Two trainer jets purchased from S Korea delivered to Royal Thai Air Force

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Two trainer jets purchased from S Korea delivered to Royal Thai Air Force

 

 

Two South Korean trainer and light-combat aircraft landed in Thailand yesterday as part of a procurement deal between their manufacturer and the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF).

However, they arrived two weeks behind schedule due to engine damage detected before the planned delivery on January 11. 

 

An informed source said the aircraft had sustained damage from encountering hostile weather conditions in Malaysia. 

 

RTAF chief ACM Jom Rungsawang said yesterday that the South Korean supplier would provide an explanation regarding the incident. 

 

“But as for now, the issue has already been solved. Those damaged engines were replaced and we’ve got a two-year warranty,” he said, after watching the two planes land at the Wing Division 4 compound in Nakhon Sawan province. 

 

Jom said the arrival of the pair of T-50TH variant of the fighter jet marked a milestone for the RTAF. 

 

“This model ranks among the most advanced and modern aircraft types in the world. It will help us reduce training costs and will bring our combat-aircraft pilots’ abilities to par with international standards,” he said. 

 

 According to Jom, two more T-50TH will be delivered to Thailand in March. Eight more will come next year. 

 

The new aircraft will replace the ageing L-39 ZA/ART aircraft. In 2015, the government chose the T-50TH variant trainer over the Chinese Hongdu L-15.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30337151

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-01-25

 

[petermik]

Pity the money wasn,t spent providing better health care in rural areas.......

[YetAnother]

23 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

However, they arrived two weeks behind schedule due to engine damage detected before the planned delivery on January 11. 

 

An informed source said the aircraft had sustained damage from encountering hostile weather conditions in Malaysia. 

thailand cannot even buy undamaged jets ? wow

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Will these "training" jets come with "training" wheels to help prevent the Thai pilots from crashing them???

 

[Darcula]

37 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

will bring our combat-aircraft pilots’ abilities to par with international standards

 

Indonesia, Iraq and the Philippines.

[Lupatria]

I hope they did not pay for the planes with money donated by Toon for desperately needed hospital equipment...

[hansnl]

17 hours ago, petermik said:

Pity the money wasn,t spent providing better health care in rural areas.......

Any idea how much more in 2018 will go to rural healthcare?

[johnny49r]

So what are the priorities of the military junta? Education? Healthcare? Economic growth? Environmental concerns? 

Nope - war toys... 

[billd766]

18 hours ago, petermik said:

Pity the money wasn,t spent providing better health care in rural areas.......

 

It is a pity that money was not provided by ALL the previous governments for rural health care.

 

Please remind me on how much money was wasted on the rice scheme under the PTP.

[natway09]

To be fair, pilots need training aircraft but this damage to the (I presume turbines) is a bit of a worry.

Reason given bad weather over Malaysia does NOT satisfy me or I am sure any other pilot.

I await with baited breath for the true reason

[billd766]

35 minutes ago, natway09 said:

To be fair, pilots need training aircraft but this damage to the (I presume turbines) is a bit of a worry.

Reason given bad weather over Malaysia does NOT satisfy me or I am sure any other pilot.

I await with baited breath for the true reason

 

If any aircraft flies through a hailstorm it will be given a thorough inspection when it lands. The same thing will happen should it have a bird strike in the engine .

 

I have no idea if that was the cause bad hailstorms are certainly bad weather.

 

A link showing damage to aircraft caused by hailstiorms.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hailstorm+damage+to+jet+aircraft&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwje9enx-_TYAhVFq48KHVFPDMIQ7AkIMg&biw=1280&bih=583&dpr=1.5

 

As these two brand new aircraft were on a delivery flight and had not been finally accepted by the RTAF it is common sense to make sure that they are completely airworthy before the sign off. I think the pilots would have been from KAI, the aircraft manufacturer and supplier and would have been both test pilots and delivery pilots and not RTAF pilots.

 

It really does not matter if you accept the explanation or not unless, of course you are a qualified test pilot. It DID matter to the pilots who were flying the aircraft and they are the people most concerned with delivering a 21,000,000–30,000,000 USD (2012) aircraft and they need to ensure that the aircraft are delivered in the best condition.

 

Press-on-itis has killed many pilots and destroyed many aircraft un-necessarily, when a diversion would have saved the aircraft and crew.

Edited January 26, 2018 by billd766
added extra text

[DipStick]

Built in Korea, damaged in a storm over Malaysia ? Did they miss Thailand and over flew to Malaysia on delivery ?

[Cadbury]

It is only a matter of time before these aircraft will be sitting derelict due to poor maintenance and inability to find potential Thai pilots with enough quality education to fly them. Attracting mercenary pilots (like they intend doing with IT people) may be an option, with the temptation of the Thai Smart Visa. 

[billd766]

7 hours ago, DipStick said:

Built in Korea, damaged in a storm over Malaysia ? Did they miss Thailand and over flew to Malaysia on delivery ?

