Originally Posted by
longer ron
Hi Arc
Also the way things 'played out' meant that there was no chance of any campaign/consultation to save any of the VGS's.
It is scandalous that nobody stepped in to oversee changes necessary to keep the gliders airworthy,but they just left it until it broke.It was a fashionable saying some years ago - sometimes you have to leave things until they are broken until you fix them ( I never bought into that myself).
The review that started in 2012 stated (something like) - any changes should have minimum impact on ACO flying - well that worked well.
I also believe they put the 'right' man in for the job (but that is my personal opinion).
Trouble is - in the usual MOD way - any attempt to save money usually ends up costing us lots !
As usual obviously there was no plan in place to replace the fleet,this could have been done in small batches over many years - but one should really have a fleet replacement plan - especially with gliders where the manufacturers capabilities are modest.
Have the gliders reached their maximum hours? I doubt it very much. The airworthiness problem is entirely of the RAF's making, and it seems to me is nothing at all to do with the age of the gliders beyond the people that f*cked up would have had less time to do so with new or newer gliders.
Edit: I said the RAF's fault, but actually I should have said everyone involved with airworthiness. I have no idea if they are all RAF, or ATC, etc.