Britain's Prince William leaves rescue pilot job for royal duties

Writing in the local 'Eastern Daily Press' newspaper, the second in line to UK's throne paid tribute to his colleagues. "As I hang up my flight suit, I am proud to have served with such an incredible team of people, who save lives across the region every day," he wrote.

"Over the past two years I have met people from across the region who were in the most desperate of circumstances. As part of the team, I have been invited into people's homes to share moments of extreme emotion, from relief that we have given someone a fighting chance, to profound grief," Williams described his experiences as an air ambulance pilot.

"I have watched as incredibly skilled doctors and paramedics have s aved people's lives. These experiences have instilled in me a profound respect for the men and women who serve in our emergency services, which I hope to continue to champion even as I leave the profession," he wrote.

He also goes on to describe in detail a couple of incidents he responded to. "As a team, we travel to some very daunting incidents and we have been through some incredibly tough times together, witnessing some appalling tragedies," he writes.

"One of the first call outs I made was to a young man who had committed suicide; it was an incredibly tough day and had a profound effect on all of us, not least in my determination now to draw attention to this issue," he said.

William joined EAAA in March 2015 and after completing his final training flew his first operational missions in July 2015. Since then he's been based out of Cambridge Airport, responding to emergency call outs across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

While on duty he worked as part of a close-knit team of four, on a nine-and-a-half hour shift, attending the worst medical emergencies of the 2,000-plus calls per day the service receives. AGENCIES