Test pilots required at Boscombe

[mmitch]

Apparently they are running out? :confused:
Test Pilots (http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/test-pilots-09032012)
mmitch.

[Redcarpet]

Makes you wonder why they are so short. Have a lot left recently, if so why? Or are there a lot of exciting new projects on offer?

[VX275]

ETPS as run by QinetiQ is a business. If they don't have anyone to train they don't make any money. Simples.

[FTE Pruner]

I missed the bit where they said they are running out of TPs.

The way I read it, this is just an article advertising the "career" route to the front line to get the best to apply.

[Charlie Time]

Missed that bit too. This is just standard advertisement of a career course, in good time to allow the application, interview and selection process to meet the course start date.

[Mach Two]

ETPS keep training them, they keep going to work for aircraft manufactures. A) Who wouldn't? B) Why shouldn't they? C) Means we get some right-minded mil pilots in the design and testing process.

If I hadn't been such a front-line fanatic, I should have done this. I hope they get some good applicants.

[newt]

You good at maths then Mach Two?

[A340Yumyum]

Maybe he is good at maths, but not at spelling! :oh:

[Seldomfitforpurpose]

Outstanding another thread where the the spelling/maths police appear :rolleyes:

[airborne_artist]

SFP

From the ad:

""We're hoping to run evaluation pilot courses at the end of the year for pilot's destined for Operational Evaluation Units. We're in the process of defining the course to give a broad awareness of test procedures and techniques , and the documentation which goes with flight testing." :E

[newt]

How predictable SFFP!!:D

[Lima Juliet]

How many times do I have to say it? " I before E, except after C!"...

http://www.uyghuramerican.org/content_images/705/police-arrest.jpg

Don't f^ck with the Spelling Police! :E

[Courtney Mil]

Understand? Now, write it out a hundred times.

Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir. Hail Caesar, Sir.

Hail Caesar! And if it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your ****s off.

Courtney (100 Hours Life of Brian)

[BEagle]

Ah yes, Courtney, an excellent scene from the film:

IIAdHEwiAy8

Brian's suggestion of the dative rather than the accusative case for 'motion towards' causing the centurion to draw his sword - brilliant. The sort of schoolboy error which would have caused a similar reaction from my old Latin master, although without the sword. Doubtless 'Jake' would have reacted in a similar manner, eh Courtney? Those oiks who have never had the 'pleasure' :\ of having to study Latin won't really understand the significance of Brian's grammatical errors.

Back to test piloting, I was fortunate enough to acquire a copy of the excellent 1986 BBC series Test Pilot on DVD last year. Watching it recently, it is abundantly clear how much the RAF has changed for the worse since those happier days of 25 years ago....:mad:

[Uncle Ginsters]

it is abundantly clear how much the RAF has changed for the worse since...

Then it was about flying.

Now it seems to be more about how/what to write in your report to appease the MAA.:8

[Chugalug2]

Uncle G:-
Now it seems to be more about how/what to write in your report to appease the MAA.
You might just as well substitute MOD for MAA, for they are one and the same in effect. What was written to the former in 1994 re the Chinook Mk2 FADEC did little to appease then I fear. Though BD refused to fly theirs, due to uncommanded FADEC power ups/downs and S/D's, and placed in writing their urgent plea, that those being flown in RAF Squadron service (thanks to an illegal RTS) be likewise grounded, it went unheeded. The very next day 29 people perished on the slopes of Mull.
Unless and until airworthiness provision and air accident investigation be placed into the hands of an independent MAA and MAAIB, both of the MOD and of each other, risking one's life in Air Testing so that you may then be ignored seems somewhat pointless to my mind.

[Courtney Mil]

Nice one, BEags. I still have the dents in my cranium from a particularly savage seeig to from Jake with a blackboard duster for a signifacantly lesser crime in Latin. Still, made me the man I am today. Pround, upstanding and brave; if that's alright with my wife.

[BEagle]

I particularly liked nonsense such as "His verbis dictis, autem...." (these things having been said, however) - which probably translated as "So.." in Service Writing (now 'Defence' writing...:rolleyes:).

