99,

So there were no costs incurred by having 250 odd personnel stuck in that location for 48 hrs?

Separation allowance costs alone would be in the order of 250 x £10 x 2 = £5000. That's probably a minimum, then there are costs of food, accommodation (yes, I know - huts), etc. Lots of hidden costs that wouldn't have been incurred if the flight had got away on time.....

Seems another case of "price of everything and value of nothing"

it's about the people, how many guys and girls left stranded for 48 hours in very basic conditions, while a company that costs 1M per day gets it's act together. If that was a normal commercial operator they would be paying HOTAC costs and tickets home FAA, not leaving brave young troops laying on a floor with no shower's etc while they sorted a wheel out..
They can have the best despatch rate in the world but their customer services needs an overhaul. Oh no they have a captive market and long contract, so no changes required.

Genuine question, not a dig, why didn't they use dhl or FedEx priority to get the bits there? Or did they have a mahoosive jack to get there too?

Could this have been the problem? It's all good having a tyre, not much use without the tools to fit it?

I suspect the Spanish airbus military have something to do with this...Cobham had the same problem. Although its an airbus part if it doesn't come from an airbus military approved supplier then it cant be fitted...
Pedro in Spain (well his brother actually) can supply it at only 2 times the civil price...bargain!

Biggus

To your costs you can add the hotel bill for the flight crew. As "99" will no doubt be aware, the huts are simply incompatible with crew rest (despite being used for weeks at a time by visiting dets). Let's conservatively assume 6 rooms downtown at £100pn, there's another £1200.... then they get some subsistence allowance..... 10 pers at £30pn, another £600ish. Presumably there are some costs being incurred in the UK by pax who were supposed to have been moved on the frame's next movement as well. Damn, that wheel is looking cheap!

Can someone tell me how much it cost the UK taxpayer to finance the hotac and allowances for the VC10 and Tristar aircraft crews, scattered across the globe, unserviceable/ awaiting spares over the years and also, how many service personnel have been delayed as a result of this?
I remember, from my VC10 AGE days, it taking us 10 days to deploy to Nellis to take part in a Red Flag exercise because our K3 went Tech at every stop on the way. When we finally arrived we also had to replace one of the engines! Occurrences like this were commonplace and made life for the engineers very interesting.
I believe that a Tristar recently took several weeks to return to Brize from Red Flag due to technical issues with a main gear door?
Voyagers MAR aircraft have a 98% dispatch rate and the CAR aircraft 99%, which are comparable to civilian airline OTP/ dispatch rates.
The military, SR and civilian personnel who operate and support these aircraft are doing a fantastic job in achieving these figures and are always striving to get our boys and girls home on time every time.

Mr Snow,

Apples and pairs. When the Voyagers are as old as the Tristars currently are, i.e. in more than 30 years time, what will their dispatch rate be then? Probably considerably less than 98%!! :ugh:

Also, how many locations around the world can currently supply tech support and spares for a Tristar or VC-10??

The question was, what were the costs incurred in a 48 hour delay of a Voyager, which appeared to be avoidable if help was sourced locally, and, perhaps more importantly, how robust are the arrangements for obtaining spares and support around the world for what is essentially a civil aircraft in widespread commercial use.

I have no doubts that everyone who operates and supports these aircraft are doing their best, as indeed did/do VC-10 and Tristar personnel before then. However, they can only work within the constraints of the system that has been set up for them - does this include access to spares and support from commercial third parties around the world, or are they always required to go down the "self help" route?

I have no doubt the single biggest factor in not popping to the stores shed in the next airport would've been trying to get the thing into Minhad. UAE customs quite simply doesn't do flexibility - I have personal experience of this - so getting it on the next in-bound flight to the airfield was likely the quickest thing to do.

a_t_g,

Thanks for the input!

Biggus - not sure if that was a pisstake or not....

Can anyone tell me how much 10.5 billion over 27 years equates to as a daily cost?

Assuming 1 billion = 1,000,000,000,000.

Thanks, my brain can't cope. :sad:

a_t_g,

Not! :ok:


lj101,

Even in English now 1Bn is normally 1,000,000,000.

(10.5 x 1,000,000,000)/(27 x 365) is £1,065,449 according to my calculator!!

Biggus

Thanks

I should have read it properly.

My point was really about how any delay, whether it is technical or operational, costs money. The VC10 and Tristar AT/AAR fleet are costly to operate and very unreliable.

The Government cocked up years ago by keeping the VC10 and Tristar in service too long. Maintenance and operational costs rose as reliability fell. Now they have no money so they have had to pay for the replacement aircraft on the 'never, never'.
Of course it is going to cost more but it would appear that there is no other option?

It is hard to accept, but ATrS are providing a service that the MOD were unable to do due to the government's lack of forward thinking. Moving on......

Since that "unfortunate" incident, how many times has the question been asked of their cabin crew, " Are there any spare mainwheels here in Minehead now?"

I think a more relevant question is , "are the spares we are carrying in date?"

All well and good slating the Tri*, but remind me, can Voyager fly into Bastion...?? :rolleyes:

No, because it wasn't brought to do that.

Quote atg,"No, because it wasn't brought to do that".

Oh yes it was supposed to.... along with several other core tasks!;)

OAP