#Falkland Islands Overflight with Crab Air (RAF :-) )

[Vista]

In another thread Bazoff72 mentioned that he's off to the Falkland Islands soon with the Oil Industry, it reminded me of the visit I made there in 2000. We were offered an aerial tour of the Islands on one of the Patrol Flights the RAF flies

Our ride for the day, not one of the RAF's more glamorous rides (as the photos will show) but very rugged and dependable none the less, a C130 Hercules:



Hmmmmmmm Cattle class accomodation it seems, seating worthy of a few notes in the post flight feedback form



As for the toilet, lucky none of us needed a Tom Tit!
 

And make sure you keep hold whilst using it as there's a hell of a drop out the back door, draughty too!



Over the Islands, sorry it was a long time ago and I don't remember what locality is which but I know we overflew all the memorable locations from the conflict like San Carlos Water, Mt Tumbledown and Goose Green

 

 

 

 

 

And last but not least, buzzed by a pair of Tornados keeping the neighbours on their toes. Not sure if you can make them out in these pics, they went past pretty quickly and I was up there with my autofocus point and shoot, David Bailey I am not





And my ride home, well that was a bit more comfortable. :beer:

[NudgerSS]

Not joining the Forces is a big regret of mine. Big respect to you

[Vista]

Not joining the Forces is a big regret of mine. Big respect to you

It had its moments and I've been to some amazing places and done great things but after 16 years I'd had enough and got out before I ended up in what's known as the Pension trap.

 

Truthfully, it set me up well for the career I have now but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone anymore. Years of cuts have left all the armed services desperately short of Man power and equipment whilst commitments have effectively increased across the same period. The armed services were experiencing cuts 10 years before any coalition led austerity drive came to bear. And there's another Strategic Defence Review due next year

[NudgerSS]

Well it would've been in '87 if I'd joined up so could've done my 22 years by now. Know a couple of lads that have done it

My great Uncle Jack says his 7 years inc WW2 were the best years of his life and wished he'd stayed in. On the flip side I've got a relative who got shot 1st time in Afghan then blown up 2nd time out

[Vista]

It was 87 I joined up, I looked at all three services but back then there was still significant risk of getting shot in Northern Ireland so I gave the Army a bum steer and opted for the RN. To be honest that was more the kind of engineering I was interested in anyway.

[Mk2Jo]

Great photo's Vista

[Col-ashtonmobile]

The Falklands conflict, I remember I bought a newspaper adamantly every day ( not usually done by me ) and watched the news all the time ...

[Danish]

Not joining the Forces is a big regret of mine. Big respect to you

 

Me too, probably my biggest regret.  

[bazoff72]

Vista must have been a blast going up in the Hercules, let alone being buzzed by the Tornados SPECTACULAR ...... good on ya............

 

Here is a couple of snaps of the Vessel I am on and top side installation that we just carried out in Vietnam 2 months ago before departing for the Falklands.....

Its a dirty job but someone has to do it ha ha 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vista]

Is that a floating platform then?

 

My cousin works for Subsea up in Aberdeen and I use some of the ROV guys as consultants in my industry ( some of these rich guys like RoVs on their yachts) so I hear a bit about the oil industry

[Vista]

The Falklands conflict, I remember I bought a newspaper adamantly every day ( not usually done by me ) and watched the news all the time ...

I remember the Sun's "gotcha" headline like it was yesterday, a lot of young men died a pretty unpleasant death that day

 

[bazoff72]

Vista , that particular platform is held by piles that are first driven into the seabed then we land the top side on, but yes there are floating platforms.

 

We carry ROV`s too pretty cool little subs and capable of so much. we also have an air dive spread and SAT" Saturation diving "system for the moor deeper work.

although a different Vessel altogether from the super yachts believe it or not the PJW runs into the 100s of millions to build and costs a good few million to hire she is one of the larger Derrick Barges in the world capable of  lifting 3000ton . ha ha how the other half live eh....

[Saluki]

Funny -  I ship this type of kit for the oil & gas industry all over the world ...

 

FROG UNIT

[Vista]

Not sure why half of the pics disappeared from my first post but have uploaded them again