29 Juli 2011

HMAS Lemon Scented ex RFA Largs Bay (photo : The Daily Telegraph)

THE navy's newest $100 million amphibious ship has been tagged "HMAS Lemon Scented" after a major inspection earlier this year uncovered a raft of serious technical faults in the second-hand British vessel.

The problems include overheating of the propulsion motors and transformers and faulty air handling units that "could cause respiratory problems among passengers and crew - in particular legionnaires disease", the chief engineer officer's report says.

Overheating means that the ship cannot maintain full speed and the lack of natural ventilation means she can't operate at higher speeds "especially in higher sea temperature conditions".
The ship, RFA Largs Bay, was designed to operate in cooler climates and many of the faults identified in the report are deep-seated "design issues".

The Gillard government purchased the mothballed Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship from the British government, claiming it was a major coup, but the official chief engineer's report casts serious doubts over those claims.

In the mid-1990s the Howard government issued a blunt warning about buying second-hand navy ships overseas after the amphibious ships HMAS Manoora and Kanimbla were found to be riddled with rust soon after they were purchased from the US Navy.

In his Largs Bay report, chief engineer officer Captain DA Wardell highlights numerous flaws ranging from faulty doors to inadequate cooling systems.

He listed six as critical: failure of the main engine room shut-down vents; fragility of the chilled water plants; suspect cargo lift systems; fragility of the vacuum toilet system; steering pump fragility; and lack of chemical treatment in the chilled and boiler water systems.

(The Daily Telegraph)

Four recent helicopter cancellations.
Below is the Robinson R22 Beta ZK-HGV3 (c/n 3735) - first registered on 13-10-2005 and delivered to NZPP on the 22nd to Rick Lucas Helicopters Ltd (Helipro). It was destroyed in a mid air collision with the Cessna 152 ZK-ETY in the Paraparaumu circuit on 16-02-2008. Its registration has now been cancelled.

Exported is the Hughes 369HS ZK-HQE (c/n 114-0662S). A product of 1974 and listed in the US as N9225F before it came to NZ and registered on 20-02-1980 as ZK-HQE to Westland Frozen Products. Up until 1998 it worked for various operators in the south until it briefly joined Helicopters Hawkes Bay Ltd of Havelock North. It moved to Heli Sika on 09-03-1998 and then back to H/C Hawkes Bay on 27-03-2001 until flicked over to Central Helicopters of Opotiki on 23-04-2001. Photo above was shot at Taupo on 09-02-2007.

Above is a view of Kawasaki Hughes 369HS ZK-HQH2  (c/n 6645) at Kaikoura on 29-06-2004 with Tekapo Helicopter script (filling in for Kaikoura's JetRanger). A 1978 model built as JA9187 it was listed to Wing & Rotor Ltd as ZK-HQH on 11-06-1996. It worked at Mt Potts Station before joining James Scott  on The Coast in December of 1996. In mid December of 2008 it moved to Wai Helicopters.
It was registered to H.A.S. Pty Ltd in NSW on 20-07-2010 and has now finally been cancelled.

Kawasaki Hughes 369HS ZK-IUS (c/n 6631) was built in Japan as JA9131 in 1974. It was damaged on 23-08-2000 and imported into NZ for a remake and came out as ZK-HSE3 thanks to Wing & Rotor Aviation Ltd of South Auckland. In March of 2008 it was obtained by Kiwi Kopters Tauranga Ltd and was re-registered as ZK-IUS on 06-05-2008. As seen above in this photo from Keith Morris ; it was painted up to represent "Miss Clawd IV" (US military s/n 68-17340).
More details on this can be found on an earlier blog at:- 

http://design-plane.blogspot.com/2009/11/miss-clawd-iv-zk-ius.html

and also:-

http://design-plane.blogspot.com/2008/11/belated-new-plymouth-shots.html

On 03-11-2010 ZK-IUS was listed to H.A.S. Pty Ltd in New South Wales and was cancelled from the NZ register on 01-07-11. (I wonder if both of these Kawasaki built H.A.S. machines have gone Tuna fishing ?)

29 Juli 2011

AN/ALE-55 (photo : BAE System)

First full-rate production order, for USA and Australia.

The AN/ALE-55 (V)is a related system made by BAE, consisting of an electronic frequency converter (EFC) and a fiber optic towed decoy (FOTD). It works together with an aircraft’s onboard electronic warfare (EW) equipment, throughout the entire ECM cycle of Suppression (harder to acquire or track the towing plane), Deception (active jamming techniques aimed at enemy launchers); and Seduction (active jamming aimed at the missile, and being a decoying target itself if all else fails).

ALE-55 concept (photo : Defense Industry Daily)

The ALE-55 was introduced after Raytheon’s similar ALE-50 towed decoy, but it is carving out a parallel market share, and has been ordered by the USA and Australia to equip F/A-18 Hornet & Super Hornet aircraft.

