Monday, April 28, 2008

Hey Good Looking, We'll Be Back To Pick You Up Later

From the Telegraph
How to pick up chicks with a CH-47...

The RAF has defended its decision to allow (a pilot) to use an RAF Chinook helicopter to transport him and his brother to a stag party.

The (pilot) took off in the helicopter after receiving his wings - denoting his qualification as an RAF pilot - from his father during a ceremony at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire at Friday lunchtime.

He put down briefly at Woolwich Barracks in South East London to pick up (his brother) before flying on to the Isle of Wight and landing at Bembridge Airport at 4pm.

The helicopter's co-pilot then took the aircraft back to base.

The trip saved the (lads) a six-hour journey by rush-hour clogged roads and a ferry.

Chinooks, which cost around £35 million each and are in short supply in Afghanistan, can fly at speeds of 140 Knots (160 miles per hour).

But (the pilot's) RAF commanders defended the move, saying the sortie had been authorised and the flight, over the capital and open water and on occasions at low level, helped him complete his flying training.

"Having spent a week under instruction with a Chinook helicopter Squadron (the pilot) flew a legitimate training sortie which tested his new skills to the limit," an RAF spokesman said.

"Flying at low level (that guy) piloted the heavy support RAF Chinook helicopter through the busy London flying lanes to a helicopter landing site in Central London before departing the lanes to the South West, making a water crossing and an approach to a civilian airfield routinely used by Chinook Squadrons."


I suppose it doesn't hurt if the pilot in question is the Prince of England.
Cheers!

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