 

Go back in  this thread and you will find more information about the range of the aircraft and then bear in mind that they need to have enough fuel to divert somewhere.

 

Look at Google Earth and see how far east Malaysia actually stretches and it covers a lot of north Borneo.

 

It did not overfly Thailand at all. Try to understand that because airlines fly on a more direct route that military aircraft can also fly the same route. They need specific permission to overfly countries  and with a fairly limited range they need to file a flight plan to take this into account and they will also need enough fuel to land at a diversion airfield if necessary and still have enough fuel to loiter for 30 minutes to an hour in case of bad weather.

[billd766]

7 hours ago, Cadbury said:

It is only a matter of time before these aircraft will be sitting derelict due to poor maintenance and inability to find potential Thai pilots with enough quality education to fly them. Attracting mercenary pilots (like they intend doing with IT people) may be an option, with the temptation of the Thai Smart Visa. 

 

Sometimes you come to a conclusion that really doesn't ring true but if you are happy with that who am I to argue.

 

How many mercenary pilots do you think would be qualified to fly this aircraft?

[Psimbo]

On 1/25/2018 at 5:57 PM, YetAnother said:

thailand cannot even buy undamaged jets ? wow

Errr- they were damaged en-route. How dare 'they' insist they should be repaired before delivery.

 

The devil is in the details.

[Psimbo]

5 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

Go back in  this thread and you will find more information about the range of the aircraft and then bear in mind that they need to have enough fuel to divert somewhere.

 

Look at Google Earth and see how far east Malaysia actually stretches and it covers a lot of north Borneo.

 

It did not overfly Thailand at all. Try to understand that because airlines fly on a more direct route that military aircraft can also fly the same route. They need specific permission to overfly countries  and with a fairly limited range they need to file a flight plan to take this into account and they will also need enough fuel to land at a diversion airfield if necessary and still have enough fuel to loiter for 30 minutes to an hour in case of bad weather.

Well stated- some people just want to find fault without engaging brain and thinking it through beforehand.

[billd766]

4 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

Errr- they were damaged en-route. How dare 'they' insist they should be repaired before delivery.

 

The devil is in the details.

 

You are correct.

 

Can you post anything which says that the RTAF "insisted" that they should be repaired before acceptance of delivery?

 

For example would you accept a brand new car that had engine problems before you got it from the dealer?

 

AFAIR the delivery to the customer and the customers acceptance is contingent on the aircraft being fit for its task.

 

Just the same as the UK's latest aircraft carrier had a few problems that were down to the builders to fix at their expense.

Edited January 26, 2018 by billd766

[Cadbury]

6 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

Sometimes you come to a conclusion that really doesn't ring true but if you are happy with that who am I to argue.

 

How many mercenary pilots do you think would be qualified to fly this aircraft?

I had my tongue in my cheek when I wrote that about mercenary pilots but now you raise the question I think there would be far more than there is ever likely to be Thai pilots. Perhaps these two jet trainers could operate from the planeless rusting aircraft carrier laid up at the docks. I wait to hear your technical reasons why that would not be possible.

[billd766]

23 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

I had my tongue in my cheek when I wrote that about mercenary pilots but now you raise the question I think there would be far more than there is ever likely to be Thai pilots. Perhaps these two jet trainers could operate from the planeless rusting aircraft carrier laid up at the docks. I wait to hear your technical reasons why that would not be possible.

 

I had a feeling that it was tongue in cheek but I did bite. Part of the deal AFAIK is that KAI and perhaps the SKAF will be training both pilots and ground crews on the aircraft. I have no idea if spares are included or not but they would normally be, depending on the number of aircraft ordered.

 

There is a huge difference in building an aircraft to operate from a normal carrier as the whole rear fuselage has to be strengthened to allow for the deceleration of an aircraft landing at perhaps 150 mph to drag it to a stop in a short distance. The undercarriage has to be strong to withstand the stress of a catapult takeoff also.

 

As the Thai carrier is not a traditional carrier but has a sloping ramp at the front to allow for a short take off and the Harriers also use the nozzles at an angle to help the take off. Harrier landings were normally almost vertical as well to keep up with the forward speed of the Thai carrier.

 

The trainer was not designed as a STOL/VTOL naval aircraft but to take off and land from conventional airfields.

 

Happy now?

Edited January 26, 2018 by billd766
Added extra text

[JAG]

 
Go back in  this thread and you will find more information about the range of the aircraft and then bear in mind that they need to have enough fuel to divert somewhere.
 
Look at Google Earth and see how far east Malaysia actually stretches and it covers a lot of north Borneo.
 
It did not overfly Thailand at all. Try to understand that because airlines fly on a more direct route that military aircraft can also fly the same route. They need specific permission to overfly countries  and with a fairly limited range they need to file a flight plan to take this into account and they will also need enough fuel to land at a diversion airfield if necessary and still have enough fuel to loiter for 30 minutes to an hour in case of bad weather.

One also (tongue in cheek) has to take into account where the best hotels are...
[emoji4][emoji4]

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