Our Future King ( GB that is)

[VfrpilotPB/2]

It seems the National Newspapers are getting themselve in quite a lather due to the fact that HRH P/O Wales has had a few little freebies of using HIS helicopter FROM HIS ROYAL Airforce to fly his younger Bro to a bit of a do, and also as one rag puts it "to take his Chopper to his girlfriends houes"....................... is it so serious, are the rest of you hacked off about this or do we act like knowledgable people and accept thing like this are bound to happen.

I for one, dont think it is wrong, and I am quite willing to accept as our future Monarch the HrH should enjoy these sort of perks, what about the rest of you?..... can it be as bad as the game of Croquet played by a load of lefties and an ex Ferry Steward at Dorney Wood, or the claiming of Taxpayers funds for every MP to have a new kitchen sink! some how I think not

Peter R-B
VfrpilotPB/2

[flap flap flap]

It pales in comparison the the obscene amount of money spent on bringing war, err, peace to Iraq/Afghanistan.

[Sweet Potatos]

Couldn't agree more lads. The News of the World had an "aviation specialist" stating how it was a waste of training hours, and no other low time pilot would get the left seat of a chinook. Fair point, but he's the only low hour pilot who is gonna be on the throne, far less the left seat!

I've heard of all sorts of things going on during training sorties, and frankly, if you can combine training with pleasure, go for it!

Good skills!
:D :ok:

[g-mady]

Peter,

I was against it before reading your post. He is in a priviliged position, and I had thought he's abusing it. But I guess if anyone can, then he can... he didn't ask for the job of royalty and if you believe in the monarchy then I guess he should be allowed such privileges,

and your right about comparing it to MP abuseing expenses!!!

MADY

[Bath]

I thought his Mom owned them anyway?

[JTobias]

Oh and lets not forget that in some countries, anyone daring to criticise the monarchy/government/ruling party or whatever often winds up in serious sh**t - if not dead!

As far as I'm concerned his mum owns all the aircraft and if she's happy for him to do it then so be it!!!

[flap flap flap]

As far as I'm concerned his mum owns all the aircraft and if she's happy for him to do it then so be it!


Mmm...I think you will find WE own all the aicraft, as paid for by OUR taxes over the last few hundred years.

[paco]

I wouldn't do his job for all the money in the world - if he can get any pleasure out of it, good luck to him.

Phil

[jellycopter]

Things like this have been happening for years; and long may it continue. I've had Wessex, Gazelle, Puma and Squirrel at my home - all in the interests of training, either for me or my students. It's not the norm, but it is far from the scandal the tabloids, and Radio 2 for that matter, would have us believe. It's a shame that these flights in more recent times have been seen as provoking negative press and were consequently much more difficult to get authorised.

I think it's great that Wills has been allowed to do this; hopefully it will set a precedent for everyone else to have a go. God knows, our crews deserve a few perks after all the ***** they're having to fly through daily in Afghanistan and Iraq! To all the serving helicopter crews who read this; keep up the good work; it's been an honour to have worked and trained with many of you.

All the very best

JJ

[JTobias]

Yo JJ couldn't agree more!

And Flap Flap, I said "as far as I'm concerned" but on the basis that WE own the aircraft and that therefore means me too, then he's got my permission!

Good luck to him!!;)

Sorted!!:ok:

[rtrnewboy]

Interested to know what he has trained on, was he fast tracked and did he prove himself as talented and was he a good student - I have seen some of the flying his uncle did (if he had the controls) and seems like he did the business. If any of our leaders, icons, symbols of power had enough to prove to the world they could land a Chinook in a field next to their girlfriend Africa would not be in the situation its in. Running for cover.....

[feathering tickles]

His mom? (!)

[Whirlygig]

His grandmother! Will's mother was killed in a car accident; we've hardly been allowed to forget it recently!! :}

Her Majesty the Queen does not "own" the aircraft; the MoD does as an agency of our Government, duly elected by the people! Similar to "Registered Keeper is not necessarilty Legal Owner!"

