Quote:
Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch
The C-130Js were a bit of a laughing stock when they first arrived (and the C-17s too) as they weren't cleared to do anything - no rough strips, no Khe Sanh approaches, no low level - all they were cleared from was basic transporting trips. Now they can.  |
They do that in the USAF new as well with new gear.I can actually understand the no Khe San style runs as those you have to be careful too hard and you will do some serious damage to the gear and maybe even the fuselage.Once in a while they get a funny wind or misjudge and wham you have a plane out of commission for a few months.Over the years I'm sure that a few have also crashed.
Also with the change in engine power they might want to first get the feel for how it flies a bit before doping the tricky stuff.
I understand though that the British military tends to overly cautious with new and expensive gear.
At the same time sometimes new equipment does not work as designed.About 15 years ago the USAF decided that they wanted a new diesel powered ground support generator.So of course someone took the contract and made a sample batch probably a few hundred as my understanding was that several bases got about six of these units in test batches.
Well these generators had lots of problems and never worked properly the electrical was just jacked up.One problem was that they would spike power and send it right down the line and fry what ever they where hooked up to they never tripped off like they where supposed to so after an F-15 and a French Mirage visiting Spanghalem,AB got zapped they banned their use and went back to the same old reliable generators which are still in use.I never liked the new test design anyway because they had poor ergonomics and it was hard to work on them.Luckily they had never gotten past the testing stage so it was not much of a write off and they sold the Cummings engines on the market.another downside was that the Cummings where turbocharged while the "old" and still in use units made by GM Detroit Diesel where supercharged.With a turbo charger after so many hours the bearings wear out much faster than supercharger bearings will wear out(lower RPM).