Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s trade mission to Japan encountered significant disruption due to a Defence Force plane malfunction during a brief stopover in Papua New Guinea.
Two fuses blew in the Boeing 757 while refueling, forcing Luxon to catch a commercial flight from Port Moresby to Japan, leaving Trade Minister Todd McClay to manage the 52-person business and media delegation. The group endured a six-hour wait at the airport before arrangements were made for overnight accommodations and commercial flights to Japan. The cost of these measures will be assessed at the end of the trip, though McClay emphasised that this solution was preferable to the original plan, which involved a stop in Brisbane.
This incident marks the second time this year that Luxon has had to switch to a commercial flight due to Defence Force aircraft issues. Earlier, he missed two crucial meetings at a special Australia-ASEAN summit after a plane breakdown in Wellington. Defence Minister Judith Collins acknowledged the embarrassment caused by the outdated fleet but highlighted the substantial financial investment required to upgrade it amidst the current cost of living crisis. Despite the logistical hiccup, Luxon’s delegation is expected to arrive in Tokyo by Monday evening, thanks to assistance from Air New Zealand’s CEO Greg Foran, who was part of the business delegation.
64 billion wasted on covid we could have bought a new one … or 2 … or ….
Whoa, cool it with the right wing extremism there please.
Don’t you know mass-injecting civilians with myocarditis, blood clots, turbo cancer and infertility is FAR MORE important to national defence than some stupid airplanes?
Again a boeing. Nearly daily accidents or troubles with boeing
You mean that the RNZAF doesn’t carry spare fuses, current limiters, inverters or circuit breakers on board this 30+ year old Boeing????
Two ways round this;
1. Lease two Gulfstream 800’s with an initial maintenance contract clause, with the option to train RNZAF Personnel over the course of the lease period of 2 years…
2. Purchase the G-800’s at the end of the lease period, with the RNZAF Personnel having completed their training on the aircraft.
OR-
3. Build an enclosed ‘Comfort Pallet’ that rolls-on and roll-off into the cargo compartment of the incoming C-130J’s. Such a pallet is essentially an enclosed room on a RORO Aluminum pallet.
Such a pallet provides extra protection from EMP’s, potential nuclear detonations when abroad, and has extra sound insulation with comfort amenities and secure communications, and remains pressurised in the event the aircraft loses cabin / cargo compartment pressurisation.
Behind the Comfort Pallet there would be another pallet that would have a self-righting lifeboat as seen on drilling platforms which would employ the Heavy Equipment methodology of extraction from an aircraft in trouble, ie ditching miles at sea, or over terrain that is sparsely populated. The lifeboat pallet would go out of the aircraft via extraction chutes in flight, and then deploy the main parachutes once clear of the aircraft to insure that insure a soft water landing or touchdown on land would be accomplished.
If the plane goes missing, at least the lifeboat would be found…and be mobile if on water.
Affordable: yes! Practical; yes! Do-able; yes! Will such be studied and eventually employed in the C-130J fleet? …we all know the answer to that!!!
Probably not…just like aerial fire fighting equipment that was refused by the NZDF that is well-tested and deployed in other C-130 aircraft around the world.
We could also economize on toilet paper
https://www.grunge.com/891642/heres-why-americans-once-used-corn-cobs-for-toilet-paper/
Might wake somebody up
Another massive waste of public money, whilst our healthcare system remains woefully under founded……
Crikey !! What twit left his/her brain home today? Why don’t you just charter one of Air NZ planes? The 777s for example. The NZ Government owns more than half of Air NZ already. If one of these planes was booked in advance, I can’t see a problem. And don’t tell me taking one out of service is disruptive. They are taken out of service for period maintenance, CAC notices like hairline cracks in turbine blades and housings. Sometimes for weeks at a time for overhauls. Luxton was GM and then CEO of Air NZ so he should be aware of how airlines work.
Who cares if luxons plane is safe?
He never cared that the jabs were killing people.
Lets load the whole lot onto a dodgy plane like what they have done to us.
All good. People die….. Whatever eh.?
Maintenance costs double for Kiwi Rail’s ageing Cook Strait Inter islander ferries
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/maintenance-costs-double-for-kiwirails-ageing-cook-strait-interislander-ferries/BN46FNYCRFDDXKF6MLLOHBIRXY/
Just think
64B could have bought these and with change over
More disasters waiting in the wings