(Defense Industry Daily)

29 Juli 2011

M4 carabine (photo : Tempur)

PHNOM PENH, (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Cambodia plan to forge cooperation in producing military assets, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the details would be worked out by the top brass of the militaries of the two countries.

"As Cambodia has a peacekeeping force, several military equipment can be produced together initially. For example, when Malaysia makes the change to replace the M16 assault rifle to the M4 version, Malaysia is also given permission to share the intellectual rights for the assembly of the M4 with several other countries.

"Cambodia welcomes Malaysia's proposal to cooperate in joint production of military assets and maybe also with some other countries towards realising regional collaboration in the defence industry," he told Malaysian journalists after calling on Cambodia's deputy prime minister and defence minister Tea Banh at the latter's office here Thursday.

He said stressed that the cooperation was merely to advance the defence industry regionally and was not aimed at forming any military blocs.

Ahmad Zahid, who arrived here Wednesday for a three-day visit, paid a courtesy call on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen following the meeting with Tea Banh.

(Bernama)

 A bit of a stranger in town on 26-07-2011 was the Wanaka based Robinson R44 Raven 11 ZK-HXM3 (c/n 10637). Infinity Heliline Ltd became the listed operator from 11-06-2011.

Helipro have been actively advertising over City flights to view the damage. Part of a fund raising campaign I believe. Seen hee on 28-07-2011 is Aerospatiale AS350BA ZK-HYW2 (c/n 14200 landing back from another mission. A touch of altocumulus lenticularus visible in the distance in the northwesterly flow aloft. Well done Helipro.

Pacific Aerospace Cresco ZK-PDZ2 (c/n 003) i believe had initial aspirations of becoming ZK-FAH but instead was first registered as ZK-LTR on 25-01-2000 with Wanganui Aero Work Ltd. First flight was on 14-02-2000 and delivery occured on 17-02-2000.
On 20-11-2000 it was re-registered as ZK-PDZ to Parachute Adventures Queenstown Ltd. At this stage it was still powered with a Lycoming LTP101 engine. this was changed to a P&WC PT6-34AG in 2007.  Other changes at some point were the fuseleage windows. On 24-07-2008 it was relisted to Skydive Queenstown Ltd.
Top pic was taken at Jardines Strip (near Queenstown) on 26-09-2004.
Lower photo taken at Dunedin on 09-09-2005.

ZK-PDZ was flown from Hamilton to Norfolk Island and Lord Howe island on 14-07-2011 and then on to Coolangatta and Armidale on 15-07-2011. It was cancelled from the Kiwi register on 15-07-2011 and became VH-PUS on 21-07-2011 with Lonoaks Pty Ltd of Armidale.
************************************************

Also trundling offshore was the Boeing 737-476 ZK-JTR (c/n 24439). This first flew back on 03-04-1992 as VH-TJN and served with Australian Airlines until switching to Qantas Airways Ltd on 31-10-1992. This in turn was cancelled om 31-05-2007 when it became ZK-JTR and flew from Melbourne to Auckland for Jetconnect Ltd (Qantas NZ). It flew its first dervice the following day running from Auckland to Wellington. It final revenue flight was on 24-03-2011 from Auckland to brisbane and return. It ferried out from Auckland to Brisbane and Cairns on 20-06-2011 and then on to Jakarta on the 21st. Above pic taken at Wellington on 17-08-2010.

See the Long Haul Blog at:-

http://galonghaulnews.blogspot.com/2011/06/deliveries-20-june.html

Jat sale - take two

The Serbian Government has confirmed that its tender for the sale of Jat Airways will begin on Monday, August 1. The terms of the tender will be extremely flexible. The conditions are that the new owner must be an airline or aviation consortium. Once they take over Jat they must continue cooperation with Jat Tehnika and Jat Catering, which were separated from Jat several years ago. The new owner will be required to buy Jat and set up a new national airline, to be operational by the beginning of 2012. The new owner will also be a majority shareholder and it will be up to them to decide whether to close Jat or keep it as a charter airline. The new national airline would take over Jat’s slots, employees, route network and so on, while the new owner will be required to purchase new aircraft. All other details will be negotiated directly with the government, including the price.

Companies have until September 30 to purchase the tender documentation. A similar sale ended up in failure in 2008 as no companies answered to the government’s call. If history repeats itself the government will not set up a new airline, rather, it will keep Jat Airways in its current form.

Currently, the only national EX-YU carrier successfully privatised is B&H Airlines, with Turkish Airlines having a 49% share in the Bosnian carrier. Montenegro Airlines’ sale failed last year as no one was interested in the 30% of shares offered by the government. There are increasing calls for the debt ridden Adria Airways to be sold as well.