RC-135 Update. The Yank was right!

[cpants]

The American Whistleblower was correct back in 2008. Check out this news article from the Kansas City Star (24 July 2010).
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/24/2104789/whistleblowers-have-nowhere-to.html (http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/24/2104789/whistleblowers-have-nowhere-to.html).

[Something witty]

Open and Honest reporting culture? Clearly doesn't exist over there otherwise an evidently experienced and knowledgable engineer would not have taken the action he did. The USAF ought to take a careful look at itself... Just imagine if a 'whistleblower ' had highlighted problems with Nimrod a few years ago for example rather than relying upon what appears to have been a chain of command willing to ignore problems at some level? They ought to consider that he's done them a favour; particularly since it appears he went to Senators in the first instance and not the papers. Do they have a flight safety orgnaisation with teeth like we do?

In general I think we do pretty well across here but sadly I think that similar things happen on occasion on this side of the pond; I just wish that people would speak frankly up the chain and that higher would respect that frankness and do something about it, rather than sh*ting on the individual from above. There are far too many sh*t filters in all organisations and inevitably selection for promotion is from those who don't pass on the bad news . :ugh:We are the poorer because of it.

[Dengue_Dude]

Yep, nearly the most unpopular person in any business (or military) is the whistleblower.

However, (there's often one of those isn't there) it is not often that the wb doesn't have some other agenda too. Whether it's pomposity, revenge, anger or some other reason - there's often one.

Nevertheless, sometimes it's only the way to get something done but often it requires that the someone fall on their sword - not a good career move unless we're talking about the verb.

[XV277]

Then Sarris spoke out about parts going without inspection, faulty repairs and outdated technical manuals for the 50-year-old RC-135s, and all that changed.

The planes, designed to detect such things as troop movements and enemy transmissions, are used heavily over Afghanistan. They have a relatively safe flight record (one crash in 27 years), but documents obtained by The Star reflect troubling maintenance-related incidents.

Indeed, Sarris believed the issues were serious enough to risk lives of crews and the state-of-the-art secret gear aboard.


These will be the same type that we are getting to replace the old, 'unreliable' and dangerous Nimrod Rs then.

(takes off red-top journo mode)

[NutLoose]

Reminds me of this incident

Alaska Airlines worker wrote `panic' near log entry on search for parts. - Free Online Library (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Alaska+Airlines+worker+wrote+%60panic'+near+log+entry+on+sea rch+for...-a066042143)