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Flying Hours

Volume 454: debated on Monday 4 December 2006

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average flying hours of pilots for the Royal Air Force (a) Hercules C-130, (b) VC-10, (c) C-17 Globemaster, (d) Tristar aircraft and (i) Chinook, (ii) Puma, (iii) Merlin and (iv) Sea King helicopters have been for each month in 2006. (105968)

The average number of flying hours of Royal Air Force pilots in fixed-wing aircraft of the following type for each complete month in 2006 is:

2006

Hercules C-130

VC-10

C-17 Globemaster

Tristar

January

18

29

33

31

February

19

23

32

34

March

13

28

37

25

April

15

34

34

40

May

19

31

28

41

June

19

25

23

33

July

20

27

34

27

August

22

28

19

50

September

22

29

39

37

October

16

26

47

46

The average number of flying hours of Royal Air Force crews in rotary aircraft of the following type for each complete month in 2006 is:

2006

Chinook

Puma

Merlin

Sea King

January

16

19

33

20

February

17

16

27

19

March

18

24

36

22

April

25

19

38

21

May

23

23

38

20

June

23

23

34

21

July

22

22

33

21

August

17

19

35

21

September

19

22

34

23

October

21

18

30

21

The figures include all flying hours (both operational and non-operational) undertaken by fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. Hours flown in Hercules C130s by RAuxAF pilots, who fly a relatively small number of hours per month, have been excluded from the figures to avoid distorting the averages.