Or the mysterious 'ramparts' and 'darts' with which the 'Having been drawn-up cohorts' invariably dealt so swiftly.

My school was in Somerset, so "Ob has causas..." (because of these reasons) was always amusing to a schoolboy required to read it aloud - 'Ob harse cow's arse' - without the slightest flicker of embarassment.

On many a F1369, when required to state one's language proficiency, I always wrote 'Language - Latin. Highest level achieved - 'O' level 1965. Current level - lapsed'. Kept that up for over 30 years until someone noticed! An oik in a Sqn Ldr's uniform, no doubt. B£oody peasant!"

Did you ever bother with that ridiculous nonsense known as ISS, Courtney? I always refused point blank - it was simply a literacy course for ignorant secondary modern school oiks 'what wanted promotion'.....:hmm: One had already been examined in 'Use of English' to a higher standard.

Back to test flying, I always enjoyed doing the post-major VC10K test flights. Although when we recovered ZA141 from so-called 'storage' (left out in the open at St.Athan....), it provided more entertainment than any previous simulator ride. We even had the so-called 'impossible' #1 and #3 double AC busbar failure, which meant that we had no gyro instruments whatsoever.... Fun that, particularly as the cabin altitude began to rise rather rapidly!

[tucumseh]

Interesting thread given recent announcements;


1. The MAA agree with Haddon-Cave (who in turn simply repeated the likes of Tench) that embedded cultures and attitudes must change.


2. The Minister for the Armed Forces disagrees and is content they remain.



So much for the MAA being independent. Will they now ignore the Minister? Or will the RAF officers who make up most of the MAA keep one eye on their career, at the expense of safety?



Those same “embedded cultures and attitudes” led to test pilot Sqn Ldr Robert Burke being vilified by senior RAF officers and being accused of telling lies throughout the 17 years of the Mull of Kintyre campaign. I seem to recall one officer denigrating him because he wasn’t a proper pilot, or words to that effect. Despite Sqn Ldr Burke being totally vindicated by the evidence to the Philip Inquiry, and those senior officers revealed as the liars, if this embedded culture and attitude is to remain then who on earth would want to work under such a regime, knowing you are routinely expected to turn a blind eye to problems?



By the way, QinetiQ have quietly announced they are to cease allowing Trades Union representation at their sites, a la GCHQ.

[Chugalug2]

tuc:-
...you are routinely expected to turn a blind eye to problems
Now I just know that there must be a Latin tag for that, and so appropriate too! Perhaps Beagle or Courtney might oblige?

[BEagle]

No, Chugalug2, as it refers to a Nelsonian act, I doubt whether there is a suitable Latin equivalent - even the Royal Navy doesn't go quite that far back into history!

[Courtney Mil]

Did you ever bother with that ridiculous nonsense known as ISS, Courtney?

'Fraid so, BEags. Not through choice, I should add. I made me a better person :sad: Now I know how not to use a gerund in conjunction with a past participle. How did I ever manage before that?

[Courtney Mil]

Chugalu2,

I like BEags answer to that one. I shall see if I can find a suitable phrase, but for now, one could simply say ignorare - to ignore. Not terribly catch, is it? There must be something better, maybe Pliny or Ovid. This may take a while.

[Edit: just thought of avertas oculos - avert your eyes - but still not quite the same.]

[Chugalug2]

Beags:
I doubt whether there is a suitable Latin equivalent
Perhaps because the Legions would never dream of going to war with knowingly not-fit-for-purpose Ballistas, for example? Nor perhaps would Nelson (re ships rather than Ballistas of course), who famously turned a blind eye to a direct order in order to do his duty. A complete reversal of the modern practice of turning a blind eye to one's duty, in order to obey a direct illegal order! I agree that the concept would have been anathema to the ancient world. So perhaps they did not have a word for it after all, as you both say.

[BEagle]

These things having been said however, notwithstanding the darts and spears of the having been drawn up barbarians, in order for the ramparts of the citadel to be attacked, the ballistas of the legion throwing-worthy must have been.

;)

[Chugalug2]

Your ablative absolutes seem to be merging into Star Wars, Beagle minor. See me after school!