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Post by oldnavy on Oct 21, 2009 10:35:59 GMT 12
Hey fb6! Well said!! ;D
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Post by flycookie on Oct 21, 2009 10:47:37 GMT 12
As I read somewhere recently, ''Politicans are like nappies. They both need changing reguarly, and for the same reason...'' Mr fb6, with respect, that's an insult to babies. Politicians, methinks, are better described by the adage "they're just like lobsters - their brains are in their arses and their heads are full of shit."
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Post by corokid66 on Oct 22, 2009 23:40:39 GMT 12
But perhaps Dr Mapp, with a smile on his face and heavy breathing will say 'Yes! We gotta have these things back!' That would be excellent, but I think mapp's opinion of NZ having fighters was blatantly obvious in his bit on the news the other night. "never used when we had them" wtf wayne..... Dr Mapps opinion that we should only have the things for defence that we can use is flawed. I can think of at least 3 occasions where the A-4’s could have been used post Kahu. For example Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia to help enforce a no fly zone. Probably would have been a more ‘mana enhancing’ use of the NZDF than a squadron of clapped out M113’s. In East Timor as well. Politically it was a tactical error by the Shipley government in 1999 not to formally place the A-4’s under the control of INTERFET. They never did thus letting Mortica of Mt Albert having an excuse to axe them. And of course the F-16’s could have been used in A/stan as part of ISAF Air Component alongside the NATO countries such as Holland, Begium, Denmark and Norway as well as Australia.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Oct 26, 2009 12:49:14 GMT 12
Reports from Ohakea last week suggest there have been two American pilots there flying the Macchis. Unsure if they are just there doing due dilligence or if they are doing a proper conversion course... if true then it looks like things might actually be happening!
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Post by beagle on Oct 26, 2009 15:42:21 GMT 12
Didn't think the macchis were part of the US deal
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2009 16:27:35 GMT 12
Can confirm this week one Macchi performed several circuits and missed approaches at NZWU. Heard something jetty a few days prior, but couldn't see it due to cloud.
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Post by caromeg on Oct 26, 2009 19:47:10 GMT 12
I raised an eyebrow when i saw a Macchi stooging in NZPM's CTR, great to see and hear
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Post by yogi on Oct 26, 2009 19:55:58 GMT 12
from memory the news report said they were taking the lot eh?
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Post by matariki on Oct 26, 2009 22:21:11 GMT 12
Skyhawkdon- those americans are here for a conversion course.
Reliably informed that the last flight of a macchi in NZ took place on Friday - SQNLDR Pedley last to land.
HOWEVER, the Skyhawks will be rebuilt over the next two years, and each one should be test flown in NZ by one of those americans before leaving the country.
Of course, the whole thing could be called off next week so who knows.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Oct 27, 2009 6:48:44 GMT 12
Last flight of the Macchis in NZ? Is that because they are getting packed up and shipped somewhere? I hope we have the money in the bank before we do anything silly like that! Odd that they were doing a conversion course on the Macchi so they can later (much later!) test fly the Skyhawks? There are few similarities between the two aircraft types! Are they also doing a conversion course on the Skyhawks? That will be difficult as none are airworthy! A lot about this doesn't make any sense but there is nothing new in that with this saga!
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Post by tbf25o4 on Oct 27, 2009 7:29:41 GMT 12
Driving past Ohakea on Friday morning 23rd at around 9.45 and there were two Macchis doing circuits. An unconfirmed rumour is that the Macchis maybe going with the A4s to be used as target drones
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 27, 2009 9:11:37 GMT 12
Can't we send the succession of useless Ministers of Defences to be used as target drones instead?
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Post by matariki on Oct 27, 2009 11:03:48 GMT 12
I quite like that suggestion, Dave.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Oct 29, 2009 6:32:55 GMT 12
Keep an eye on TV One News over the next few days. They contacted me last night about a story they are going to do on the sale called "Who is Hoss Pearson?"
