A spokesman for the Transport and General Workers Union, said it was "extraordinary that the prime minister should not be flying in a British-built plane".
Um....Hello??? :roll: Unless he means Airbus.
I suppose the the old '10 is too noisy for most Airports these days, or why not just keep an RAF Tristar rigged up in VIP config?
This is what I was thinking. Really this should be an RAF job. Fair enough that the PM and the Royal Family should share it - we fund both of them are unique amongst many countries in having political and ceremonial heads of state. It says a 70 seat long haul plane and a 15 seat short haul plane... Well there are long haul biz jets with few seats and short haul RJs with about 70 seats. 32Sqn already has 146-100 and 125-700, that I would have though should cover the short haul requirements to start with. And if I were PM, I'd be quiet happy making a nice noisy entrance in a VC10. British built, beautiful and bags of "presence"
I assume, if this plan goes ahead, that they would get rid of the 146s with 32 sqn. But why bother? As it says, it's going to cost £2.7m more than it does now, so why not just get the bigger Jet and keep the 146s?
Better still, when the RAF buys its VC10-replacement Airbuses, just get one more, use that, and with the extra order, the MoD might get a better deal with Airbus. Everyone's a winner! (If Blair must have his hour of Presidency before he goes :roll: We won't get rid of him until then!)
britishtourer wrote:In the newspaper, an "Aviation expert" declared that the 146's were out of date and unsafe to use!!!
Well the lady in the Times claimed the old VC-10 took too long to climb to height and accelerate, and was too slow... She was a political correspondant though. Maybe the editor could have chosen someone with an inkling of what they were talking about to write the article..
The VC 10 is a nicer aircraft than what is going to replace it, be it boeing or airbus. I doubt they'd ever use a VC 10 though unfortunately.
I hope a couple of the 125's and 146's are preserved at the RAF museums when they get the new jets. I hope that when the faithful VC 10 is retired too they will be preserved.
