Wanna see my Wokka

[CoffmanStarter]

Nice to see the Co-Pilot gets all the glamour jobs :D

Chinook Display Riat 2013 - YouTube

[NutLoose]

"designed for movement of troops and equipment both internally in the large cabin space but also externally on the hooks you'll see underneath the aircraft"


Does that not get awfully draughty for the external troops hanging on the hooks? :{


:E

[SASless]

A bit yes.....but think how quickly they can disembark!

[NutLoose]

True... You could always put them in a load net but we better not go there..

[charliegolf]

Did he get the display slot because he owns [B] a black flying suit; because he [B]can fit into one; or because he's a good pilot and they made him wear it?

CG

I'm sure he could do bold on Pprune too!

[NutLoose]

I wouldn't call the forward jettison-able bubble hatch a door either, unless its to disembark the the 7 dwarves, Gollum and the Hobbits...


On a serious note, hope they have a great RIAT, should be a scorcher..

[smujsmith]

My torture with the wokka,

I was a Ground Engineer during GW1 and, as luck would have it had been allocated to an SF crew who were to "spearhead" the FARP (Forward Airhead Refuelling Point) as an SF tactic to range extend the Chinook for insertion of "the lads" into the nastier parts of Iraq. Prior to deployment to a nice warm climate, we, as a crew, were to go to RAF Stafford to be briefed on the equipment and how to use it. No probs we thought, but then, we hadn't reckoned with the "legendary" RAF sense of humour. We were to be given a lift from the top secret Wiltshire transport base, to RAF Stafford in a Chinook, laid on by 7 (SF) Squadron. On hearing the news we all went slightly pale and searched our almanacs of excuses for a reason not to be available for the forthcoming vibrate to the midlands.

All was well though, despite getting us on the beast, and strapped in, during start it did not perform as required. The Pilot declared it knackered, and our Flight Engineer suggested we travelled by car instead. We did as he suggested, and, to prove that we survived the threat of becoming airborne in such an "unnatural vibrational clatterbug", I am here to repeat the tale.

Full respect to the men who man this mighty Goliath of the world of coriolis, those who defy the laws of nature and deny the right of bad luck to exist. I'm just grateful I evaded the opportunity to experience its magnificence.

Smudge :eek:

[nice castle]

Shame, you'd have loved it!

[SASless]

The Wokka was the finest helicopter I ever had the pleasure to fly....she was fast, strong, dependable, and always got me home....even with big bits gone missing....oil and hydraulic fluid leaking or misting all about....an engine dead....gearbox chips....and large bullet holes through many places.....and on one occasion burning merrily in the cockpit from a raging fire fed by the Utility Hydraulic system after a .51 Cal round removed a pedal from under my foot.

We abused her....we worked her to death....we bent her....we twisted her hauling loads way too heavy....but she never let us down.

She wasn't pretty....she was not sleek....but she was honest and faithful....what more can a Man ask?

Think back to how BN showed her stuff in the Falklands.....what more can you ask of a real Queen of the Skies?

[Joker's Wild]

SAS,

Sounds almost like a Whole Lotta Rosie!!! :ok:

[FoxtrotAlpha18]

Almost 100ft worth of cabin??? :ooh:

Did the Brits stretch their Wokkas when they did the MkII mod??? :ok:

[gijoe]

'My torture with the wokka,

I was a Ground Engineer during GW1 and, as luck would have it had been allocated to an SF crew who were to "spearhead" the FARP (Forward Airhead Refuelling Point) as an SF tactic to range extend the Chinook for insertion of "the lads" into the nastier parts of Iraq. Prior to deployment to a nice warm climate, we, as a crew, were to go to RAF Stafford to be briefed on the equipment and how to use it. No probs we thought, but then, we hadn't reckoned with the "legendary" RAF sense of humour. We were to be given a lift from the top secret Wiltshire transport base, to RAF Stafford in a Chinook, laid on by 7 (SF) Squadron. On hearing the news we all went slightly pale and searched our almanacs of excuses for a reason not to be available for the forthcoming vibrate to the midlands.