If HM did own the Armed Forces, I doubt they'd be in the state they are!

Cheers

Whirls

[SASless]

210 hours got one into the Chinook as a Warrant Officer in the US Army....perhaps someone a couple of breaths away from "greatness" can be excused for less.

[YOP]

I think I must be about 100 millionth in line for the throne but I came home for the weekend in a Wessex during my training at Shawbury. We could have flown the trip to Finningley on Friday morning and then returned to Shawbury Friday afternoon, or do the first leg Friday afternoon and then the return on Monday morning. Either way the flying hours were exactly the same so the taxpayer didn't lose a penny. All power to HRH, it's good to see that all the fun hasn't left the RAF.

Actually just checked the population figures for Great Britain, make that 60 millionth in line for the throne :)

[Thud_and_Blunder]

The aviation expert assumed that William was the only member of the crew getting any benefit from the exercise. Personally, I think the whole thing can easily be justified by the training value for the crewmen in monitoring the aircraft into an unfamiliar, friendly and not-too-distant confined area. We were short enough of those when there was an OCU (as opposed to the current arrangement) at Odiham, I doubt much has changed for the better since.

[Sweet Potatos]

I believe he has just done the Elementary flying traing school part of flying training, with a bit of flying in fast jets, helos, and transport a/c for experience. He is an Army officer witht the Blues and Royals, so this is just an exchange year for him. Best of luck to him in all he does ... as some above me have said, same to the other lads( and lassies) deploying to foreign lands.
:D
SP.

[g-mady]

Journalists often scour this website and im sure they will be for this occasion... but I bet they dont quote anything said here!!!

MADY

[Ken Wells]

Good on him!

and bugger off the green eyed monsters on this thread!!

[Whirlygig]

Ken, bet you're still jealous as hell though!!!! ;)

I am! :}

Cheers

Whirls

[Evalu8ter]

Storm in a teacup. An SH pilot can land pretty much anywhere with the land-owners permission, a phone call to the local plod and the agreement of the auth, who ensures the Grid is in the auth sheet and that some benefit accrues from it.

Going to an unfamiliar field is good practise for 50 ft low level nav, CAD, Tac Climbs / Descents, 5-S recce and suitable approach to the low hover or landing (all of which can be done under an AFG ops scenario...) - and for the whole crew, not just the HP. This field is by all accounts less than 10 minutes flying from Odiham and had the benefit of shifting some noise away from the usual training fields.

Aircraft paid for, hours paid for, crew paid for, legitimate training for the rest of the crew achieved.

Whirls, buy some land, send Odi /Benson Ops the grid (and some nice photos)and wait for your windows to rattle!!

[Whirlygig]

Thanks Evalu8ter; tried that when I lived in Colthrop! Best I got was a flash of a landing light; no offer of a go on the controls :{

This_should_be_close_enough! (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.393134,-1.225935&spn=0.025,0.025&t=k&q=51.393134,-1.225935)

Cheers

Whirls

[topendtorque]

so what was the pilots story?

Best I got was a flash --- ; --- no offer of a go on the controls ??


:= sorry whirls couldn't resist.

anyway the person who is gonna be green with envy is poor old Farnk. doesn't uban myth credit him with aspiring to land his OWN machine in his OWN backyard.
A feat which he accomplished once only after much heartache and supreme effort, ---- only to be kicked out by the radical anti noise lobby down the street.

[Whirlygig]

I just set 'em up TET, just set 'em up!! :D

Cheers

Whirls



....strictly, the land wasn't mine, but the owner wouldn't have minded!

[heli1]

Chinooks do Ts and Gs often just 500m from my house and most of the locals just love 'em.I just pity the sad Flight Journo who criticised HRH over the weekend just to get 5 seconds of fame on TV ......bet his Editor isn't too happy.
He seems to have forgotten that HRH Andrew went on to fight for his country as a helicopter pilot ...no reason why his nephew sholdn't do the same .

