Originally Posted by
cynicalint
.......
Sometimes, it is the contractor that milks the system assuming the requester has no idea and will agree to anything they say. It is not ........
Too true! For one system I looked after for a while there was a Test Set for some routine 2nd Line work - every 24 months IIR. The RAF had used the system but the FAA picked it up as a UOR (It will be out of service again in a few months - yer, right!). Over a decade down the line I just happened to be looking after the kit for the FAA and decided, purely as I had a spare slot in my diary, to attend a PDS meeting for the System (I used to generally send my system Boffin who was great but, now and again, I'd pitch up to see what was what and to put the Company on edge = "Why's
H 'n' H here this time????!!!"
)
A while into the meeting, the next Agenda Item was that the RAF were about to sign on the dotted line for an updated (due to obsolescence) Test Set (3 sets at several £000,000s each) when I glanced at my Boffin who shrugged back at me - no, he'd not come across this Test Set either - we worked well as a team! I innocently asked the Company to explain why it was needed, etc, etc, etc. Along with knowing looks from the RAF, it seemed that this Test Set (which we didn't have and so had never used in over a Decade - after all, our UOR was only going to be in service for a few months so why bother with all the Test Sets) was absolutely essential to ensure some bit didn't "blow up" and thereby lead to multiple crashes on local Primary Schools etc, etc, etc.
I asked the RAF how many had "blown up" to which the answer was "Zero - but
we do the 24 monthly!". I happened to have, for another reason, our total lifetime Fleet hours to hand so I explained that, in a shed load of operational hours, we'd had Zero "explosions" too but we didn't have this Test Set!! The Company, bless their cotton socks, then said "Don't panic, don't panic!!! Quick, we'll up the order to 4 sets and make sure you have the procedure and you can start the testing! All is not lost, that's good you were here! That's another £000,000 please!".
However, my RAF counterpart was not daft and had clocked where I was heading with this - and he quietly put down his pen. "So <<Company>>, can you explain, if the FAA have had zero failures in x hours (where x was quite a high number!) why we need to do this Test?". The silence was deafening but I was now being glared at by all the Company peeps from all round the table - so I smiled sweetly back with my best "little innocent ol' me" look. The requisition was silently slid back, unsigned, to the company and the pen went back into the RAF's top pocket.
The RAF chap bought me a beer in bar afterwards and, following a further investigation by the RAF, I was advised the RAF had formally removed the process from the Servicing Schedule a few weeks later as a "Savings Measure". Oh, yes, I never did get a Christmas Card from <<Company>> that year!