All was well though, despite getting us on the beast, and strapped in, during start it did not perform as required. The Pilot declared it knackered, and our Flight Engineer suggested we travelled by car instead. We did as he suggested, and, to prove that we survived the threat of becoming airborne in such an "unnatural vibrational clatterbug", I am here to repeat the tale.

Full respect to the men who man this mighty Goliath of the world of coriolis, those who defy the laws of nature and deny the right of bad luck to exist. I'm just grateful I evaded the opportunity to experience its magnificence.

Smudge'

Poof!!

It is a great piece of kit and you would have loved telling those who haven't have the opportunity about it...

G

[500N]

Agree with gijoe

An awesome piece of kit. The one time I rode on the back of the ramp,
legs dangling, superb :ok:

[AR1]

I ducked a low level ramp ride on one from mount kent. Always thought two spinning rotors looked like a disaster waiting to happen. In hindsight I wish I'd have taken it. The look on the faces of those who did when they got back told me all i needed to know.

[gijoe]

AR1- Exactly!

Day, night, lights on, lights off, under wires, they are a perfect example of procurement fit for purpose...software faff aside.

Pax'd it, flown it (not for job), shot the gun out of the door...they are ace and the display done at places like RIAT is a superb demonstration of ability.

G

[NutLoose]

Did the lakes low level riding the ramp, yacht hopping and giving them the bird... Amongst other trips.. :p

[Wycombe]

I remember the "Cresta Run" down South being particular fun :ok:

[sled dog]

Was that a pink wristwatch the co was wearing...........:O

[Capot]

That reminds me; just for interest, does anyone know what happened with the 8 "Special" Chinooks last heard of (to me) in the West Country being fitted out by a contractor following another classic procurement disaster by MoD?

Did they ever get into service? If so, did they fulfil expectations?

Did the total cost of the exercise ever come into public knowledge?

[Exrigger]

From an 18 Sqn ground crew member who spent 4 years flying to and from deployments, one air show at Verlouse?, and as one of the rotor tuners flying around Germany, Falklands and Gulf 91, a ramp trip during a flight to help during the relief operation in Turkey and finally we had a aircrew ground crew exercise that included navigation exercises, flour bombing moving landrovers, trying to touch eggs with the RH rear tyre without breaking them, and other than the odd 'playfull' pilot during a couple of rotor tune sorties I had the time of my life flying in the Chinook.

My wife even had a flight in one for which we still have the certificate, I could not resist when an 18 Sqn aircraft popped in to St Athan and treated a load of us to a trip down the coast and back (last time I had the opportunity to use my flying kit before being told to hand it back in).

But watching the display flying these days it scares the life out of me as I did not know that it was capable of being thrown around like that, again it still makes smile when I see a Chinook.

[chinook240]

Not the latest, but it puts a cost on the fixed to field option.

http://www.nao.org.uk/report/ministry-of-defence-chinook-mk3-helicopters/

[Capot]

Thanks for that link......the report makes grim reading;

"In 2004, the Committee of Public Accounts described the original procurement of the Chinook Mk3 Helicopter as "one of the worst examples of equipment procurement" that it had seen. This report follows on from the Committee’s concerns and examines whether the Department has taken appropriate steps to make the eight Chinook Mk3s operational."

The Mk 3 Chinooks are identified as the 8 non-operational ones.

From that I got to the National Audit Office's "Major Project Reports" on the MoD for the years 2008 - 2011. This revealed an astonishing catalogue of hugely expensive delays, financial and management incompetence and buck-passing by the Civil Servants of the MoD; "hugely expensive" meaning errors measured in hundreds of millions, or billions, of pounds.

We all know that this is the case, but I have never seen it quantified!

The 2011 NAO report mentions Chinooksbut with no particular information about the Mk 3 ones.

So the question remains; are those 8 aircraft still non-operational, or did they go into service eventually? You might want to use Tor to reply.....

PS I have discovered a previous thread (http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/109805-whatever-happened-chinook-hc-3s.html)on this, which ran from 2003 - 2009!

