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Old 11th May 2008, 18:12
  #589 (permalink)  
pinho_fap
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Portugal
Age: 45
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Regarding the Portuguese Air Force,

we are currently working with the Merlin on SAR missions only, with one a/c near Lisbon, another one in Porto Santo Island and 2 a/c in the Azores.
By the way, forget about 400 nm range as stated by AW, we have found it very hard to go beyond 350 nm without landing with fumes in the tanks.
We've had the usual spares shortage, for which we are reactivating the "old" Puma (with Makila 1A1 engines). Same as Canada...
We've had an issue with the flight control system where an a/c took off without pilot intervention and another problem with the pitch change link parts, almost causing the loss of an a/c 250 nm from shore.
We don't deploy internationally at the moment.
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