Saturday 23rd of November 2024
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choppers .....

INDEPTH:

CANADA'S MILITARY
Requiem for the Sea King
CBC News Online | Updated Feb. 3,
2006 

They are known as the
"ancient" Sea Kings, the "geriatric" Sea Kings, the
"venerable" Sea Kings. They have been called "flying
coffins." Purchased with considerable fanfare by the federal
government in 1963, when they turned heads with their impressive exploits,
the Sea Kings are now a sick, ageing fleet, with pieces literally falling
out of the skies. Canada bought 41 of the single-rotor Sea Kings,
technically known as the Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King. Twenty-eight of them
remain in service, and those still flying are often hit by flameouts,
engine stalls, generator failures and gearbox problems. Pilots have died
flying them, falling into oceans, crashing into muskeg – more so the older
they get. After the federal government renewed the bidding process in 1999
to replace the fleet, builders around the world jockeyed for position to
win the contract. 

In the end, Canada chose Sikorsky
to replace the Sea Kings. In July 2004, newly appointed Defence Minister
Bill Graham announced that Ottawa will spend $3.2 billion on 28 Sikorsky
S-92 helicopters, to be known as Cyclones. The medium-lift utility
helicopter was inspired by the design of the company's Black Hawk and
Seahawk helicopters. 

The Sea Kings were supposed to
have been retired by 2000, but the air force prolonged their life by
spending $80 million to keep them flying until 2005. The Sea Kings require
30 hours of maintenance for every hour of flight, and they are unavailable
for operations 40 per cent of the time. 

The Sea Kings require 30 hours of
maintenance for every hour of flight. The helicopters were designed –
albeit with 1950s technology. 

The glory days of the Sea Kings
are in the distant past, yesterday's heroes, now burdened more with a
reputation for embarrassing crashes than for saving lives or finding
submarines.

BUT THEN FROM RAYTHEON PRESS RELEASE

Raytheon Successfully Completes
Royal Australian Navy's Sea King Prototype System SYDNEY, NSW, Australia,
(28 August 2001) - Raytheon Australia has successfully completed the
prototype installation of a Crash Data Recorder (CDR) System in a Royal
Australian Navy (RAN) Sea King, as part of its contract to design,
integrate and install the CDR Systems in both the Sea King and Seahawk
helicopters.

The Sea King CDR System includes a Cockpit Voice Recorder and
Crash Position Indicator. The latter equipment enables helicopters
in distress to be located quickly at any location in the world.
The aircraft's location is taken from the its Global Positioning
System (GPS) and transmitted via a satellite message, providing highly
accurate positioning data for rescue teams. Audio from the crew, their
radios, aircraft warning systems and helicopter rotor speed, is recorded by
the EAS3000 system provided by DRS Flight Safety and Communications from
Ottawa, Canada. 

A cockpit voice recorder and
crash position indicator is not going to stop the thing from falling down.
Obviously after having spent one billion dollars on crap, we've got yet
another scandal in the armed forces' equipment. The Canadians went the
lacky band route for a little while until they got new stuff. We've got
old stuff with lacky bands on the way.

Beaut.

No mention of Sea Queens

Applause, protests greet Howard in Canada
By North America correspondent Kim Landers and wires

Prime Minister John Howard has been given the rare honour of addressing a joint sitting of the Canadian Parliament.

It is only the second time an Australian Prime Minister has spoken on the floor of the Canadian Parliament.

The last was Labor leader John Curtin during World War II.

Greeted by applause, Mr Howard called Australia and Canada kindred nations.

He praised Canada's contribution in Afghanistan.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had assistance with his election campaign from senior Australian Liberal Party officials, used the address to praise Mr Howard.

"Prime Minister Howard is a principled leader with vision."

But not everyone in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, is pleased with the Prime Minister's visit.

Union members have been demonstrating outside the Parliament.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) fear the Canadian Government will mimic the Howard Government's industrial relations laws.

"It is an insult to the labour movement in Canada for him to be invited here to speak," Hemi Mitic, spokesman for CAW president Buzz Hargrove, said.

Climate change
Greenpeace has also expressed concern that Mr Harper and Mr Howard may use the visit to promote the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) as an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol.

Canadian Environment Minister, Rona Ambrose, who is hostile to the Kyoto Protocol, has hinted that Canada may opt to join the APP.

Australia is already a key member.

"The Asia-Pacific Partnership is a fraud, Steven Guilbeault of Greenpeace said.

"It's a non-binding pact for some of the world's largest coal producers who want to quietly keep up their polluting ways."

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Gus thinks our little grocer's junket tour of world-wide accolades ( well... just a tiny US president's front lawn and Canada's PM who had assistance with his election campaign from senior Australian Liberal Party officials so he could tell bigger porkies — and possibly a visit to the old dart's blinking-glare Tony) is a bit like the slow gingerly walk — around the track of a derelict stadium with only a few rent-a-crowd neo-cons huddled in the middle of the Fascist stand — of an old athlete retiring from blood sport. May our grocer retire gracefully but may he RETIRE SOON and avoid touching anything from now on. He's done enough damage mishandling everything, despite appearances.