He he ! Yet to see any transport op, planned from a desk at home base, come out 'as per plan'. But then, how can you expect a bloke driving a desk to have any real insight?
I proffer the following :
When the Hutoos were chopping up Tootoos (forgive my spelling) I, as a Chief Tech Herk GE was told to organise a detachment to Tanzania in support of relief work to Kigali Airport. Having set up all the usual "ranger pack" stuff, and having seen that Kigali had been attacked by mortars etc, and that UN aircraft had gone in there and suffered damage to tyres, I requested that at least two main wheels and a set of nosewheels be added to the spares pack. OC eng said no way, you will not need them and obviously such planning is beyond your capabilities. He appointed a recently arrived JENGO to take charge of the Eng Det. Suffice to say, the young lady had a great time. I did as I was told and did not fly on the Dar es Salaam to Kigali legs, and remained on the ground at D.E.S until the second last trip.
Like all GEs I think I had a reasonable justification in doing the last leg of the 'route' so I went as GE on second last trip. On the ground at Kigali I collected, in around 15 minutes, about 12 pounds of various shrapnel off the pan we were parked on. I brought this back to Lyneham as a souvineer for OC Eng. on landing at D.E.S. I found an aircraft looking set up like it needed a wheel change, and, was told that OC Eng Det ( the very new young lady) had requested a Herc Tyre to be sent, by BA, to D.E.S. the reason, not shrapnel, but a worn tyre.
I had a word with the Captain due to fly this aircraft, empty, back to Akrotiri. A smashing chap from N.I. called Tim. I swap port front for port rear (the worn one, and first to hit the ground). One launch one Landing, can you run with this if I green line it ? Luckily, I had previous time down route with this captain, who said "if I was worried, would you fly on the aircraft ?" . My response was definitely yes, and if required I would happily accompany the aircraft to Akrotiri where a spare wheel was available. Crew took the aircraft, I cancelled the request for a tyre ( which we had no way of changing anyway) and then, after return to Lyneham, had the one way interview with OC Eng, who actually asked why I had not taken spare main wheels with me. I certainly believe that had I not gone for my Kigali tick, the situation would not have arisen. And therefore regret the situation I left the JENGO in. Having said that I did do the test with the bucket of water before doing the trip, and found my expendabilty quotient
I bet loads of us have been there and wondered whether we did something wrong. But me, personally, have always believed in taking advice from people who have "hands on" experience.
Apologies for the thread creep, but the escapade seems to fit with the way things are going.
Smudge