I think he means that the resounding note throughout the majority of problems is that Hydraulics and movement are involved, and therefore are more complex and prone to failure than their fixed counterparts. I would direct him to the mental complexity of even the most simple fly-by-wire system where there are usually three main systems, each with three backups on the primary controls (only two on the rudder) and COUNTLESS things to go wrong.

Now, imagine what happens when a stray .50 cal round goes into the avionics bay….

Tornado: Pilots record a slight bump in the flight and continue on their mission.

french-thing: Avionics shut down, aircraft crashes.

Now analyse what happened – for the mirage / Rafale, the flight profile allowed a stry round to penetrate vital systems and cause loss of control.
– for the Tonka – no damage, except to the sniper who was hit by the aircraft as it passed overhead in its usual mission profile flight path.. ie. 0 ft.

gags aside, Eagle, you’re right except its not the number of personnel needed to look after the aeroplane its the number of personnel the respective armed force SAYS need to look after the aircraft. The French AF tended to ue multi-skilled engineers long before the RAF cottoned on to the idea. Us Civvis have been doing it for years…. 2 guys to look after an entire airliner.

Geordie (again)

Aah wiz ganin doon tha bank on me bogie, aah dunched inte a waal an waz hoiked awa a hedge… aah waz knacked

I was travelling down a hill on my home-made go-cart, when I hit a wall and was thrown over some hedging…. I was hurt really badly.

maybe he was simply flying low (to avoid detection by the awacs perhaps) which would result in very short delay before being hit and crashing, forcing the pilot into a low alt ejection

I counted approximately 10 seconds between hit and impact, also given the news footage from various angles, I’d estimate a height of at least 1500ft…

I guess the only person who could have given an answer, will be unable to …..

It was a good show, but for the purposes of entertainment, it gave the impression that Mr. Blair had never so much as seen his purchase before it was shipped… it also gave the impression that it was th first spitfire to be in that hangar… who spotted the red and silver Spit well hidden at the back of the hangar?

Excellent programme, but laughable commentary as always. (Those animations were hilarious…)

Its the chronological progression that is missing in the syllabus as directed by the government! (plus you mentioned ‘dates’ there….)

Anyway, I think we’re all saying that history isn’t allowed to be taught properly….

It shouldn’t need to be because I don’t think that dates are actually that important to history. Once you get back more than one-hundred years the actual dates are pretty irrelevant unless you’re doing some particular research; so long as you get the basic facts right and everything in roughly the right order history is just storytelling surely? Make the story interesting enough and you’ve got them, whatever their age.

Its not the dates, but the chronological order that’s missing. One day they are learning about how those nasty Jarmans invaded Poland, and the next they’re wondering how a race of people went from flying fighter planes to writing on papyrus and building pyramids… No context = no story

Its gone. Stop bickering.