[Enjoymms]

Any read 'Apache by Ed Marcy'? It's a good insight into the Afghan war.

The British version of the Apache (Apache AH Mk1) is the most technically advanced helicopter in the world and the hardest to fly. Selection for the 18 month course was more competitive than the Special Forces Selection. Of the Army Air Corps' 800 pilots, only 24 could make it in to the 6 Apache squadrons every year. The top 3% of all Army pilots.

It costs 3 million pounds to train an Apache pilot from scratch. Each custom made helmet costs 22,915 pounds alone.

It takes 6 month to learn to fly the machine, another 6 to know how to fight in it and another 6 to be passed out as combat ready. And that was if you were already a fully qualified combat trained army pilot.

Instructors for 12 years failed the course. Chief instructors for entire regiments failed. Blue Eagles display pilots failed.

A monocle sits over the pilots right eye feeding him a dozen different instument readings leaving the left free to look outside. New pilots got terrible headaches as the left and right eye competed for dominanace. The headaches would start even before lifting off the ground. The author took 2 years to get used to it and not suffer the headaches but if he was out of the seat for a few weeks then went flying under more stressful situations like formation, low level etc they would return.

A US study said only a very small percentage of the population could do everything required to operate the aircraft.
The author filmed himself flying once and his eyes were moving independently of one another. He tried to read two books at once and found he could!
Try doing all that for three hours under combat!