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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... fleet.html
Vintage VC10 pressed into service with RAF's transport fleet
A vintage aircraft that has been banned from flying passengers bar “exceptional circumstances” has been pressed into service with the RAF’s transport fleet at breaking point.
Two of the 15 VC10s were retired this April after they had amassed a combined 81,500 flying hours
Photo: ALAMY
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent 4:52PM GMT 21 Dec 2010
The fleet of 50-year-old VC10 planes have been forced to start flying passengers again after the 40-year-old Tristar transport aircraft have been grounded by technical faults.
Coupled with the poor weather there is now a backlog of 570 soldiers waiting to get home for Christmas leave.
But the use of the VC10s has caused defence chiefs to question whether the “airbridge” to Afghanistan has been “stretched beyond breaking point”.
Earlier this year the VC10s, which first came into service in the early Sixties, were ordered to be only used in an air-to-air refuelling capacity.
The decision came on the back of the highly critical Haddon-Cave report that highlighted serious safety failings following the 2006 Nimrod crash over Afghanistan which resulted in 14 Service deaths.
The Haddon-Cave review severely restricted the VC10’s ability to carry passengers because it has an outdated ground proximity warning device.
However the aircraft, which can carry 124 people, is allowed to fly troops if a senior officer signs a waiver in exceptional circumstances such as a major war.
“This is something we don’t do in routine circumstances, only if it is a serious national emergency like war when peacetime restrictions are dropped,” said an RAF source.
The aircraft has other defensive security issues which cannot be disclosed at the request of the MoD.
An RAF source said the ground proximity issue was “mitigated” by having another crewman in the cockpit as an “extra pair of eyes to keep a look out”.
“If it’s foggy in Afghanistan then they would divert or if they feel it’s unsafe to go in they won’t go in.
We would not operate aircraft it is compromised safety.
Two of the 15 VC10s were retired this April after they had amassed a combined 81,500 flying hours.
Keeping open the airbridge to Afghanistan is a massive undertaking for the RAF with its ageing transport fleet that has to fly out 230,000 passengers a year from Brize Norton.
Already the recently bought C17 Globemasters are showing signs of fatigue with frequent breakdowns including one last month when Prince William was stranded in a Middle Eastern country for several hours on his way to Helmand.
An Army officer who contacted The Daily Telegraph via a relative, said he had been stuck for five days in Kandahar waiting for an R and R flight.
“I am absolutely furious as I have just been told we are not moving for five days.
“The planes are useless and we are stuck here. Have we not learnt any lessons over the last decade?”
The RAF transport fleet will start modernisation next autumn when the first of 14 Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft come into service.
An RAF spokesman said: “The RAF is working 24/7 using C17, VC10, and charter aircraft to get our frontline troops home for Christmas.
"The VC10 has an excellent safety record and our crewing and operating procedures ensure they are safe for our service personnel to fly in.”
An RAF spokesman said: “The RAF is working 24/7 using C17, VC10 and charter aircraft to get our frontline troops home for Christmas.
This year the RAF has flown thousands of troops all over the world in VC10s.
They have recently been used - along with other aircraft - for part of the journey to and from theatre, though VC10s are not flying directly in or out of Afghanistan.
The VC10 has an excellent safety record and our crewing and operating procedures ensure they are safe for our service personnel to fly in.”
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