[Winch-control]

Err...So the instructor didnt need the traiing (right hand seat), the rear crew would have been the best available at the time...and HRH leaves the forces in Jan next year...
aah well...

[Brilliant Stuff]

I agree with you all, well done on Prince William or any other Armed Forces employee who manages to lighten their mood using a helicopter without harming anyone else.

IMHO it's every boy's dream landing your helicopter in your Girlfriends garden or going to a party.:ok::ok::ok::ok::ok:

I always loved landing in my mum's garden.

In any case if you clamp down on these things I have noone telling me fantastic war stories of what they did during training.

[LeakyLucy]

the BBC's input...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7358760.stm

[Ken Wells]

Ken, bet you're still jealous as hell though!!!!

I am!

Cheers

Whirls

Is the POPE German?

Love to have a go in a Chinook,

Did get to fly a EC on Saturday though, great fun.

[Ioan]

I don't like it, 'cause I'm jealous!
Flying for free...
in a Chinook...
into Kate Middleton's back garden.

He's my hero!!

[muffin]

Shawbury use my field quite often with Griffins, but I wouldn't mind an Apache occasionally as long as I was home to photograph it landing there. I think Chinooks would be a bit loud for the neighbours though.

[Ken Wells]

He's welcome at our field anytime, sod the republican tossers.

[DECUFAULT]

What a waste of tax payers money, he should do his training like every one else in the forces...

[VfrpilotPB/2]

D Fault ( seems a good handle)


Possibly in your eyes the Tax Payer was badly served yesterday by BOTH Royal Princes ( Both serving officers)... spending most of the day at Headley Court,

But then again quite possibly you wont see what I mean!:sad:

Peter R-B
VfrpilotPb/2

[DECUFAULT]

Correct..if they are in the forces then they should carry out their duties as shuch...not swanning around, lets waste more tax payers money, when the forces serving overseas are short of equipment, lets wast time and money flying a chinook into the girlfriends back garden..:ok:

[CXtreme]

I am NOT British, but as an ex Airforce pilot I think it is great to see the boys still get some enjoyment from training and flying while they can.......... beats the Airline routine :(

Bet you any cadet pilot with a friend / family that has a landing spot would like to drop in for a brag. I know our fling wing boys did it all the time. Lucky guys.

Loser journous need news, w@nkers

[rattle]

D Fault

So it's ok to train at the taxpayers expense as long as none of the crew know any of the landowners? Glad that's sorted then.

Read the posts. From what I can see, the forces are always looking for landing sites for training. I am a mere PPL(H), but know that even for R22's, there are not many options for training in confined areas without somebody complaining.

What happens if the same field is used next week for flight training without HRH? Is that acceptable to you? I would like to guess that they won't be objecting to other aircraft using the space on occasion.

[DECUFAULT]

Your missing the point..the services have a good training school with AS350 and B412, or use the queens flight S76. What wrong with operating one of those in the girlfriends back garden. He can land where he wants aslong as they observe the rules of the air, the same for the rest of us. If he wants to use a chinook then it should be paid from the queens coffers.. not by the tax payer..unless they have a very good reason.

After all thats why we got rid of the queens flight aircraft and the nice shinny boat. Thats all I'm going to say on the subject.

[before landing check list]

As you heard before, arguing with D Fault (fitting name) is like running in the special Olympics, you may win however you are still retarded. Also arguing with D Fault is like wrestling in mud with a pig, eventually you come to realize the pig likes it. As an American I can and will honestly say right on dude That was good training (I think maybe DFAULT thinks helicopters never land at unimproved areas) and it was a good moral booster. Besides, he will be the King and he should be allowed a bit of leeway. Later he will be too freaking busy.

carry on..

[JTobias]

Sorry boys,

I wasn't going to say anything more but hey what the heck, I'm having a good day.

My politics aint great, so I may be a little off the mark here, but those that don't quite like the Royal Family bending the rules (if in fact the rules have been bent) may want to consider my earlier post regarding other regimes and their methods of dealing with those that are critical of them.