Update: They are interviewing me tonight. Story won't be on until the weekend probably.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Oct 29, 2009 9:23:24 GMT 12
Sounds like a typical fighter pilot to me! ;D Fast cars, fast jets and fast woman!
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Post by Barnsey on Oct 31, 2009 17:48:47 GMT 12
Skyhawk sale saga continues Published: 6:17PM Saturday October 31, 2009 Source: ONE News The United States may have given the New Zealand government the go ahead to sell the ageing Skyhawks but another twist has emerged in the long-running saga. Doubts have been raised about the American company set to buy the former air force planes as representatives from the firm have just visited New Zealand to complete test flights. Last week New Zealand's Aermacchi's made their final flight and Associate Defence Minister Heather Roy says they are further ahead in the sales process than ever before. "Last week two test pilots came to New Zealand. They had several short flights in the Aermacchis and they've now gone back to the Unites States," she says. It has been a long wait for the 17 trainers and 17 Skyhawks for Arizona-based Tactical Air Services boss Larry "Hoss" Pearson. The former navy pilot has been in the picture for eight years. In 2003 Pearson was the head of another private US government contractor, Advanced Training Systems International, which was named by the previous government as the purchaser of the ageing fighters. His company wanted to add the Kiwi planes to its existing fleet of retired Israeli Skyhawks to train foreign fighter pilots in Arizona, but second time around there are still doubts about his abilities to pull off this manoeuvre. Former Skyhawk engineer Don Simms has his doubts. "Tactical air services is pretty much a one man band, Hoss Pearson. It's revenue last financial year from US company documents was only around $400,000. To be buying a fleet of 34 aircraft, $US110 million, you need pretty significant cash flow," he says. Pearson, a Vietnam veteran, is certainly used to taking risks as during the 1980's, he was commander of the US navy's aerobatic team the Blue Angels. According to the Los Angeles Times, he was reprimanded after being accused of having an affair with a female junior officer in 1991 and retired from service. As a civilian test pilot he was involved in the US stealth fighter and bomber programmes. Roy says Pearson has been awarded US defence contracts to supply flight training and is optimistic about the sale. "I think that it's always been the case that he would need a partner of some sort to assist with the financial side of the deal," she says. It is a deal that has seemed to be pie in the sky for so long. tvnz.co.nz/national-news/skyhawk-sale-saga-continues-3104809
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Post by Barnsey on Oct 31, 2009 17:58:37 GMT 12
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Oct 31, 2009 20:10:47 GMT 12
The government is expecting to sell the planes to someone who turns over less money than the average corner dairy?. ......someones taking the piss here..
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Post by corokid66 on Oct 31, 2009 23:26:05 GMT 12
I find it very difficult to accept with the drying up of venture capital financing in the US to a trickle that this deal will take-off for the original full price of NZD155m less regeneration costs. However I also think there is a very unsavoury desperation to just get rid of these aircraft. To fire sale them and end once and for all this Mickey Mouse episode in the Ministry of Defence’s history.
In all likeliness this so called deal is currently being renegotiated for a lot less than originally thought. That would not surprise me one bit. It’s my hunch that it’s just the Macchi’s they are really after with the unregenerated A-4’s to be thrown in for free so they are literally off the NZDF premises? It just wouldn’t surprise me that the whole deal is to be done for less than $US35m. The government spin will be “the market for the aircraft has slumped since 2005, we’ve got a great price for the macchis and the skyhawks, this is a great deal blah, blah, blah….
This is the last roll of the dice. If this deal goes sour then it is time for no more BS from politicians and officials. Time for the truth to fully emerge.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 1, 2009 0:17:38 GMT 12
The comment that Mr Pearson was used to taking risks because he was once head of the Blue Angels. Surely in a precision aerobatic team like the Blue Angels the aim for the leader is all about minimising risks, not taking them?
Also I see no relevance in dredging up something from his personal life that occurred in 1991 and has nothing to do with his current capability to purchase our aircraft or to maintain his aviation business. Such muckraking shows journalistic desperation in trying to get a point across.
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