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Post by phil on Mar 16, 2010 20:07:19 GMT 12
well thats low No, that's reality. Sorry to burst your bubble.
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Post by phil on Mar 16, 2010 14:04:53 GMT 12
point taken but i'd like to think that the RNZAF won't just roll over and play dead! The RNZAF is an instrument of the govt, here to support and govt policy. If a deal is struck, the RNZAF will do what it's told, it's not an issue of rolling over and playing dead, it's an issue of doing what the 'owners', for want of a better term, require.
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Post by phil on Mar 14, 2010 14:49:34 GMT 12
OK well my idea here is that we Singapore and us are part of the alliance between the UK, NZ, AUS and Singapore.............. so why not do the training........ it would seem a waste to not get even more out of thid deal, we could use the misteral system to provide some SAM training for them.......... And i think that this deal would make it easier because we would have the infrastructure to do so the maintanence would be there and in place many of the things that are needed would already be there! Having a guy on a hill top with Mistral wont be of any training benefit to the pilot, the only benefit would be the other way around, to the mistral operator. Again I can't see them using flying hours for that. I would be extremely surprised if we are providing any maintenance support to them at all, other than hangar space. I'll be surprised if we are even allowed in that hangar. I can't see it being their pilots flying and our maintainers maintaining. Apart from anything else we do not have the human resourced to man another Squadron, we will be stretched pretty thin as it is with the introduction to service of two new types over the next few years, while still operating the existing types at the same time. My best guess is all we will be supplying is real estate and probably dining facilities.
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Post by phil on Mar 14, 2010 14:38:52 GMT 12
sorry mate but there were major delays in the project and the last modified A-4K was only rolled out in 1998............ yes the manufacturing began in the mid !980's but was finished much llater as i belive i will look into this again I'd suggest you do. I was on 75SQN in 1997, and they were all Kahu then, and they weren't new either. I would expect Don can even tell you when each tail number was accepted into service post mod.
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Post by phil on Mar 14, 2010 8:51:58 GMT 12
I think that having them based here for training would be a good idea that way in the future if the strike force was re-activated it would be easier to do so. I'm not sure how watching foreign aircraft take off and land from our airfield will help much, can you elaborate on your reasoning? If (and that's a pretty big if) the NZDF has anything at all to do with them. I doubt they will make themselves available for JTAC training for our benefit, perhaps they may train their own JTACs, but ours? Not so sure on that. The same goes for working with our Navy.
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Post by phil on Mar 13, 2010 12:38:19 GMT 12
Makes those PMBR wiring looms I made look like child's play.
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Post by phil on Mar 13, 2010 12:34:15 GMT 12
Can't you just cut some holes in various locations around the fuselage, and let the grunts lay down suppressing fire with their Steyrs? FOD anyone?
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Post by phil on Mar 7, 2010 12:31:56 GMT 12
there is really nothing more to be said... Lets hope. Your posts are a broken record, and while you certainly have a point, it gets tiresome reading the same thing paraphrased over and over again from you.
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Post by phil on Mar 7, 2010 8:14:27 GMT 12
You seem to be under the impression the RNZAF has the slightest control over the issue. The govt is the customer that wants certain outputs, and pays for the outputs they want, guess what? They don't want fighters. The RNZAF doesn't dictate to the govt.
Actually, the RNZAF hasn't had a front line fighter in service since the early days of the Vampire and that's pushing the definition somewhat, since even by the late 50s the vampire couldn't really be classed as a front line fighter. It could be argued that we havent had a genuine, contemporary fighter capability since WW2. I doubt the polys will choose to fund that output for us now.
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Post by phil on Mar 6, 2010 19:28:41 GMT 12
How come New Zealand always get suckered into buying these lemons?,the worlds awash with suitable helicopters for the job. Did we get a free set of steak knives for everyone we purchased?. Are you purposefully trying to be a troll? List another helicopter you think we should have purchased instead.
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Post by phil on Mar 6, 2010 14:47:58 GMT 12
I'm watching this with interest as I have one in my stash.
