Military King Air at Whyalla
 

Folks,
There is a military King Air that has been parked at Whyalla airport, some claim for over three months.
It is out in the open and doesn’t seem to be a goer. Does anyone know what the story is?
You would think it could be put into a hangar for protection? It must be a very valuable aircraft.
Tootle pip!!

The RAAF doesn't own it, Hawker Pacific does.

Maybe related?

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Jeebus, my whole aircraft is painted with strontium chromate primer!

Two more parked in front of Hawkers BNE have not moved in months either.

About time this made Prune. All RAAF King Airs grounded for some time because of cancer fears.
Would of thought they would of told other operators / pilots of this perceived risk so they could at least consider it. But no didn't say a word to others except Beech. By the time word got out to a few it was all over and as far as I know there back in the air

Been nice knowing you, Sunfish. Hope you weren't welding, brazing, or grinding stainless steel regularly, without a suitable mask. Same goes for spraying the SC primer. :eek: Hexavalent Chromium compounds are nasty stuff. :(

Are these some of the military operated aircraft that have a full CASA approved ADSB dispensation to save the military money?

Oh FFS. Here we go again...:rolleyes:

They have ADS-B fitted.

Nice try Dick, but the RAAF King Air fleet has ADS-B fitted.

How many times do you have to be told Dick? Do you think it's a conspiracy of silence and denial and you're hoping your subtle repetition will cause a deep throat to spill the beans?

So, I think what Dick is trying to say is that having ADSB in a military aircraft causes cancer?
No wonder they are getting dispensations!

The cause was something like the air con mixing bowl being incorrectly primed? This led to carcinogenic fears and the mass grounding. Seeing as we the tax payer paid to have it sorted out shouldn't they tell us what the outcome was.

Apparently you "pause" a fleet rather than "ground" a fleet as it would be too hard to get them back into the air and pausing doesn't arouse too much interest and keeps casa out of the loop as its not a airworthiness matter

I wonder if any of the RFDS pilots were informed, probably the same component on a 200

and keeps casa out of the loop as its not a airworthiness matter

Not so, apparently.

While CASA has no "official" interest in State aircraft, a mate tells me that the relevant Contract for the KingAir operation requires a drop copy of defect reports to go through the normal CASA defect notification process.

So who is paying for this? The taxpayer I bet !

To ground the fleet where ever they happened to be ( ie Whyalla ) it must of been viewed very seriously. Surely worthy of warning / advising other operators.

The aircraft might be operated by the RAAF, but they are leased from Hawker Pacific, as posted previously. Hawker Pacific also has the contract to provide engineering and logistics support for the duration of the lease. Surely any necessary notifications to CASA, the manufacturer and other operators would be Hawker's responsibility, not the RAAF's.

Sounds like a serious cover up. Only reason why aircraft would be left in the open like this.

There must be a real answer. Hasn't appeared yet on this thread!

All right, here you go then.

At huge expense to the taxpayer, they're having all the ADSB gear ripped out. After that, they'll be used to blockade Williamtown airspace, with the specific aim of forcing young families either out to sea or over the Barrington Tops.