PPRuNe Forums - UK NPAS discussion: thread Mk 2

PPRuNe Forums (https://www.pprune.org/)

- Rotorheads (https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads-23/)

- - UK NPAS discussion: thread Mk 2 (https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/473735-uk-npas-discussion-thread-mk-2-a.html)

Any truth in the rumour that our NPAS has announced, at the recent Police Aviation Conference in Bonn, the purchase of 6 fixed winged aircraft?

The Police Aviation Conference - PavCON

Did they part chop a couple of high hour T2's and a 902 for the Deposit ?

Let's see - SIX Fixed wings .......

North, South, East, West, Central and a spare ?

Anyone operating rotary at an airstrip getting worried ?

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...conuttySad.jpg

I think we should all be afraid, very afraid. Does anyone else get the feeling of an expanding tooshie in preparation of an unexpected rear end delivery?

Best get the KY ready !!!!

Winsor, scourge of the force, set for top police job

Quote:

The man who infuriated rank-and-file police officers with his plans for radical reforms of the service is set to take on one of the most important jobs in British policing, it emerged last night.

Tom Winsor, the former rail regulator, will become the first person without a police or service background to take on the job of Chief Inspector of Constabulary for more than 150 years if his appointment to the £195,000-a-year job is confirmed.

The decision prompted immediate anger from many officers following two controversial reviews into police pay and conditions which recommended changes to generous pension provisions and called for financial penalties for unfit officers and an end to the bar on compulsory redundancies.

Tom Winsor has been named as favourite by the Home Secretary Theresa May to replace Sir Denis O'Connor when he retires at the end of July.

remember what was said earlier...
Home Secretary Theresa May has rejected an accusation of a conflict of interest in Lincolnshire Police's decision to award a £200m contract to G4S.

...and a little further back...!

Quote:

All this was inspired by the principle--which is quite true within itself--that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.

Adolf Hitler , Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X

So with the possibility of fixed wing and rotary operations does:
1. New Chief Pilot of NPAS require both fixed and rotary wing licences and experience?
2. Is there more expense of two chief pilots, one rotary and one fixed wing
You really get the impression this hasn't been fully worked through.
Why should I be surprised!

Anyone able to tell us the fixed wing met limits please?

Just wondered, as 'we' deploy on many jobs ideal for fixed wing ac, but looking at the holiday flights as they depart out of here for better climes, they are disappearing into the cloud quite soon ;)

What happens when 'fixed wing flt' spend days/hours planning a mission, to discover come L-Hour, that the met is pants.....do they have to call out the rotary flt? :ok:

Noticed that Manchester has an EC135 on the pad at Barton. Is this a 'positive' for NPAS? If the 902 is on maintenance there is a spare available?
Mind you, if you are not dual rated it could be a good holiday.....

The 902 is offline for a while, the other local assets are covering.

I wasn't fishing for info. The local units have covered each other for years. What I meant was that there is a 135 based at Barton at the minute. This must be a positive sign, because in the past the other units would have covered from their home bases.

All happening at Barton. :suspect:

Non existant NPAS spare aircraft mysteriously appearing and a fixed wing trial that noone knows about resulting in the rumoured purchase of 6 aircraft, despite a 2 year trial ongoing in S.Wales!

26 Jan '12
Acpo said a trial of a fixed-wing aircraft would take place at a base in south Wales over the next two years.

:confused::confused::confused:

'Mushroom Flight checking in !'

Quote:

This must be a positive sign, because in the past the other units would have covered from their home bases.

...if those home bases were better placed for a brew & biccie, ... I mean suck of gas and int update ;)

Quote:

What I meant was that there is a 135 based at Barton at the minute.

Not as such. Barton is sometimes used as a FOB when the 902 is away. At the moment it's on it's 4 week annual inspection. `:eek:

Quote:

The position expressed at RUSI in April was that there was always one fixed wing and one could expect more in the future.

As an outsider looking in, and following the roll out I npas with interest.

I am acutely aware of the need to save money, and centralise servicing, training and reduce the current fleet from 33? To 24?

If this is the case, and like I said earlier I am no practitioner, but where would the money come from, for 6 fixed wings.

Which leads me to my next related point, other than dedicated surveillance wing, is there really a place for a non flexible runway based aircraft in the day to day world of police aircraft.

The ability to stay airborne longer only becomes useful with protracted operations, my understanding is most police tasking are sorties of less than 60 minutes.

This in my view is no more than rumour, unless there are long term plans to support protracted police operations.

PLUG complete. :eek:

NPAS have changed all the wording in their documents and it no longer mentions the word or the fact NPAS stands for saving money.

An anagram of NPAS is SNAP;

Stretch anything too far and it will :eek:

Quote:

..... it no longer mentions the word or the fact NPAS stands for saving money.

I think everyone and anyone in the know had realised that NPAS was not going to save any money,
and looked like it was going to cost MORE for the same service that was provided pre-NPAS,
even with the "savings" of scrapping nine airframes.

How do things stand now then, with all those Police Chiefs and Police Authorities - who only ever agreed to join NPAS "in principle" ?

The principle WAS that that joining NPAS would save money, and provide a more efficient service ?

If NPAS are now admitting that there won't be any savings, do the Police Chiefs & Police Authorities get to reconsider
their earlier "in principle" agreement, or are they just going to bend over and take it ( so to speak ),
when Mr. Herbert forces it through anyway, regardless of whether the end result will be more expensive AND less efficient ??? :ugh:

Do the NPAS documents still mention anything at all about providing an improved or more efficient service ? :rolleyes:

The whole thing stinks. :yuk:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...conuttySad.jpg

Tory calls for rethink to save police chopper

Quote:

Published: 11/06/2012 14:00 - Updated: 11/06/2012 15:30

http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/i...%20250x187.jpg

One of the candidates for Bedfordshire’s police and crime commissioner is calling for the authority to ‘look again’ at plans to close the county’s police helicopter base.
Conservative Bernard Rix says shutting the current base at RAF Henlow next year and moving the helicopters outside the county would leave residents, particularly in rural areas, at risk of not being reached in time during emergency situations.

One very interesting quote from the article;
“The whole proposal needs to be looked at again, the information isn’t in the public domain as much as it needs to be.”

Next year???? How about in 6 months and two weeks!!!!!!

Quote:

MP calls for police helicopter cut rethink
Wednesday, June 13, 2012

WITH the Wales Air Ambulance on a call-out in Monmouthshire, efforts to rescue 14-year-old Luke Somerfield from a quarry north of Ammanford were carried out by the Dyfed- Powys Police helicopter.

This helicopter is likely to be lost in 2014 as part of police cuts.

But in light of last week's tragedy, MP Jonathan Edwards has written to Home Secretary Teresa May urging a rethink on what he considers to be a vital service.

"Given the topography of West Wales, I am aware of other instances in which the police helicopter has been used for places where ambulances could not reach in time, or could not reach at all," the Plaid MP said.

"Luke's tragic death highlights the important role the police helicopter plays in assisting our emergency services.

Just incase the public didn't know;
"Dyfed-Powys Police's Pembrey helicopter base — which was only opened last summer after a £1.5 million move from the force HQ in Llangunnor — is to be axed in 2014, with a helicopter based in St Athan, near Cardiff, serving Dyfed- Powys, South Wales and Gwent police."