Originally Posted by
Big Pistons Forever
I was recently talking with an RCAF pilot assigned to an MH squadron "flying" the new Cyclone helicopter. The flying is in quotation marks because the serviceability rate of the new helicopter, which is still not FMC is so low.
It reminded me of an airline flight I took in 2002. I got to talking to my seat mate who was a aeronautical engineer and had been hired straight out of university in 1984 as a Defense Department civilian employee assigned to the New Shipborne Helicopter Program office. This office was stood up in 1977 to work on a replacement for the SeaKing helicopter which first entered service in 1963. The project office still exists, and is funded to 2027 as it tries to get the Cyclone finished. So the CAF will have had an office to procure a new helicopter that will have been running for 50 years. During the conversation with my engineer seat mate he declared that he was sure he would reach retirement age before the project office closed. I thought he was exaggerating....
The CH-148 order was placed in 2004. I wonder how long the EH101 would have been in service by now....