Raf Nimrods Recalled

摘要

The RAF announced on March 9 that no Nimrod R.1s or MR.2s would be permitted to fly after March 31 unless the engine bay hot air ducts had been replaced. This has led to those Nimrods on operations overseas being withdrawn in order for work to take place. The aircraft is not expected to resume overseas commitments until "early summer", according to an RAF statement. Other UK and overseas assets will fill in. At the time of writing on March 16, four MR.2s were undergoing scheduled maintenance and had been fitted with the hot air ducts. A further MR.2 had already received the ducts and had a number of fuel seals replaced. The latter issue is another recommendation from QinetiQ after stripping down and examining a Nimrod, XV236, at the request of the RAF to find out if any technical issues needed to be addressed following the fatal crash of XV230 in Afghanistan on September 2, 2006.