jones243

Can any one comfirm the arrival at Boscombe of the two Mil 17s that the MOD have bought,Seems a strange purchase seeing as we are stripping crews from SAR because we havent got enough rotary pilots ???

cobaltfrog

And the two are connected how exactly?????????

In Support of Ops

Jones243, do you really think this is a good place to discuss this? Please remove the thread.

Jackonicko

More over-sensitive secrecy.

And more stable door bolting.....

The spotter sites are full of this, but I've been asked to edit this post, so let's leave it at that.

chopper2004

Seem to recall in a Shephard Press Defence Helicopter article or two between 2004 and last year there was mention of RAF and USAF sending some crews to train on MI-17 .

Maybe the MI-17 are used for test and evaluation purposes for the TPS Rotary Wing Courses for there's a part of the course of evaluating and giving presentation other types of a/c outside. They call it preview course or something like that.

jones243

Thanks for that Jackonicko,No doubt photos will be apearing on other forums soon.If I thought that it was a great State secret I wouldnt of started the thread,Its been in the public domain that they were due for weeks.

barnstormer1968

I think this is a total outrage...
The UK government never shows any consideration for its population. After all I bet these aircraft will never come to my house low level, even though I will be here waiting, with my bino's ready

I guess I'll just have to stick with visiting the helicopter museum in Weston Super Mare to get my fix of ex soviet whirly things!

Barnstormer1968

Jackonicko

Just for you, Captain T, I've removed my journo speculation.

HaveQuick2

"Mil 17s
Can any one comfirm the arrival at Boscombe of the two Mil 17s that the MOD have bought,Seems a strange purchase seeing as we are stripping crews from SAR because we havent got enough rotary pilots ??? "


I don't see what these 2 stories have to do with each other either (apart from "helicopter" I suppose).

Gainesy

Insert Hip replacement banter here>

tonker

If i were a young lad in the desert, thirsty tired and low on ammo i would be rather happy to see these turn up as opposed to nothing.

Cheap reliable and versatile. More suited to those conditions i supsect than a NH90 etc. Having now said this they will probably used for target practice!

Gainesy

Agreed, however if Qinetiq get their hands on them, they'll probably be assessed as unflyable deathtraps and stuck in a hangar to moulder away gently.

leopold bloom

Mr Grim

Navy probably keenly interested in them - they could make an interesting backdrop to a cocktail party.

XV277

As Jacko says, reports on these have been turning up on the spotter sites for a few weeks - along with the 4 new Dauphins and the DA42 Twin Stars that have appeared on the military register in recent weeks.

The arrival of one Mil at Boscombe was reported this week.

And one of the aviation rags was reporting (with photos) on UK operation of Hips a year ago (and the nature of those operations)

Faithless

Sorry Guys Im going to spill the beans....

They are being used to train pilots we stole from Mars. yes Life has been found on Mars and these Aliens have been bought to BD in two Hips.

Once they have mastered the art of being Human they will then move onto flying the Hips.

Once trained they will then back fill the spare front seats we have.

Sssssshhhhhhh don't tell anybody else

ianp

"The spotter sites are full of this,"

I know I am being a bit slow but which spotter sites?

mr fish

i heard a while back that the us coastguard wanted rid of their dauphins as they were 'underpowered', are the ones mentioned uprated?

101BOY

Were the US Coastguard cabs N3 variants? N3's have plenty of power in my experience.

HaveQuick2

"Were the US Coastguard cabs N3 variants? N3's have plenty of power in my experience."


The 4 new UK ones are N3 variants.