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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 9, 2007 14:47:29 GMT 12
Christ, when you look at it all that way, it's eve worse than I ever thought. Just outragious to turn down such a deal. I do not blame the US at all for being angry.
I wonder how the Phillines reacted when Clark squashed the deal. And the former owners of the F-16's,the Pakistanis for that matter. It must have tread on everyone's toes.
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Post by xr6turbo1 on Feb 9, 2007 18:00:52 GMT 12
F-18s have been mentioned but our government was only going to do a deal of the century and thay had one and blew it. I would have rather had F16s as 18s would have been way outside anything our government would buy. I still cant believe all of out A4s are still parked a couple of kms from my house wasting away. Heres a shot taken a few months ago to cheer you all up, and now I find out the government wants to charge me a mortgage tax on my properties sorry off topic
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Post by beagle on Feb 9, 2007 18:28:35 GMT 12
Were they outside for engine runs or similar. which hangar are they stored in, the old 104Flt hangar.
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Post by xr6turbo1 on Feb 9, 2007 18:50:14 GMT 12
no engine runs Im afraid, the hangar roof was being repaired They are in one of the main ARS hangars
Not sure how long ago the engines were run.
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Post by FlyNavy on Feb 9, 2007 19:21:14 GMT 12
If only one former A-4G (TA-4G) makes it back to Nowra for the museum it would be 880 (NZ6255) as shown. It would demonstrate the change to Kahu configuration and be an example trainer also to partner the (fake) A-4G there now.
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Post by beagle on Feb 9, 2007 20:18:16 GMT 12
You mean there are more ARS hangars now. I used to work in ARS and the next hangar along was the ERS Hangar, but with no J52's or other engines to reburbish, I supposse w ehave lost all that machinery and expertise and that is where the skyhawks are now, am i right
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Post by xr6turbo1 on Feb 10, 2007 20:20:57 GMT 12
You mean there are more ARS hangars now. I used to work in ARS and the next hangar along was the ERS Hangar, but with no J52's or other engines to reburbish, I supposse w ehave lost all that machinery and expertise and that is where the skyhawks are now, am i right Not sure on that, havent had much to do with Woodbourne for a few years but I think they are in half of that hangar. Doesnt seem to be many people based at Woodbourne now. The Seasprite did a practice for the Wigram show on Thursday and there wernt many people watching, a few years back there would have been quite a lot of people as I remember seeing lots of people standing in front of the hangars when displays were on.
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Post by kiwi on Feb 10, 2007 22:13:27 GMT 12
I do not think "55"will be allowed to fly again I believe it was cobbled back together in order to get it down to Woody.
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Post by mumbles on Feb 10, 2007 23:30:03 GMT 12
Noticed the rudder on 55 is still in the Euro 1 scheme
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Post by skyhawkdon on Feb 12, 2007 6:55:00 GMT 12
I do not think "55"will be allowed to fly again I believe it was cobbled back together in order to get it down to Woody. No - 55 was a demonstrator T-bird at Ohakea up until about 2003 - it only went into storage atWoodbourne because it needed a check servcing and had run out of hours. 52 was the same, although it was given several special extensions to allow it to complete demonstration flying for prospective buyers right up until early 2004. All of the Skyhawks will now need a full Group Servicing to get them flying again.
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 12, 2007 18:26:32 GMT 12
For us non-maintanence types, are any of you ex-RNZAF guys able to easily explain in laymans terms the different types of servicings that have to take place to keep aircraft like the Skyhawks active?
