Islander queries - not THOSE Islanders
 

Why did some of the civil-registered aircraft used by military sports parachute clubs also allocated military serials? (The RAF Sports Parachute Association's BN-2T G-DIVE was ZB503, for example, and G-WOTG was ZF444. Why? Were there any others?)

What radar did the 'Platypus' ASTOR Islander (G-DLRA/ZG989) use? Why did the aircraft then get a spherical radome like the AEW Defender? Change of radar to Skymaster? What does it have now, and what's it being used for?

Who was the AEW Islander/Defender aimed at? Did anyone here have anything to do with its shipboard trials (I've only seen a photo of it on the boat and know no details)?

Can anyone give an unclass. idea of the Army Islander AL.Mk 1's equipment fit? Jane's have listed AN/ALQ-144, 'a Lockheed Martin IRCM suite', and a recce fit with a door-mounted Zeiss 610 camera, a vertical Zeiss Trilens 80 mm and a second vertical camera fit, consisting of an F126, or a Zeiss RMK or two KS-153 cameras, or a Vinten F143 panoramic camera.

What caused the accident at Broughton on June 30, 1999?

Is it true that the single AFWF Islander has “joined its brethren with No.1 Flight at RAF Aldergrove”? When did this happen?

What will happen to the Islanders at RAF Aldergrove when Op Banner ends in August 07?

What is the operating unit for the three new Defender AL1s? Is it 651 Squadron? Is 651 notionally at Odiham?

Are they any good? Are the Hairy Arm Corps pleased with them?

Where do babies come from?

What do occasional tables do the rest of the time?

So many questions, so little time?

wgaf?

Humor: 4/10
Effort to be funny: 10/10
Help: 0/10

Soooo many questions, is it a tight deadline?:oh:

Care? Priceless.

Boy,

No, not especially. Just a few loose ends that it would be nice to tie up.

And the faint hope that someone will come up with something funny or colourful in the Islander anecdote line.....

I'd hope that none of what I've asked is sensitive, which is why there are no questions on roles, tactics, the current op deployment, the new Defenders' fit, or about the Northolt cabs.

Why is abbrevation such a long word?

Why does all water, whether deep or shallow, only come halfway up a duck?

A thermos flask keeps hot things hot and cold things cold. But how does it know which to do?

The only reason the Islander has such good short take-off performance is due to the intense vibration causing molecular resonance and consequential local vacuum effects over the upper wing surfaces.....

No idea what caused the Broughton prang (although I saw the wreck at Bembridge). However, when the Hampshire police wrote off an Edgeley Optica a week or so after acquiring it, no-one needed to wait for the BoI to establish the cause.........






























It was very simple: Pigs Can't Fly.

BEagle

Slightly below your usual standard, considering two hard-working Hampshire officers were killed in the Optica crash. :=

Sorry - very poor taste.

RIP.

The cause was never fully established. However, comment was expressed at the fact that neither occupant held a professional pilot's licence.

Well as the equipment fit may be sensitive, the unclassified answer must be:

Several Black Boxes, Some Grey boxes, associated lights (Possibly Red/Green/Amber in color - some bright and others dim) and a few switches.

Oh, and not forgetting a handful of fuses/cct breakers.

Jacko, all you need to know will be on the internet. If it aint there.....you don't need to know....






The only Q I can (will) answer is that the AAC are very happy with the aircraft. Just ask anyone on 1 (Resettlement) Flight. (Full IFR, Twin fixedwing rating etc, etc..) :hmm:

I'm told that the camera fit info in Jane's came straight off a display board at an IAT some years ago, so presumably that, at least, is unclass.

The Army website is pants, but I was hoping that there might have been something in an Aldergrove station magazine, presentation, or somesuch.


Beags,

The duck thing is a load of old 'quack'. The water in the stream in my village at the mo doesn't come halfway up a duck.

....A restricted document. So, again no leads there poindexter. :}

Restricted?

Blimey. Must be the only one that is.

I did two tours on the plank so I know a bit about it.

The camera fit suggested earlier in the thread is pretty accurate for when I was doing it but things have probably moved on a bit by now. We also trialled a pod camera in one of the underwing tank positions which was almost impossible to use and I understand it was reallocated to the Harrier Fleet.

This pod also needed to be plugged into the mains when on the ground to keep the environmental control package going. So I said to this boffin..."What happens if we taxy with the cable still connected?" he says "Millions of pounds worth of damage!!" I says "Better put a break in the cable" he says "Won't need that!!" I says "Will" So they relented and did, only for one of my brothers to test it in week one!!

In the Broughton accident, a lot was learnt at the cost of some serious injuries, thankfully my mate was not hurt too bad.

Mega experienced QFI takes mega experienced fixed-wing pilot on an IR renewal. On the go around the QFI initiates a single engine failure by retarding the engine condition lever. Sadly he misses the poxy little notch which indicates the idle gate and inadvertantly selects Fuel Off - Feather. Engine responds exactly as advertised.

In the ensuing melee, whilst trying to restart the engine, they forget that the plank will only climb at Vsec +/- 0 and come into contact with trees. The rest is history.

They stored the Platypus at Aldergrove for a while, and wanted us to ground run it occasionally to keep it going. So I got volunteered and when I set fire to the tarmac with the APU, they decide it wasn't such a good idea after all!

Otherwise great plane, great job, loved it.

No, I think you will find most are due to names and locs being published. Not the sort of things youd find in WH Smiths are they? Really only designed for people on or directly connected to the stations.

WG13 dummy,

I know a fair few station magazines and I don't know any of them that are restricted, any more than RAFN or Navy News are. The Lion's Roar, for example, is distributed free to any interested civvy via the local village Post Office, as are other Oxonian and Hantsorian base magazines.


What Limits,

Excellent! Many thanks for an informative reply.

Fascinating that you had the Platypus at Aldergrove. When was that, roughly?

I wasn't going to ask about the GP(1) trial - I thought that probably had been sensitive commercially if not militarily!

Jacko

Your timing is worringly similar to a certain well-known plastics company re-releasing their scale Islander. This wouldn't be an attempt to build models of all the current RAF/AAC/RN aircraft and present all nine to Des as a souvenir of his time in office, by any chance? :E

Jacko I think Aldergrove's location would be ample reason for the station mag to be restricted.:rolleyes:

Anyway, what shipboard trials?

Greenie,

No. I was unaware that Airfix were re-releasing their Islander.

I am, however, spotterish enough to know that there's was an Islander and the current AAC/RAF aircraft are all Turbine Islanders (and that three are Defender 4000s), and I'd lack the skills required to convert 'em.

I also know that I'd need twelve kits, not nine, if I were to build all the current UK military registered members of the Islander family (Six AAC Islander AL1s, three Defender AL1s, one RAF CC2, one RAF CC2A and ZG989). And one hell of a lot of grey paint......


Webf,

But the Emerald Toilet is now just another part of the UK, surely.

As for shipborne trials, there is a photo of the AEW Defender on the deck of a grey funnel lines carrier. Dunno which one. Dunno when. Dunno even if it was a foreign branch of grey funnel.....