after following this thread for a while now I have come to the knowlegde alot of people have different opinions on everything which is what makes aviation so much fun!
The extension of the trial is probably the NTG shock at how much it actually costs to operate 4 new or revised nearly new aircraft.
Years ago when the now ex contrator to the government went in and said these aircraft are old and we highly recommend new/newer airframes with newer avionincs the NTG went we can't afford that!
What sthe next best thing????
The NT has some of the worst weather conditions in OZ a lot of unprepared strips and alot of icing conditions just have a look at the fuseales of the now defunct airframes. Aircraft get used and abused day in and day out.
the aircraft were sent in to what I recall a 'D' check but as the first a/c ate away a fair chunk of the budget and also the available down time to do all the mods the work packages were scaled down. I mean the depth of the work required was lowered, They did a good job for the time and resources given.
The biggest problem they had with the aircraft was the avionics, old wiring, and hard to get spares stuff that you just can't have sitting there all the time. Even if you had 1 sometimes you needed 4, thats just the way the game goes.
To hear the current operator doesn't even have an MEL how are they operating?
mind you aircon, pressurisation and wx are all groundable defects regardless of MEL or not.
But hey lets not forget why the contract was removed from the contractor failure to fly in and out of Katherine with a wallaby issue, how many people have hit someting of that size before?
It's not a nice feeling imagine hitting one on t/o or landing, i have seen the damage done by such an animal and larger on a king air and lets just say they both lost! The a/c does fly again but...
We all want to play with new and modern a/c and peoples passions are always great to see. It pleases me to know that the great Aussie rivalary goes far beyond the holden ford arguement!
Aeroplanes cost millions of dollars both in there standard fitout and as aeromed aircraft go in there highly modified status.
Who wants to spend millions of dollars on something that the client doesn't want to pay for.
In business they teach you many things don't over capitalise never do anything the customer doesnt want, and always try to over achieve with the resources you have. Make the customer happy but rememebr not to send yourself broke doing it.