[Mad_Mark]

I can see why he is the co-pilot and not the pilot, as P1 he would need to put his hands on the controls every now and then and not have them glued to his waist :E

Yes Sled Dog, I think it was :eek:

[The Nr Fairy]

Many years ago, I was fortunate enough to spend an hour and a bit in one of the three Chinook sims at Benson.

For a 70 hour PPL(H) at the time, it made my flying look really good - awesome piece of kit.

And the two individuals who were there - if you remember it, thanks very much !

[Capot]

I'm bringing this back to the top of the thread in the hope that someone knows whether the 8 Mk 3 Chinooks have indeed gone into service, or remain one of many reasons why some senior civil servants should either be in jail or sacked without a pension, or both.

[Chinny Crewman]

Yes they have been flying for a number of years now.

[Capot]

Thank you for that; at least some stories have a happy ending. I must try and keep up more.

[dragartist]

Capot, can you please explain your comments about Civil Servants being jailed?

I worked on the Chinook in 1981 and love this aircraft, one of my last tasks in the Department in 2011 was to develop another capability for this airframe which was exploited in Afg. (I did other stuff in between)

I trawled through the NAO report from cover to cover. Yes I can see how the PAC drew the conclusions they did which were echoed in the NAO report. There is some good technical stuff in the report I thought would have been classified.

Who sits (or sat) on the IAB? Who raised the BC with recommendations for all of these procurement activities? can't ever remember a Civilian Chinook IPTL. Or head of JHC, DEC ALM, DSF, DG hels, or any of the other stakeholders listed in the NAO Report.

I am not suggesting that Civil Servants were not part of the team or culpable for some of the poor decision making. But honestly..... You can PM me if you don't wish to put a name or names in the Public Domain.

[MG]

Good, the usual twisting of a Chinook thread into 'what happened to the Mk3 is criminal and all involved should be hanged'.
I don't think the display crew have any great connection to that little bit of Chinook history. Can't we just celebrate the great aircraft that it is, as a lot on here have?
Chinook240 - shame on you, you played along! :p (don't mean it mate, luv & hugs, as always!)

[gijoe]

MG - agreed.

I say again, great piece of gear.

Absolutely fit for purpose and Afg would have been in a quandry without it.

G:ok:

[Tourist]

Oh I'm sure we could have found some Mi17s to do the job instead...

[gijoe]

Really? Where? Do tell?

Anyway, rotors go round the wrong way.

:ok:

[Evalu8ter]

The Mi-17 is a great alternative to Merlin, but simply cannot compete with a CH47; power, tail rotor authority and avionics/mission kit to name but 3 areas.

Anyway, we may have mentioned the Mk3 but at least we've not brought up FADEC or MoK....ooops....

[Capot]

Capot, can you please explain your comments about Civil Servants being jailed?Certainly can; it's later in your post;

I am not suggesting that Civil Servants were not part of the team or culpable Wasting hundreds of millions of pounds drawn from public funds should be a jailing offence. If they simply stole it they would be locked up.

Have you ever thought about where the Armed Forces would be if all the money frittered away by corruption and incompetence in the MoD had been used properly?

I know, it's not just an MoD problem. And I know that the politicians play a role in wasting money. And I also know that nothing will change so long as people are prepared to tolerate the corruption and incompetence, even make excuses for it.

So let's drop it there and get back to Chinooks, eh?

(In the 1980's I listened for 2 hours to a 2 Naval officers and 2 Civil Servants from MoD, sitting across the aisle in a train, discussing how to rig a tender process to ensure that a particular supplier would win a 10-year contract for a very expensive service. I was in fact going to the same meeting as they were. I was requested not to report this criminal discussion, because doing so would be too embarrassing for too many. I complied, not being then the stroppy sod I am now.
I was also closely involved with the tender process for the new runway at Port Stanley; a cost-plus project that became so corrupt in MoD that at least 2 major construction companies, well-used to managing third-world corruption, pulled out when it got too much for them.
Since that time, that kind of approach has been pretty much normalised, which is why tax-payers' funds, in billions, go up the spout every year.)