Prince William was under fire again after it emerged that he had landed his £10million RAF helicopter in girlfriend Kate Middleton's back garden during an official military exercise.
Miss Middleton and her parents are said to have watched in delight as the second in line to the throne practiced a series of take-offs and landings in the paddock of their sprawling detached home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, earlier this month.
Details of the two-hour stunt emerged just days after the prince was heavily criticized for using another Chinook to fly himself and his brother Harry to a stag weekend on the Isle of Wight.
It appears that Prince William is learning the fine art of combat chopper flying to stag parties and emergency combat landings in his girlfriend's garden. I can see the prince engaging in one stupid stunt on the RAF--but two stupid stunts in the same month? If an ordinary chopper pilot would have done that, his ass would have probably been grounded for the rest of his life. And our prince here is flying a CH-47 Chinook helicopter--we're talking about a big, two-rotor helicopter that is used to hauling troops and supplies to the battlefield:
Royal Air Force CH-47 Chinook helicopter.So let us continue on with The Daily Mail story:
The RAF has repeatedly refused requests by the Mail to confirm how much William's attachment has cost taxpayers, arguing that it would take too much manpower to sit down and work the figures out.
The incident is understood to have taken place on April 3 during the final part of the course - codenamed Golden Kestrel - designed to allow army officer William, who one day will become head of the armed forces, to "familiarize" himself with the role of the RAF.
[....]
RAF sources told the News of the World that, William, 25, himself came up with the idea of taking the helicopter to Berkshire, claiming there was a shortage of landing spots at RAF Odiam in Hampshire where he was based for part of his attachment.
After the plan was approved by his instructors, the prince flew the 16 miles to Miss Middleton's family home where he completed one circuit of the field at the back of her parents' million-pound house and practiced landing and taking off in their paddock.
He then piloted the helicopter back to Odiham for further tuition. The entire operation is estimated to have cost around £30,000.
This story just gets better and better--it was the prince's idea to fly his chopper to his girlfriend's house. And the Royal Air Force approved of the operation. I could just imagine the scene in the Middleton's family home as Prince William just happens to land his Chinook in their family garden.
Sound of big helicopter blades thumping overhead, growing in intensity.
Kate Middleton: Mum! William's popping in for a spot of tea!
Kate Middleton's Mother: Tell that royal boyfriend of yours NOT to land on my roses--I just planted them! Oh, would William like some Earl Gray, or Jasmine?
Kate Middleton: Too late! And there goes the petunias!
Of course what is even more incredible is how the RAF not just endorsed this crazy plan, but actually defended William in engaging in this stunt. Going back to the Daily Mail story:
A Ministry of Defence spokesman yesterday defended its decision to allow William to land the Chinook in the Middletons' field, however, saying: "Battlefield helicopters routinely practice landing in fields and confined spaces away from their airfields as a vital part of their training for operations.
"These highly honed skills are used daily in conflict zones such as iraq and Afghanistan.
"The sortie on April 3 was fully authorized and planned and was an agreed part of Prince William's attachment to the RAF."
Of course, this is all standard CYA by the Royal Air Force, which would love to see this embarrassing incident buried. It doesn't look good when royalty is using military equipment for their pleasure--be it a stag taxi service, or to impress their girlfriends. Because it appears that the top RAF brass is getting pissed off at the royal stupidity that is taking place within their service. Again through the Daily Mail:
It has also angered RAF top brass who had been savouring the "fabulous" publicity that William's attachment to the force had brought in this, their 90th anniversary year.
Pictures of the Prince of Wales awarding his son his wings at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire, watched by Miss Middleton, on April 11 made front pages around the world.
The head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, is said to have "erupted" with rage at the "sheer stupidity" of the situation and is said to have demanded a "line-by-line" explanation from subordinates.
One senior RAF source told the Mail yesterday: "William hasn't done anything wrong but the naivety of those around him in allowing him to make these flights without forseeing the potential problems they could cause is astonishing.
"I think there has been a bit of royal fever here."
Royal fever indeed. The RAF was probably hoping for some big, positive press coverage when William received his RAF wings this month. What the RAF didn't expect is that young people sometimes do stupid things--especially if you're royalty, and are in the military, and can get away with it because you're second-in-line to the British throne. My guess is that the to RAF brass is sending the word down through the command to stop Prince William from engaging in these stupid stunts. In other words, cool the royal fever here. And that royal fever can also be quickly cooled when William starts a three-month deployment with the Royal Navy in June.
Next question, what are the Middleton's going to plant in their Chinook-flattened garden?
No comments:
Post a Comment