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Post by phil on Mar 6, 2010 13:48:41 GMT 12
No, they are no on that much, 106K - 109K for W/O. However it's not quite that simple. Although the pay rates appear to be much higher since MRS (mid 2008), they are now including the NZDF super contributions as part of your take home pay. Prior to MRS the published pay rates excluded the NZDF contributions to your super. Your pay slip would tell you how much you were contributing, but the NZDFs contribution was not included in you salary. It is now. Of course this means everyone's pay appeared on paper to increase by 17.9%, but in reality we were always getting this amount.
By selling the same total pay in a different way, I think they believed that they could convince us we were all now being paid so much more, but it's nothing but smoke and mirrors.
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Post by phil on Mar 6, 2010 8:40:25 GMT 12
I want to know when we will see the PE rigging sets in production. They had pre production samples on display at the IPMS show in Lower Hutt last July, still no sign of them on the website.
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Post by phil on Mar 6, 2010 8:36:15 GMT 12
In a nutshell, any major acquisition, especially of a new piece of equipment, suffers teething problems that will be rectified, in this case I expect mostly by the manufacturer.
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Post by phil on Feb 28, 2010 18:38:56 GMT 12
I believe Historic flight are getting one, plus spares. Possibly one for spares.
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Post by phil on Feb 27, 2010 8:33:12 GMT 12
Yes there were a couple (Glen had perhaps 8 prints of Jim's). There were two early photos of Skyhawks, one with the fernleaf roundels and striaght probe, another with the Kiwi roundels but all white undersides tanks. Both air to air
The others were ones I'd seen before of the formation in all the liveries - SEA, RAN grey/blue, RAN grey/white, Euro 1, which I'm assuming you will have since they are fairly common images.
Talk to Glen, I'm sure he'll send you the copies he made.
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Post by phil on Feb 26, 2010 21:14:59 GMT 12
I said we are not here for your viewing pleasure.
I would hazard a guess that the cost vs benefit of attending the Wanaka event may have had something to do with it being supported. I think you will find it was not a case of chosing one or the other.
That, and not having to disrupt the operation of an entire base for a day (to set up), and operate the same base, in its entirety, for an additional day for the event itself. Also remember AK units would still have to come to OH as well. A fair amount of dosh gets spent by unit's preparing displays, not to mention all the time that's spent doing that, and not supporting operational outputs.
Since you don't seem to have a dollar figure for either event, your condemnation of Air's decision not to run an open day at Ohakea seems based more on you being personally inconvenienced than it does on any concrete facts. The whole starting point for your outrage is an assumption you've made on the costs involved. And you know what an assumption is the mother of.
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Post by phil on Feb 26, 2010 20:50:38 GMT 12
I think GT took scans of them, he's the one who borrowed the prints. I'll have a chat with Glen on Monday and see if he would like to post them.
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Post by phil on Feb 26, 2010 20:37:58 GMT 12
Funny this has came up today, saw some photos belonging to Jim Jennings this afternoon, one was a 11x14 aerial shot of a row of 75sqn Vampires parked in a field (yes, on grass) in front of a tented camp. I'm not sure if the print was dated, I know some of the other prints in the collection were dated 1969 (just can't recall if this was one of the dated ones).
Also included was a print of a vampire display team with doing a diving 'bomb burst' type manoeuvre over the OH Tower.
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Post by phil on Feb 26, 2010 20:29:44 GMT 12
Since they're so 'cash-strapped' you've got to wonder then why they cancelled the Ohakea Open Day in favour of supporting Warbirds over Wanaka as their main 'public' display. It's got to cost them a hell of a lot more in fuel and logistics alone to mount a full display in Wanaka compared to operating from their own base. Not the sort of decision you'd think a cash-strapped organisation would make. I say 'public' in inverted commas too because realistically it is not a format that is available to most the public. It's a very expensive exercise getting to Warbirds over Wanaka and the location and expense pretty much excludes people taking the whole family along. On the other hand the Open Day format is easily accessible to the majority of the public and their families. I have put this to the Air Force, but they were unable, or unwilling to explain the logic behind the decision... perhaps there isn't any... Last time I checked we aren't here for your viewing pleasure. Wanaka is an internationaly renound air show, as opposed to the Ohakea open day, which isn't even an air show, it is a base open day. As an example, '06 didn't even have flying. They are not exactly comparable.
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