Babcock climbs onboard French PC-21s |
| Helen Chachaty |
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18 OCT 2018 | 335 words
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© David Pujo / Armée de l'air |
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By the start of 2019, all seventeen PC-21s intended to train future fighter crews will be on the tarmac at French air force base BA 709 in Cognac. To enable them to take on flyers, they were inspected for airworthiness by the DSAé (The French government's Aviation safety department), after which they were awarded their registration and airworthiness certificate. The first planes have been "released" and are starting to be made available to initial instructors, who will then train other instructors, in order to be ready to welcome the first class of trainees in 2019.
While the pilots at the controls will be French air force instructors and trainee pilots, the planes themselves belong to Babcock MCS France, a French subsidiary of the British services company. The planes have been acquired according to a five-year lease period, before joining the air force's inventory. In the meantime, Babcock will be providing the flying hours, with the objective of rolling out ten to twelve planes, with fourteen at the end of the upgrade period. The flying hour volume is set at 11 000 per year.
The maintenance will also be provided by Babcock. The acquisition contract was signed for five years, while the initial support contract runs for eleven years. The full team, including transverse functions, is currently made up of around forty people, with the objective of increasing to 80-90 people in time, with around fifty technicians.
Babcock says that it has EMAR 145 (European military airworthiness) approval to maintain planes and EMAR M approval to monitor fleet airworthiness. The introduction of material resources and procedures was then audited to "verify that the commitments made were met and what was actually put in place", Babcock told us.
The company will be tasked with maintaining the cell. The common equipment maintenance (engines, propellers, systems, etc.) will be sub-contracted out to the industrial companies concerned. As for pilot equipment, this has been acquired by the air force, but Babcock will be responsible for its provision and maintenance.
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