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There was flyover the city today by the last of the Blackhawks in 5 Avn Regt,, was supposed to be last Friday, but I was away, so rearranged it for today or the weather was crap on Friday, but really good today, so very possibly that may have been it.
There were 6 Blackhawks followed by 3 MRH90's
The Blackhawks are transferring to Sydney, I think from memory that is 6 Avn Regt, the civilian Maintenance facility closed at the beginning of the month
so next on the agenda I guess soon we should be seeing the F model Chooks

I saw them today go over the top. Apparently from a good source, the SAS don't want anything to do with the MRH-90 and would rather have the Blackhawk. I tend to agree with them on this. BTW mate I forgot to reply to your text so yeah I am in T town

Nothing against what the SAS may say, but the Blackhawk did a really big number on them back in '96, mostly Pilot error from the report, and ours were basically unfit for combat in Afghanistan, but a superb chopper never the less.

Having lived with them so to speak for their whole time in Townsville, 27 years according to the news, I can tell you they were pretty bad to begin with, a really lousy supply chain for spare parts, and they never could get 6 in the air at the same time until about '91.
Things didn't get much better, which is why so many experienced pilots left, and they were stuck with inexperienced junior pilots, which led to the disaster in '96, very fortunately they took that for the wake up call that was needed and things changed for the better, and been pretty good since, with only one major disaster with the crash on Kanimbla off Fiji in 2006, again put down to Pilot error.

I would have thought that the SAS guys would go for armoured seats on the MRH90 over the canvas seats on our Blackhawks.

hrtpaul wrote:I saw them today go over the top. Apparently from a good source, the SAS don't want anything to do with the MRH-90 and would rather have the Blackhawk. I tend to agree with them on this. BTW mate I forgot to reply to your text so yeah I am in T town

Yet another fantastic purchase of military equipment by Australia.........No wonder I think I could do a better job. Read what the Germans wrote about them, they ripped the helicopter apart.

_BlackHawk_ wrote: Read what the Germans wrote about them, .

Hang on....weren't these the guys that lost two world wars????.
Yeah....I'd trust their military judgement
TOR

hrtpaul wrote:I saw them today go over the top. Apparently from a good source, the SAS don't want anything to do with the MRH-90 and would rather have the Blackhawk. I tend to agree with them on this. BTW mate I forgot to reply to your text so yeah I am in T town

Don't worry about the Regiment not being impressed with them. Defence wanted 12 new built and up to 36 re-manufactured blackhawks, but it was the Gov at the time that chose the MRH-90 and the latest ANAO audit report hasn't been flash either on their acquisition.

The Dutch have had deployed 2 NH-90's, one cruise to the Caribbean and another to the MEAO on inspection they have been found with 92 corrosion occurrences witch has been contributed from a combination of design and assembly fault and the wrong choice of materials.

tor lives wrote:

_BlackHawk_ wrote: Read what the Germans wrote about them, .

Hang on....weren't these the guys that lost two world wars????.
Yeah....I'd trust their military judgement
TOR

Well 1, the first was kind of a draw. Besides which, they did build pretty good machines, just not enough of them.

Try landing an MRH90 in the bush and the rotor wash picks up a stick and smashes it into the plastic fuse. Not good I can tell you. Much better if it were made of metal. A dent in it and it can keep flying. IMHO anyways

...and that's without shooting at it Paul!

_BlackHawk_ wrote:

tor lives wrote:

_BlackHawk_ wrote: Read what the Germans wrote about them, .

Hang on....weren't these the guys that lost two world wars????.
Yeah....I'd trust their military judgement
TOR

Well 1, the first was kind of a draw. Besides which, they did build pretty good machines, just not enough of them.

I think you are missing the point.....they LOST BOTH WORLD WARS, which sorta damages their military credibility somewhat
TOR