Then Sarris spoke out about parts going without inspection, faulty repairs and outdated technical manuals for the 50-year-old RC-135s, and all that changed.
The planes, designed to detect such things as troop movements and enemy transmissions, are used heavily over Afghanistan. They have a relatively safe flight record (one crash in 27 years), but documents obtained by The Star reflect troubling maintenance-related incidents.
Indeed, Sarris believed the issues were serious enough to risk lives of crews and the state-of-the-art secret gear aboard.
These will be the same type that we are getting to replace the old, 'unreliable' and dangerous Nimrod Rs then.
(takes off red-top journo mode)