maybe you can claim through your travel insurance or atol as your vacation seems to have been ruined 🙄

Creamegg, come and work on our contract, we fly on 737’s and last time we even had beer on the way home 🙂

Shit happens some imes flights dont go ahead for good reason tech faults security risks etc. Some times the flight goes and you get left behind because someone else is deemed more important. I got delayed in kandahar because a 107mm rocket landed on the runway most inconsiderate.

where did i say i dont like working here?

And where did anyone say that you don’t like working there ?

If you don’t like spending your free time where you are, why did you decide to work there ?

Why fly RAF if they are so crap?

Shut your whinging hole and take a job where you can fly with your airline of choice if you don’t like the service offered. There is more to worry about than your sorry ass sitting somewhere you get paid a damn sight more than most others to be.

Suck it up, cupcake.

I was once on crab air when the Herc broke down in Bermuda, had to spend all night drinking in Rumrunners, real pain that trip. 😀

Ive just got back from bastion and i have to say my flight was fine.

however as some have already said on here, the raf at fleet is on its last legs, the timmys are a pile of shite and the vc10 is even worse.

im sure if the government would give us some cash we would be able to buy some half decent airframes and people like you would quit your whinging!!

do you work for kbr by any chance?

How much did you pay for the ticket? You might be able to get a refund.

You could always hitch.

Yes, because managing & maintaining an ageing fleet of L-1011s that are due out of service within a couple of years is SO easy, i’m sure you could do it blindfolded of course….

I work with quite a lot of “useless bunch of amateurs”, non of ’em, including me, know how to fly.

If he’s working on an MOD contract then he’ll probably have no choice other than flying RAF, plus flights etc will be arranged by the employer. I’m not sure where the OP is working but here there are only two civvy airlines we can fly with and my employer has a contract with one of them so thats who we fly with!

The RAF traditionally bump people off flights for no apparent reason, and that includes the Army. We have just sent an (Army) team down to the South Atlantic, they were stuck at Brize for four days due to “operational reasons”, and that flight is a civvy charter but run by the RAF.

The bad thing for the forces out here is that their leave starts on the morning they are due to fly out so if they get bumped then thats their own leave they are wasting. Our leave starts the day after we get home which is a much better way of doing things.

yes, yes I know I should of organised my own private jet. What was I thinking even considering the RAF? I will know for next time.

I had to fly from the Falklands to the acension islands on a herc! It killed me! Luckily I knew the co pilot so I had some added extras. I flew from Cyprus to brize on a tri star, that was the worse journey ever. The seats are rear facing and have very little leg room.

Virgin flying into Afganistan instead of the RAF you will be thinking the tooth fairy and santa are real too if you believe that story Virgin wouldnt fly and couldnt.There are very good reasons why HMG havent contracted out the route namely the small issue that it is a war zone and the implications that involves.

The flight profile is very different to civi flights which causes maintenance issues due to the high fatigue induced. Combine this with the age of the aircraft and lack of availability of spares and its no wonder flights get delayed.Remember of the 250 built less than 16 still fly.
Of the 9 tristars 216 SQN operate only 2 have role equipment fitted to fly the route due to the cost of the kit.
You have to remember with defence your equipment was supplied in the main by the lowest bidder and the rest are political choices,

As others have said suck it up

oneoneoneone – Member

I had to fly from the Falklands to the acension islands on a herc! It killed me! Luckily I knew the co pilot so I had some added extras. I flew from Cyprus to brize on a tri star, that was the worse journey ever. The seats are rear facing and have very little leg room.

The Tristar has and always has had forward facing seats . Chances are that you flew on a VC10, the seat pitch is the same as schedule aircraft not charter cattle class. The VC10 is quick and once over the wierdness of facing the rear quite comfy

Vc10 your quit right! I just couldn’t get comfortable it all felt wrong. Oh well no me crab air for me now I’m posted to 1 civ div.

Of the 9 tristars 216 SQN operate only 2 have role equipment fitted to fly the route due to the cost of the kit.

That’s something that a lot of people don’t realise. 9500 people in Afghan – not to mention the Falklands, Gibraltar, Germany, etc – and we have 2 Tristar C2s (full passenger role) with which to support them. Add to that, the frames are over 40 years old (we bought them from civvi airlines), and you’ve got a recipie for disaster.

But the main thing to note is that we deliberately arrange for the aircraft to break down, just to wind up contractors.

Suck it up, sweet cheeks. You get paid more than us anyway.

Steve,
RAF Mover

creamegg – Member

yes, yes I know I should of organised my own private jet. What was I thinking even considering the RAF? I will know for next time.

No need for the sarcasm. Why did you decide to work so far from home ? I don’t need to take a plane to get to work. In fact, I’m working on a site at the present which is about a 6 to 8 minute drive from home.

There’s no way I would work thousands of miles from home. For a start there’s the problem of getting there, which undoubtedly would involve flying, and all the problems associated with that – delays, cancellations, etc. For me to even consider it, I would have to be offered very large amounts of money for the inconvenience.

Ask your firm for more money, or a job nearer home.

Suck it up, sweet cheeks.

POTD

Plenty of civvy airlines fly into Afghanistan, its simply that the MOD contracts use RAF flights beacause its cheaper (or effectivly free to the contractor becasue its supplied as part of the deal). I work in Kandahar (on a non MOD contract), we fly with a company called Eastern Skyjets but DFS fly out here as well. There are at least two others who fly to Bastion, Bagram, Kabul etc.

Ernie, very large amounts of money is what contractors tend to get out here, i get roughly four times as much as i could expect to earn in the UK.

Ernie, very large amounts of money is what contractors tend to get out here

whhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooossssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Rockhopper – Member

Plenty of civvy airlines fly into Afghanistan, its simply that the MOD contracts use RAF flights beacause its cheaper (or effectivly free to the contractor becasue its supplied as part of the deal). I work in Kandahar (on a non MOD contract), we fly with a company called Eastern Skyjets but DFS fly out here as well. There are at least two others who fly to Bastion, Bagram, Kabul etc.

Its not that simple, I doubt if the aircraft operated by Eastern Skyjets have the same equipment as fitted to the military Tristars. Shooting down an airliner full of soldiers/contractors is a dream of the insurgents and lets hope it stays that way. I know thst if I had to go I wouldnt want to be on a civi aircraft.

We fly civvy out of Kabul, usually with kamair who do a good kebab for inflight meal, I drew the line at having a chicken dinner for breakfast when use to get the early morning flight back in to Kabul.
Being a contractor you just have to accept that there will be delays or you’ll get bumped off mil flights for whatever reason.
I got bumped off US flights for 8 days a while ago but then eventually got on an Aussie herc which I had to myself!
I’m off home again soon, don’t really care how i get from Kabul to Dubai but I have just upgraded my Dubai to UK Emirates flight to business class for 76USD…..sweet

Why is any 1 bothered about the rantings of a over paid Naffi shelf stacker ?
If you think you can do a better job maintaining these knackard aircraft, than the streched ground crews then join up and show us how. I look forward to it.
Infact, join up as a eng officer, you can change the world and never miss a flight.
Even better, go and tell the liney thats nearly through his 13hr shift he’s not doing a good enough job to get you home.
Please post his response, or do you not have the balls and would just rant on here and get paid three times what I do when I’m out there…