Firstly, I was impressed that the Sec of State said " I am sorry". That honesty is long overdue from this Government. Finally, my thoughts are with the families of a team of fine aviators that died doing their bit. For that I am personally grateful.
Fine words FMT, I agree and I have changed my view of Des Browne over this, he is obviously a decent man.
I am troubled by the response from Kinloss, I think some of you just don't get how serious this is. These 14 people were killed by negligence, systemic failures that resulted in one tank having been fixed but the other still overflowing due to pipes that couldn't take the gas on board quickly enough. I read the RAF Chief Engineers comments with dismay. He even had the temerity to blame the lack of incident reports on this very common problem as a reason for not fixing the other tank. A safety review had occurred on the age of the airframe, but the aircraft systems were not reviewed? The aircraft seals had not been maintained? Some were 38 years old? An aircraft goes in to get its fuel leaks fixed and is signed off with a majority of leaks still there. The words of a very experienced engineering contact
Seepage from integral tanks is fairly normal, we have ****/**** which regularly have a wet stain on the lower surface of the wing. Provided we can positively identify where the seep is originating then we can issue a tech log entry for repair at next "C" check, which could be 18 months into the future, provided that the seep does not become a weep or leak. The airframe that left equalised servicing with fuel leaks beggars belief.
The lack of training for engineers, the belief that the pipe that killed the boys was cold? The failure to shut off air to that pipe even though an aircraft was written off after a hot air leak on that very same fuel tank?
The list is endless. This is totally unprecedented, the MoD are paying up, no questions asked but senior people in the RAF are still saying this is nothing to do with the age of the aircraft.
And Sir Glenn Torpy and his sidekick AOC 2Gp insist on sending his boys up NFF fuel leaks. Not f****g Fixed, no way of testing.
This is an utter disgrace, please don't whine at the people who have campaigned,
Maybe Torpy would like to explain, why, 4 major leaks after the loss of XV230 he has finally stopped AAR. I am all ears.
Last edited by nigegilb; 7th Dec 2007 at 09:27.