Speaking of Pumas I was driving up the M40 yesterday at 11.00 ish and a Puma came over the carriageway lower than I've ever seen a helicoter in flight not at an airshow. It could not have been more than 60-70 feet high, possibly lower.

And your point is?

Just as well they were authorised to fly at 50ft then! All perfectly above board and legal.

Yes Puma front end crews still get to the cockpit through the cabin and between the broom cupboards.

No point. I was just having a chat, friendly like. It's not every day that a bloody great helicopter flits across a motorway that low in front of you. That's all.

they usually fly alongside the motorway. Must be easier to read maps that way....

I thought that they had got over that. IIRC is was when a Puma was being guarded by a gunner at Woolwich who got bored and fiiddled with the pilot's door jettison lever. He put it back but the indicator wire went back to its original position. When the young Michael was flying it back the door jettisoned itself. That was in 1972. After that the doors were locked and we had to crawl in the back.
I cannot think of any other Puma/Super Puma/EC225 crews that do that worldwide.

The only dignified way to enter a Puma is through the starboard cargo door... :E

Or if you forgot the keys through the load hatch!!!

Why bother opening a door when you have a man (or maness) to do it for you. A door has been lost since the event mentioned when a 'visitor' fiddled and it was missed on pre-flight walk around. (NI IIRC) Besides which it is windy and wet far more often then nice weather and the cabin is usefull to doff ones kit (LCJ / helmet / armour / weapon ) whilst keeping warm and dry.

A suggestion, for what it is worth; nothing to do with getting in and out of the doors because if a door is inadvertantly jettisoned it doesn't matter if the door is locked or not.
In 1978 a Bristow 330J lost the pilots door through reasons unknown; probably somebody fiddling;or the pilots nav bag interfering with a jettison lever as the nav bag went with the door. To reduce the chances of it happening again the indicator wire was moved to the inside lever so it was part of the cockpit checks and a frangible plastic cover was placed over it. The wire was touchable around the cover and it was designed so that it fell away from the vertical if broken. There has not been a case of a door falling away since and the doors are frequently used by the pilots during offshore operations. On top of that offshore workers are notorious fiddlers.
At that time there was a fair amount of communication on the technical side between the RAF and Bristows, (it took a long time for Bristows to get their engine alignment tool back from Odiham) so this modification, approved by the CAA, would have been known to the RAF. Whether they followed it up I do not know so it may well have been done.
Just a thought, anyway.

Really? Perhaps in your part of the World. Few of us venture that far forward as we prefer to stay in the cabin and get some zeds in en-route. "More kip, less trip."

What the hell was he doing up there, so high?

;)

Will Puma Survive?
 

.................. No!

Whats the latest on P2? Is it still happening? Do we have the first one in the UK yet? The cockpit pics look quite impressive!

It's happening.

Yep, £14 million per airframe for how many years return of service? Has someone in the RAF got compromising photos of MPs and thus blackmailing them in to squandering the budget on P2?

One could easily say exactly the same about either Wildcat variant or Merlin 2, so steady there...

I heard £2m per airframe, not sure about the planned exit date of Pu2, but I heard Eurocopter are content the airframe is a simble box and really isn't subject to fatigue, so potentially, like most MOD aircraft, I expect it will have every last drop of life squeezed from it before they finally retire them.

wg13 & lottery winner et al
 

Let it go, move on, Puma Mk2 lives and is moving forward. You must be FAA? Remind me how much for Wildcat HMA (around twice that). How much for the great (grey) elephant of the Merlin Mk2 to Mk4 CSP upgrade? Spreadsheet Phil, I imagine, knows a good deal when he sees one and he'd probably recognise Merlin CSP isn't one of them. Were he to acknowledge that, he may call a halt to the nonsensical Green Merlin Mk3 marinisation. Sense would prevail, transition to the RN canx and Merlin Mk3 would remain where it currently resides - with RAF SH providing Land Lift to the Army (apologies to CHF). Spreadsheet Phil (or his successor, or the next govt) actually might try (or be enforced) to balance the books. Following on from Harrier, they might cancel (or sell on completion) the carriers, canx Dave B/C and the boats and the landing craft. Just like MPA and the demise of Nimrod MRA4, we wouldn't be in the LitM game anymore....

£339,000,000 ÷ 28 = £14,125,000. (reduced to 24)

Concur with cost/point of Wildcat

WG,
Be careful with your numbers; that quoted figure for P2 probably includes several years worth of support costs - it's unlikely to be just for design, parts and manufacture. P2 will be a superb airframe, and will outperform the Merlin in most areas and give the CH47 a run for its money in others.

I think history won't be kind to the acquisition and running costs v capability arguement for Wildcat, Me 2 and, particularly, Me 4....

OSD 2025? Highly unlikely IMHO (unless AW are going bust again)....