In summer of 1996, the EFA (as it was known) project office wrote to other aircraft offices announcing they had discovered a new phenomenon that would impact support and availability. They termed this “component obsolescence”. They had arranged a “workshop”, to be held in AbbeyWood on 14th August 1996, to which we were invited in case we encountered similar problems.
Intrigued as to why EFA would employ embryos to manage such things, we went along. They had made progress. A stonking great consultancy contract had been let which had proposed a number of strategies which MoD had been invited to consider.
My input was limited to handing the Chair (a) a copy of MoD’s long mandated policy for dealing with component unavailability (of which obsolescence is but one cause) and (b) a copy of AMSO’s ruling from 1991 that these mandated regulations shall no longer be implemented. The observant among you will realise these are part of the basic airworthiness regulations.
Of course, the fact everyone outside EFA knew of this problem didn’t go down well, as it made certain people look foolish. I still have the minutes. They end with: “The current support policy is one of Do Nothing, and this is unlikely to change in the near future. However, it is envisaged this will not prove to be the best policy”. No ****, Sherlock.