FalconDude you will find Swerve is a long established and far less petulant member of this forum then me! At no point has he shown the slightest hint of being either Turkish or Pakistani! Even if he was in what way is that an issue?

If you want to have a discussion about the relative merits of Turkey vs Greece then why don’t you take it to the general discussion area albeit I warn it would probably a quick path to an insta-ban!

I seem to remember reports from a year or two ago of PLAN officers visiting the Brazilian carrier São Paulo a year or two ago, and of them observing flight operations while aboard.

Not to mention all those documentaries about USN carriers that show lots of footage of flight-deck operations (like the 10-episode PBS series shot aboard USS Nimitz in 2005)… and two British TV series set aboard carriers (HMS Ark Royal (IV) in the late 1970s, and HMS Ark Royal (V) in 2003/4.

Also much of the documentation relating to flight deck operations is in the public domain. A quick Google search will turn up all sorts of USN instruction manuals and guides.

More then easily the main barrier is political!

Carriers that have fixed wing aircraft on them are for power projection and Japan is rather sensitive about the idea. Japan has refuelling tankers and the F-15 has plenty of range in its own right so more then capable of ranging over various disputed Islands. Greater question is does Japan have any interest over the Spratleys? If they do then a carrier becomes a more justifiable asset, considering they are buying F-35A a later purchase of the B or even the C if they so fancy.

Scorsch

Airbus or Boeing wouldn’t fly an aircraft if such issues are not solved.

What makes you think that? Every recent Airbus and Boeing program has found issues some significant when they enter flight testing! That is what flight testing is for, to identify unforeseen issues with a new type. C130J and A400M have had all sorts of aerodynamic and system problems that have come out in testing.

What is bemusing is you are watching one very blurry video of the type landing after one of its first flights and stating that it has some form of control issue. That might well be the case or it could be as simple as the test pilot holding the nose up as it lands.

Try this thread on the pprune forum. There will be S-61s flying for many years yet…:cool:

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/345355-life-old-girl-yet-s61-merged-threads.html

Also: the BBC website have a programme on the Sea King available (UK only):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r1z3g

Just watching it now on the iPlayer.

Just a small note there is a curious but probably innocent mistake at the beginning. The presenter said one of the first things done by Westlands was rip out the American Engines for Rolls Royces and there is nothing more British then that! Only catch with that…they are licensed copies of the American engines!

As for the future life of the Sea King and Westland variant, probably long as it is a very good helicopter and more then capable to take on many a task. Carson Helicopters offer zero time rebuilds of the S-61 at attractive prices, considering the main stress components are the engines, transmission, rotor blades and tail boom it is entirely conceivable that even the elderly Canadian S-61 could be pushed through Carson and returned to an as new state! I wouldn’t be surprised if Carson try and buy some of the retired Westland Sea King Airframes on their retirement as they could easily form the basis of their rebuilds.

http://www.carsonhelicopters.com/