Wanna see my Wokka

[chinook240]

Not the latest, but it puts a cost on the fixed to field option.

http://www.nao.org.uk/report/ministry-of-defence-chinook-mk3-helicopters/

[Capot]

Thanks for that link......the report makes grim reading;

"In 2004, the Committee of Public Accounts described the original procurement of the Chinook Mk3 Helicopter as "one of the worst examples of equipment procurement" that it had seen. This report follows on from the Committee’s concerns and examines whether the Department has taken appropriate steps to make the eight Chinook Mk3s operational."

The Mk 3 Chinooks are identified as the 8 non-operational ones.

From that I got to the National Audit Office's "Major Project Reports" on the MoD for the years 2008 - 2011. This revealed an astonishing catalogue of hugely expensive delays, financial and management incompetence and buck-passing by the Civil Servants of the MoD; "hugely expensive" meaning errors measured in hundreds of millions, or billions, of pounds.

We all know that this is the case, but I have never seen it quantified!

The 2011 NAO report mentions Chinooksbut with no particular information about the Mk 3 ones.

So the question remains; are those 8 aircraft still non-operational, or did they go into service eventually? You might want to use Tor to reply.....

PS I have discovered a previous thread on this, which ran from 2003 - 2009!

[Mad_Mark]

I can see why he is the co-pilot and not the pilot, as P1 he would need to put his hands on the controls every now and then and not have them glued to his waist

Yes Sled Dog, I think it was

[The Nr Fairy]

Many years ago, I was fortunate enough to spend an hour and a bit in one of the three Chinook sims at Benson.

For a 70 hour PPL(H) at the time, it made my flying look really good - awesome piece of kit.

And the two individuals who were there - if you remember it, thanks very much !

[Capot]

I'm bringing this back to the top of the thread in the hope that someone knows whether the 8 Mk 3 Chinooks have indeed gone into service, or remain one of many reasons why some senior civil servants should either be in jail or sacked without a pension, or both.

[Chinny Crewman]

Yes they have been flying for a number of years now.

[Capot]

Thank you for that; at least some stories have a happy ending. I must try and keep up more.

[dragartist]

Civil Servants?

Capot, can you please explain your comments about Civil Servants being jailed?

I worked on the Chinook in 1981 and love this aircraft, one of my last tasks in the Department in 2011 was to develop another capability for this airframe which was exploited in Afg. (I did other stuff in between)

I trawled through the NAO report from cover to cover. Yes I can see how the PAC drew the conclusions they did which were echoed in the NAO report. There is some good technical stuff in the report I thought would have been classified.

Who sits (or sat) on the IAB? Who raised the BC with recommendations for all of these procurement activities? can't ever remember a Civilian Chinook IPTL. Or head of JHC, DEC ALM, DSF, DG hels, or any of the other stakeholders listed in the NAO Report.

I am not suggesting that Civil Servants were not part of the team or culpable for some of the poor decision making. But honestly..... You can PM me if you don't wish to put a name or names in the Public Domain.

[MG]

Chinook Thread Degenerates into Mk3 Bashing - Official

Good, the usual twisting of a Chinook thread into 'what happened to the Mk3 is criminal and all involved should be hanged'.
I don't think the display crew have any great connection to that little bit of Chinook history. Can't we just celebrate the great aircraft that it is, as a lot on here have?
Chinook240 - shame on you, you played along! (don't mean it mate, luv & hugs, as always!)

[gijoe]

MG - agreed.

I say again, great piece of gear.

Absolutely fit for purpose and Afg would have been in a quandry without it.

G

[Tourist]

Oh I'm sure we could have found some Mi17s to do the job instead...

[gijoe]

Really? Where? Do tell?

Anyway, rotors go round the wrong way.

[Evalu8ter]

The Mi-17 is a great alternative to Merlin, but simply cannot compete with a CH47; power, tail rotor authority and avionics/mission kit to name but 3 areas.

Anyway, we may have mentioned the Mk3 but at least we've not brought up FADEC or MoK....ooops....

[Capot]

Capot, can you please explain your comments about Civil Servants being jailed?

Certainly can; it's later in your post;

I am not suggesting that Civil Servants were not part of the team or culpable

Wasting hundreds of millions of pounds drawn from public funds should be a jailing offence. If they simply stole it they would be locked up.

Have you ever thought about where the Armed Forces would be if all the money frittered away by corruption and incompetence in the MoD had been used properly?

I know, it's not just an MoD problem. And I know that the politicians play a role in wasting money. And I also know that nothing will change so long as people are prepared to tolerate the corruption and incompetence, even make excuses for it.

So let's drop it there and get back to Chinooks, eh?

(In the 1980's I listened for 2 hours to a 2 Naval officers and 2 Civil Servants from MoD, sitting across the aisle in a train, discussing how to rig a tender process to ensure that a particular supplier would win a 10-year contract for a very expensive service. I was in fact going to the same meeting as they were. I was requested not to report this criminal discussion, because doing so would be too embarrassing for too many. I complied, not being then the stroppy sod I am now.
I was also closely involved with the tender process for the new runway at Port Stanley; a cost-plus project that became so corrupt in MoD that at least 2 major construction companies, well-used to managing third-world corruption, pulled out when it got too much for them.
Since that time, that kind of approach has been pretty much normalised, which is why tax-payers' funds, in billions, go up the spout every year.)