his royal allowance to charity like he does with his flying money, I am sure people would butt out.
 
Countessmeout said:
And don't take 1 poll that a lot of people wouldn't bother taking, as a sign it is 'popular' either. The articles may be rubbish or not, but the comment sections are from the public. And while you will find support you will also find a lot of people pointing out 'finding a new job? I thought his job was prince'. I'd say a lot more than 10% of people aren't happy.

Now if he was actually working, and by that I mean paying his own way in the world, people might not mind so much that he doesn't seem to want to work as a prince. Just like his flying job, even if a part time prince, people expect him to work for his money. Royal money means royal jobs. Now if he wants to donate his royal allowance to charity like he does with his flying money, I am sure people would butt out.
Click to expand...

You're stating an opinion, that's fine. But the public was asked about William's job and those were the answers

The BIG difference between polls and random tabloids comments from around the world is, YouGov asks only British citizens and the polls take out any bias.

It's not an exact science but pretty close. YouGov has been polling about the royal family for years and is far more reliable than an online tabloid's comment section
 
Curryong said:
Yes, but according to EA's sources William is relying on others to fill in for him.

In 1984, following Harry's birth, Diana asked Charles to cut down on his Royal engagements in order to spend more time with his little sons. Charles complied. He did grow closer to his boys but the tabloids noted that he was performing fewer engagements.

Charles had fifteen engagements in one three month period in contrast to his sister, Anne's fifty six. The Express noted that 'Anne's peak of production 'has coincided with her brother's sizeable withdrawal from the Royal round because of his desire to spend as much time as possible with his children'.

So Charles's lesser number was due to his wife's wishes. There's been no such explanation coming from KP about William's low numbers.
Click to expand...

AFAIK Charles and Anne were both full time royals during that time period. William (along with Kate/Harry) have yet to become full time. If any of current part-timers became full time and then had a reduction I could understand why there would be questions.
 
miss whirley said:
Yes, GracieGiraffe, let's look at facts, and expose the unfair hatchet job of EA.

1.When you compare Charles and William in the year they welcomed their 2nd child. William did 122 engagements in 2015, Charles did 93 in 1984.

William had a second job during this time. Did Charles?

William was a ‘part-time’, 2nd in line royal. Charles was a ‘full-time’ PoW.

William turned 33 that year. Charles turned 36 that year. hmmm.
Click to expand...

Where are you getting this very inaccurate information?

This is from the London Times, O'Donovan's account for 1984.

Official visit, openings ceremonies, and other appearances 125.
Receptions, lunches, dinners and banquets 38.
Meetings including the Privy Council 17.
Audiences given 24.
Number of days spent traveling abroad on official tours 36.
Official tours abroad 112.
316 Total

 
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Queen Camilla said:
Where are you getting this very inaccurate information?

This is from the London Times, O'Donovan's account for 1984.

Official visit, openings ceremonies, and other appearances 125.
Receptions, lunches, dinners and banquets 38.
Meetings including the Privy Council 17.
Audiences given 24.
Number of days spent traveling abroad on official tours 36.
Official tours abroad 112.
316 Total
Click to expand...
I got it from this 1985 article from People magazine.

A Windsor War : People.com

"Yet the 23-year-old princess is a gadfly compared to Anne, the hardest working of all the Windsor children. She represented the Crown at 201 events last year, compared to 93 for Charles and 51 for Diana. One Palace insider was quoted as saying: "Anne works very hard and sees her sister-in-law picking up the glory. She's sick to the back teeth with it all."

If People lied about their numbers, then this is more proof that we shouldn't believe any of the information given to us from the media.
 
But you were quoting from it, were you not? Mr O' Donovan has been collating Royal engagements annually for years.
 
:previous: I'm beginning to think Will's spin doctors are continually scrambling to make it look like he's working.

Palace: Oh he must rest for four straight days and not do an ounce of work between shifts

CAA: Um, no, he can do royal duties. We've no problem with that at all.

Palace: Oh.

scurrying about

Palace: He works an average of 80 hours a month

Note: What does this mean? Well maybe it means he's working 160 hours so he can have a month off at Christmas or go to India. Oh, yes, of course!

Unnamed Source (Too afraid to give real name or magical talking dog):
“In the past we haven’t seen him for weeks at a time.

“It’s not as exciting as the RAF. There he’d run off and rescue people from the sea. Here he ferries people to hospital and sits outside for an hour. He looks bored out of his skull.

He’s not overly liked and people are nervous of him. He’s hardly ever here. We didn’t see him for the whole of December.”

Said Newspaper That Quoted Directly From The Magical Talking Dog:
But in nearly two months Wills, 33, has worked just over 100 hours at an average of about a day-and-a-half a week (14.5 hours a week).'

****

So now The Sun, of all papers, is forcing the Palace and the Air Ambulance Corps to respond to a magical talking dog (for heaven's sake!) and his figures pulled out of its spot by its tail. Let's all see what they do. Why ever would the Palace ever bother to respond to this when the grateful public who support Will and all he does, which poll after poll indicates?
 
Well both EAAA and Bond must comply to strict government guidelines and EAAA has already stated on the record William is a full and integral part of the team.

So it's either the word of the Sun's magical dog or a very highly respected air ambulance service.

For people who already don't like William it won't matter but I don't see anyone getting too worked up over the Sun. At least I'm not
 
Rudolph said:
Well both EAAA and Bond must comply to strict government guidelines and EAAA has already stated on the record William is a full and integral part of the team.

So it's either the word of the Sun's magical dog or a very highly respected air ambulance service.

For people who already don't like William it won't matter but I don't see anyone getting too worked up over the Sun. At least I'm not
Click to expand...

the EAAA might have felt some pressure to make the statement they did. Now the question is will they say something about those 100 hours in the first 50 days of the year? They'd better find that magical talking dog and send him to the pound.
 
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miss whirley said:
I got it from this 1985 article from People magazine.

A Windsor War : People.com

"Yet the 23-year-old princess is a gadfly compared to Anne, the hardest working of all the Windsor children. She represented the Crown at 201 events last year, compared to 93 for Charles and 51 for Diana. One Palace insider was quoted as saying: "Anne works very hard and sees her sister-in-law picking up the glory. She's sick to the back teeth with it all."

If People lied about their numbers, then this is more proof that we shouldn't believe any of the information given to us from the media.
Click to expand...

A tabloid that printed misinformation? Say it ain't so!!!;) Now as for Mr. O'Donovan, I'd trust his information.
 
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