Hi, I am trying to figure out max sustained sortie rates for Skg helos. Does any one know how many sustained sorties can be carried out by a Seaking operating in the ASW or SAR mode? What is a typical time on station in the ASW or ASV rolees? Of course it depends on the distance the bird has to fly.
What was achieved in the falklands or in the Gulf war or in other recent campaigns?
By: maz - 9th November 2005 at 23:28
Skg sortie rates
Unicorn,
many thanks for your enlightening reply.
I suppose what I am asking is : how many times a day can the bird be “typically” flown in in hot and humid conditions – say operations from carriers in the Persian Gulf assuming crews are NOT changed? And what if crews are changed? Info for new machines or those in good conditions.
I should imagine that is possible to generate 4-5 long sorties/day on outer perimeter ASW , ASV , AEW and SAR missions before the bird needs mechanical attention. I realise from your post that there is no such thing as “typical’ but, what might be normal RN practice for carrier operations?
Similarly , with inflight refuelling, what is the max duration that the bird can fly before its needs to come in for maintenance? I imagine that in AEW roles, some sort of refuelling whilst hovering is done to save o nthe turnaround time.
Are these specific enough? If not, what are some statistics on Seaking operations from the Falklands or more recent ops?
Thanks in advance.
By: Unicorn - 9th November 2005 at 03:24
How long is a piece of string?
You are asking an extremely open ended question.
The factors influencing the answer to your question include;
The age of the airframe?
How recent the last major overhaul was?
Has the powerplant and drivetrain been upgraded or is it still original?
What electronics are on-board? (more recent tend to be somewhat more reliable however very newly installed gear tends to go through a low availablility period as operators and maintainers grow familiar in its use and operation)
What is the operational environment for the platform? (operations from large deck vessels such as the Garibaldi in the Mediterranean tend to be easier on the airframe than operations from small Canadian frigates in the wilds of the North Atlantic winter gales)
What is the operational environment for the aircraft’s operation? (operations in the Persian Gulf are very hard on engines and blades due to the airborne sand and dust)
What is the operational requirement? (Short range troop ferry flights have a greater sortie rate than outer perimeter ASW patrols)
What is the operating services policies? (some services limit the amount of hours flown to husband the airframe hours)
Are their alternative available aircrew? (If an aircraft has only one crew, then it can only fly for set periods of time, given mandatory crew rest)
As you can see, there are a vast number of interrelated factors which effect your request, and thus its almost impossible to answer your question in general terms. You either have to be very specific in your question or relate it to a particular operation’s historic data.
Unicorn
Sign In
November 8, 2005 at 9:59 am