I seem to remember reading somehere that President Putin shut down (within 24hours) the newspaper that leaked the story about him and his girlfriend/mistress/whatever.

Let's not forget Mr Mugabe's behavior recently. I bet people living there wouldn't be so quick to take a pop at him. He has a particular knack of dealing with those that don't agree with his thinking.

We could consider some middle/far eastern countries who would think nothing of some form of public flogging, amputation or other crude punishment. In fact we could have a quick look round the globe and look at a sweet variety of methods of dealing with those that are outspoken.

My point? - well I pay sh**t loads of tax and yes I guess a fair bit gets wasted. But if the Monarchy wake up one morning and decide in their infinite wisdom that they want to go and p**s a bit of it in the wind, then good luck to them. I wouldn't change places with them for anything.

I just thank my lucky stars that I live in a country where I have a democratically elected government (Her Majesty's Government, I might add) that lets me have freedom of speech and even critisise them publicly without getting the secret Police kicking down my door and locking me up without trial for a long long time.

He's almost certainly the future King. Get over it and be grateful. In fact let's shut LHR for a day so Wills and Harry can go go-karting on the runway!

Joel ;)

[homonculus]

Without wishing to cross swords with the monarchists, the reality is that the vast majority of the population realise we are involved in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq. Some more enlightened people (and the media) have been trying to distinguish between the war itself and the armed forces, who have to do as they are told and who are being put in harms way often with crap equipment (ever been on a VC10 lately?). They need and deserve our support.

And then along comes someone who goes for jollies. All the good work shattered in a weekend.

Only the British can shoot themselves in the foot like this.

[Senior Pilot]

This thread is getting way off topic; Rotorheads is not the forum for assertions about GW2 legality, Monarchist/Republican sentiments, etc.

Back on topic, please, or this will founder into JetBlast :=

[Ken Wells]

Your missing the point..the services have a good training school with AS350 and B412, or use the queens flight S76. What wrong with operating one of those in the girlfriends back garden. He can land where he wants aslong as they observe the rules of the air, the same for the rest of us. If he wants to use a chinook then it should be paid from the queens coffers.. not by the tax payer..unless they have a very good reason.

After all thats why we got rid of the queens flight aircraft and the nice shinny boat. Thats all I'm going to say on the subject.

I'm glad thats all you are going to say on the subject, because I get the feeling that if this was an audio post, your voice would be rather muffled:


As you are talking out of your Arse!

[[email protected]]

Homonculus - no, only the British press can make a scandal out of something that is not.

Training sorties are exactly that and if any training benefit is gained from the activity, it is by definition justified. I flew PW for 2 hours over the sea teaching him SAR techniques - he is never going to be a SAR pilot (not because of lack of ability) but the training benefit was there for him, the Radop, the winchman and me as the QHI. Want to call that a waste of taxpayers money as well?

[AndyJB32]

Surely as part of training a field landing is appropriate? Don't really see what the fuss is about.

A much more relevant complaint, in my opinion, would be the flight, at tax payers expense, to a friend's stag party.............don't quite see how that could be argued to be a training flight. If it was a training flight, is it normal practice in the armed forces to allow friends to hitch a lift on these flights?

Anti Royal garbage deleted

[[email protected]]

Andy - that flight involved the London helilanes and over water transit and the hitchhiker was a serving British Army Officer (PH) - just because it ended on the IOW and the 2 Ps went drinking doesn't make it a waste of money - it is no different to landing back at Odiham and going to happy hour.

[6Z3]

...or perhaps at a golf course in Scotland, for a couple of rounds:rolleyes:

[bast0n]

I personally found the Wessex 5 very handywhen I carelessly lost my driving licence for 18 months...............................How else was I to get home at weekends?

[DECUFAULT]

Bloody good show old boy.....

However, the MoD was forced to defend his actions after he used a Chinook helicopter training exercise to fly himself and his brother, Prince Harry, to a stag do on the Isle of Wight.