Why wouldn't the jet be available for tasking? That sounds like gross negligence from AMSA & Cobham if they had no coverage!

You said it first.

The 604 sim is going non stop in ml at the moment, or at least looks that way to me.

Getting Sim endorsements doesn't help get them over the line to be online in Perth. A little bit more to it than that.

XNC was damaged today too, during drop tests the stores hit the lower engine cowl, little damage but i don't think CASA was happy...

That's the second time one of the aircraft have been damaged during trials.... Not good.

So if a store can hit the engine cowl, what are the chances of a chute getting sucked into the intake? That would be a bad thing, right? Would the 604 recover from a engine failure at low level & low speed and be able to climb & return? Or should they be adding floats to it?

How can they expect to do SAR and drop to people in distress if they can't get it right on training flights

Let's all throw our hands in the air, give up, and walk away. :ugh:

In the meantime what asset is online to respond to a SAR on the west coast? Why was the challenger not fully tested prior to delivery? Let us hope no lives lost over a dodgy contract.

The answer to your first question is there isn't. As the the second question thats a very good question.

Isn't that the whole point of training flights? You know, to train?

Indeed it is but when the aircraft keeps getting hit by the stuff they throw out indicates to me they haven't got it right.

Ultimately there will be concessions made and procedures developed to throw something out with a reasonable level of safety, however this will mean the current array of AMSA stores will be cut back. Larger stores which are most useful for survivors will not be feasible, accuracy is assured to be well out of present tolerences. AMSA always wanted to be able to grow into bigger and a more varied range of despatchable items, including guided stores. We can forget about that. This is probably why they resisted employing experienced current operators, there would have been too many red flags raised too soon, only a token few made it across.

Yes, this is a big part of the problem. And, they couldn't attract the right caliber of new blood either, with the package on offer. I'm not holding my breath...

http://some.ly/KFqg8a

Wrong speeds, wrong cargo door, wrong aircraft. Border force might be getting some flash jets in the near future and AMSA will be scratching their heads wondering how they ended up with 3 clapped out Dash8s. Maybe it was the plan all along?

A week since the start of the CL604 contract in Perth and still no coverage....Hmm

Wait till the media finds out there is no coverage, or someone is missing & the families want to know what they did to to "temporarily" cover till the jets are ready.....

Crab fisherman missing from boat off WA's Gascoyne coast - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A dedicated search aircraft would be handy right about now. It is almost unforgivable that a gap in capability be on the west coast. Heads should roll.

Incomprehensible. 2 weeks ago there was coverage but we all know what happened then. But don't worry Cobham will have it sorted. Just don't ask them as you won't get an answer.