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Post by skyhawkdon on Feb 13, 2007 11:59:54 GMT 12
For us non-maintenance types, are any of you ex-RNZAF guys able to easily explain in laymans terms the different types of servicings that have to take place to keep aircraft like the Skyhawks active? Here goes... the USN had a good NAVAIR on what was required to put an A-4 into storage and what would be required to re-activate it. Basically there are 3 levels of storage - short, medium and long term. In 2001 we used this NAVAIR as the basis for determining what needed to be done to put our A-4's into short term storage until they were sold. We only went for a short term maintenance regime because the aircraft were supposed to be going to ATSI within 6 months! The amount of work required to put an aircraft into long term storage verses short term wasn't a whole lot more, but some of the things required for long term storage are of critical importance when it comes time to reactive - inhibiting the engine and fuel systems being two. The aircraft have now been sitting there for over 5 years and from what I hear are not in great condition, despite being stored indoors. All will require a full Group Servicing to bring back up to airworthy status, plus a lot of rectification work to fix the many faults that will have developed, particularly in the Avionics systems. All of the lifed components (ejections seat carts, parachutes, life rafts, survival kits etc.) will now be time ex and mandatory replacements. New parts will have to be ordered from overseas and lead times are usually 12 to 18 months (if you can still get them). If they want the full Kahu kit to be working then they will have to set up the Avionics and Armament repair workshops again and get all the test equipment calibrated and working (not an easy task given that we were the only uses in the world of most of the Kahu kit). To get all 17 aircraft back to full airworthy status will take at least 2 years and cost at least $1M per airframe (probably more) I reckon. When in RNZAF service the maintenance regime was based on a three tier system. OLM (pre flight, daily, weekly and 56 day servicings) was done on 2 & 75 Sqn's. ILM (Check 1 & 2 servicings) was done by AMS, and DLM (Group Servicing) was done at 1RD. The Check/Group cycle was based on a 300 airframe hour cycle (as was the engine overhauls to keep it aligned with the airframe and avoid unnecessary engine changes on Sqn). A Group Servicing was required on each aircraft every 5 years or 1200 flying hours, whichever occurred first. All this required a significant infrastructure, expertise and money to keep running - none of which exists any more...
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 13, 2007 14:22:57 GMT 12
Thanks for that, Don: it all makes a bit more sense now.
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 14, 2007 14:25:33 GMT 12
If only! RNZAF Media Release 7/29 - Ohakea Air Force Base 01/04/2004.An F-16K fighter-bomber flown by Sqdn Ldr Phil Barnes of 75SQN approaches a KC-767 tanker of 41SQN during a training sortie over the Central Plateau last week. The F-16 and KC-767 have added a whole new dimension to RNZAF operations since they were introduced into service in early 2002 after the collapse of the Clark Govt following allegations of corruption and vote rigging. Project Kahu II update team spokeman, Flt Lt Don Simms says "the pilots and ground crews are extremely happy with the F-16's performance in service, and with the current avionics and weapons update due to be completed within the next few months we are expecting even more from these exceptional aircraft. There were some intial intergration issues with the NZ-designed Taiaha air-ground missile system, but these have now been fully resolved and the missile is fully operational across the fleet of 30 aircraft" Prime Minister Peters Lockwood Smith recently signed an agreement with the US Dept. of Defence to purchase another two KC-767s to bring the total number in RNZAF service to four.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 14, 2007 14:51:11 GMT 12
That was almost convincing till you said "Prime Minister Peters".
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Post by beagle on Feb 14, 2007 15:01:42 GMT 12
Just watch out for those 'clapped out skyhawks" that Taito Fields bought and are being used by Fiji's defence force. They are hopping mad after a certain Helen Clark was made their new Prime Minister through a new United Nations motion accepted by their leader, a Mr James Bulger.
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 14, 2007 15:48:09 GMT 12
I couldn't think of any other current NZ politicians! ;D
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Post by kiwi on Feb 15, 2007 7:15:34 GMT 12
Well thats no surprize , they are particularly forgetable bunch .
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 15, 2007 13:44:01 GMT 12
At least you didn't say "Prime Minister Tanchos" or worse, Sharples
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Post by planeimages on Feb 15, 2007 15:31:16 GMT 12
Why not get John Howard to look after things for you?
I am now sitting in the car with the engine running if any one wants to discuss this!!!!
Joke Joyce.
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