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Helicopters

Volume 470: debated on Monday 7 January 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) planned and (b) actual average flying hours for each helicopter type in the (i) Army, (ii) Royal Navy and (iii) Royal Air Force was in each month of 2007. (175449)

Total planned and actual flying hours for each helicopter type in each of the three services from January to November 2007 are shown in the following tables:

Army Air Corps

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Apache AH1

Planned hours

801

901

901

1,119

1,259

1,259

1,259

839

1,398

1,259

1,119

Total flown

1,165

948

832

839

1,130

979

1,202

838

918

1,020

1,132

Agusta A109

Planned hours

80

90

90

80

90

90

90

60

100

90

80

Total flown

41

48

97

75

109

67

95

91

108

134

82

Gazelle

Planned hours

898

1,011

1,011

1,186

1,334

1,334

1,334

889

1,482

1,334

1,186

Total flown

749

888

1,291

935

1,151

1,147

1,113

1,012

1,193

1,119

871

Lynx Mk 7 and 9

Planned hours

1,480

1,666

1,666

1,152

1,296

1,296

1,296

864

1,440

1,296

1,152

Total flown

1,772

1,583

1,825

1,665

1,702

1,514

1,556

937

1,555

1,674

1,522

Royal Navy

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Lynx Mk3

Planned hours

590

590

590

200

555

555

555

200

560

555

555

Total flown

732

617

463

443

569

568

449

318

707

684

599

Lynx Mk 8

Planned hours

590

590

590

200

555

555

555

200

560

555

555

Total flown

571

497

564

495

515

542

479

245

446

430

489

Merlin Mk 1

Planned hours

880

880

1,076

590

804

965

859

322

1,073

1,234

1,126

Total flown

511

522

575

632

691

736

624

293

651

704

519

Sea King Mk 4 and 6

Planned hours

1,114

1,003

781

909

1,023

1,023

1,023

682

1,137

1,023

909

Total flown

1,124

996

1,033

839

1,044

1,031

896

735

998

992

923

Sea King Mk 5

Planned hours

441

441

439

294

441

441

441

294

441

441

441

Total flown

340

342

450

351

325

410

409

286

375

458

320

Sea King Mk 7

Planned hours

387

387

366

258

387

387

387

258

387

387

387

Total flown

221

217

239

447

577

285

283

39

262

230

259

Royal Air Force

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Chinook HC2/2a

Planned hours

1,000

1,125

1,125

1,000

1,125

1,125

1,125

750

1,250

1,125

1,000

Total flown

1,053

997

1,140

961

1,189

1,075

1,233

1,179

1,167

1,255

1,087

Merlin HC Mk 31

Planned hours

403

520

578

473

414

473

503

532

503

562

590

Total flown

445

378

505

522

525

517

387

362

477

486

503

Puma HC Mk 1

Planned hours

963

1,084

1,083

963

1,084

1,084

1,084

722

1,204

1,084

963

Total flown

999

837

1,059

937

835

1,026

977

759

791

782

815

Sea King HAR 3/3a

Planned hours

900

900

900

900

900

900

900

900

900

900

900

Total flown

753

757

839

915

835

802

907

843

835

742

NYA

NYA = not yet available.

1 Includes the first of the newly procured Merlin Mk 3 from November 2007.

Planned hours show the funded annual flying task for each aircraft type as agreed in annually agreed customer supplier agreements (CSA) between the Front Line Commands and Defence Equipment and Support. Actual hours flown includes both those flown in the UK for training as well as those deployed on operations. Hours flown in excess of the CSA on operations are funded by the Conflict Prevention Fund.

There is no requirement to hold data on average flying hours. CSA calculations are based on the total amount of flying hours that can be supported by the integrated project teams for a given aircraft type and are not broken down by individual airframe.