Panorama Tonight BBC1............

Stewart Pearson · Post by **Stewart Pearson** » 05 Jun 2007, 00:04

Well whether you're a Panorama fan or not (I'm not a usual viewer) the story that emerged (if true) is a bl**dy disgrace.

The guys (ground crew and air crew) are having to rob Peter to pay Paul, just to maintain 5-6 serviceable aircraft out of a fleet of 15. And Air Chief Marshal, Sir Glenn Torpy, thought that having 6 aircraft serviceable was indicative of how well they were addressing the problem!

Now I might be missing something, but I think it's more indicative of a lack of funding and spares coupled with a tired old airframe that only about 33% of the fleet are flyable.

The report of two further major fuel leaks (after air to air tanking) would appear to be significant, and whilst this does I am sure bring back terrible memories, 3 of the crew's partners took part in the programme revealing that their loved ones had been expressing concerns about the state of the fleet prior to last year.

Cheers

Stew

Post by **Trev Clark** » 05 Jun 2007, 06:50

Typical TV aviation journalism: "This is the new version [MRA4] undergoing flight test". Then show an airshow clip of XV248, a MR2!

That had me shouting at the TV screen

Globitz · Post by **Globitz** » 05 Jun 2007, 07:09

Tonks,

I recorded it to hard disk so I should be able to burn you a copy. I'll have a look at how well the recording turned out and let you know.

chockhead819 · Post by **chockhead819** » 05 Jun 2007, 12:52

If they want to do a proper expose, they want to realise that practically every Helo (junglies/lynx)that went down south in 82, are still in service & doing a damn sight more flying these days. One of these days the shit will hit the fan big time.

Sadly this isn't a new thing but sadly its getting worse, when we went on 3 month deployments one of the seakings went straight into the hanger to be robbed for spares, At Prestwick we had 6 seakings, many times we operated only one as the rest were U/S.

Post by **Trev Clark** » 05 Jun 2007, 18:50

If they want to do a proper expose, they want to realise that practically every Helo (junglies/lynx)that went down south in 82, are still in service & doing a damn sight more flying these days. One of these days the shit will hit the fan big time.

Totally agree, the Puma fleet had some additions in the 1980s, but apart from that, some airframes date from 1971, I even think our old 'hangar queen' XW222 (trembling twos) is still in service today. I had loose fillings for years after spending too much time on her, even the guys from Westlands could not cure the vibration! :think:

Nigel H-J · Post by **Nigel H-J** » 05 Jun 2007, 20:48

I had loose fillings for years after spending too much time on her, even the guys from Westlands could not cure the vibration!

And you are telling us that you still flew it Trev?? :shock:

Post by **Trev Clark** » 05 Jun 2007, 22:48

And you are telling us that you still flew it Trev??

I flew 'in her' to exact Nigel and like the guys of today, there was no other option. I often wonder if she still vibrates, last time I heard she was with 33 sqn, so perhaps it does not matter that much, anyway