Stay of Execution for Lyneham?
 

Strong crewroom gossip doing the rounds. I hardly dare post them here. Something about timescale and funding.

Of the half dozen contingency plans being talked about, the no-brainer is a delayed move.

Recent meetings have been delayed by people falling off their chairs, laughing.

Be nice if they actually built somewhere for us to live. :hmm:.

Oh, before 2015, which is the latest rumour.

Somewhere to live? Don't the Lyneham staff have quarters already?
Surely a short bus ride to and from work would only add another two hours to your work day...

Should this be true, & let's hope so, it will allow those in charge to revisit the figures and conclude that the savings will be smaller than the costs and so we'd be paying to lose the airfield.

Ought to be a no-brainer really, but then I haven't been to ICSC & come out as a 'Stepford Officer'.

Do tell - I want my next posting to be closer to home instead of a bloody 140 mile commute each day :-(

Surely they could put a Herk on to ferry everyone from Lynham to Brize every day???? :p:p:p

Nice idea but the bus is quicker - our mover chums require a 2hr before departure check in.....

I'd heard that the sim move was delayed by 6 months. I imagine that's because having finally looked at it properly it has become apparent that "The Sim" isn't just a building with "The Sim" written on it, but that it is in fact a big mechanical thing....:rolleyes: Seriously though - 6 weeks to move and recommission 2 full motion simulators?? This just shows the level of thought that's gone into this great plan.

Been at Lyneham 15 years now - no particular affection for it however if we're going to move then for f**ks sake do it properly. I can count the improvements and efficiencies gained by the current plan on the fingers of one foot. It's the emperor's new clothes...

On the plus side, there have been some super charts produced showing precisely where the war factories and elephants will go along with the location of the x-wing repair facility. The Stargate seems a little optimistic but good luck to those plucky loons!

So it's a plan perhaps somewhat less cunning than a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?

Quelle surprise.....:hmm:

The bus? The bus? Just how many school buses will they need to drag everyone along the M4/A361 every day?

Could there ever be a breakout of commonsense and the ar$e idea to close Lyneham ever be reversed? Or would the loss of face by the scrambled egg wearers make such a thing impossible......:mad:

Well that was wasted, I was hinting at the fact you would of had to have kept the place open to do this.
;)

Indeed. When I were but a lad (just pull that sandbag over, would you), we minions of the glorious 390MU Working Party would be transported every day from Seletar to Changi in the back of a Bedford 3-tonner :eek: Mind you, arrival time in Changi village was planned such that we had time for an egg banjo :ok:

I wonder what the rather wonderful and proper tory-voting hoorahs that live in Lechlade/Boughton poggs will think of the 2 way rush hour every morning/evening?

It wont get dave elected, thats for sure.

That brings back memories of Akrotiri 1965-67 when dozens of local coaches (of varying antiquity) transported the married folk to and from their Limassol hirings every day. When KD had to be worn on the first day of "summer" the big coach parks took on the appearance of a flasher's convention with hundreds of chaps clad in blue raincoats and KD shorts.

I did that journey on a 150cc scooter. Bloody draughty it was on the 1st day of 'summer'.:eek:

Its interesting to see the Future Brize teams hair visibly greying as they brief people at Brize on thier latest pie in the sky ideas.
After years of yes men manning the phones there, telling people how great its all going to be, having consultation meetings, meetings, more meetings, cups of tea...biscuits etc etc, the present encumbants have suddenly realised THEY will still be in post when its all supposed to happen, and bugger all has been decided.
Why are the original guys not still their to take the flak!!! ......Oh really.. they have been promoted after bigging themselves up.......who would have thought!!!:ugh::ugh::ugh:

In fairness to those currently there...the project was not given the proper resourcing at conception;:ugh: in the early days those doing the initial planning were doing it on the back of a fag packet in addition to their normal day jobs...the pigeons are coming home to roost....it might not be the train crash most of the detractors here seem to wish it to be, but it might just be a reasonably sized RTC. There's going to be a good deal of pain for all involved in Operation 'Eggs in one Small Basket' for a number of years to come....:ugh::ugh::{

Home to duty will not be an issue for us aircrew types as it's already been flagged up that buses will have some fairly serious implications on crew duty.

The latest rumour is that the admin world will be bussed back and forward each day whilst the crews will be able to use their own cars and also get duty mileage rate for the Lyneham to Brize portion of the journey :ok:

I wasn't there for this but try and find out about Woodbridge and Watasham. They were forced onto busses but the NAO or such like said this wasn't the case and backpay was a seen flowing in - might help?

I’m waiting with bated breath to see how Albert’s tactical training requirements will be met when all our AT eggs are squarely in one basket at Brize, with only one runway to cope with everything. And I can just see our friends at Swanwick agreeing to Albert’s tactical climbs and descents through their airspace – after all, it’s not as though L9 and the Alphas get busy, is it?
The suggestion of retaining Lyneham as a ‘super’ RLG for the Hercs was mooted years ago but was firmly quashed; maybe we’ll see it back on the agenda sometime soon?

I'm sorry but all I can hear at the moment is Yakkety sax playing. This monumental balls up will go ne of two ways.

1. someone will see some sense and pull the plug - all you need to do s make up some impressive lies in a spreadsheet and sell it to the egg on Face crowd - should that be face or hat??

2. no-one speaks up apart from the yes men - it goes ahead and there is pain and misery for all concerned.

As a humble ex sootie I had the pleasure of being stationed at Benson but lived in a condemmed block at Halton - daily commute. I was fortunate that my shifts started too early or finished too late to take the bus. 600cc of knee down crotch rocket missile for a wake up, brekkie in the mess (in romper suit) and shower at work. Thats the way to commute. Halton to Benson I was second in the shortest time - **:** as if I am going to admit to it here.

back on topic, why the beancounters are trying to make you all live in one big target is beyond all normal logic. more bases = more jobs = more money in circulation = more spending = more taxes in = more money in coffers = more money for gordy to waste.

Stopstart

15 years at Lyneham, you should understand the dispatch procedures for a herc to depart. Perhaps you are unaware of what is required.

Pax manifest needed. 5 mins before departure...no problems.
Trim sheet needed. 4 mins before departure, printed by on board computer...Oh it a herc and it needs to be completed after the pax have checked in. Then taken to Herc for ALM to check, then pass onto Capt. Bearing in mind the crew tend to be a bit busy 10 mins prior to start up. 2 hours before seems a good time scale

Surely it must be the same for the guys on the line...why do they have a tech ready time, which they try to meet, Or again just open frame 10 mins before departure and hope for the best.