The Kintyre Forum

Is the base going to be sold by MOD?

Who is the new owner going to be?

When is this going to be announced?

What will it be used for?

Watch this space, coming soon to a town near here & this time it is going to happen

I saw a piece in one of the national papers last week that had a big photo and said Machrihanish base was going to be put on te market. It made a bit of a thing about the nuclear bomb shelters being included. (Nothing about the alien bodies though).

Not very surprisingly, the Courier didn't make any mention of it.

Beachcomber wrote:
Not very surprisingly, the Courier didn't make any mention of it.

Maybe if there was a photo of a big black cat beside the nuclear shelters they might have covered it

Community buy-outs are popular at the moment.

Barney McGrew wrote:

Beachcomber wrote:
Not very surprisingly, the Courier didn't make any mention of it.

Maybe if there was a photo of a big black cat beside the nuclear shelters they might have covered it

You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

Courier front page spread today.

Link here for Military Asset Management Ltd.:

http://www.militaryassetmanagement.co.uk/

Not particularly informative.

Anybody know any more about them?

I haven't seen this week's Courier yet. Is it confirmed that MAM have bought the site or that they're interested?

The Courier states that they have been looking at the base for about five years, but announced last week that they are in the process of making an official offer.

It's been very quiet about this on here after the revelations in the courier for the future.

What's your thoughts?

Buzz Lightyear wrote:It's been very quiet about this on here after the revelations in the courier for the future.

What's your thoughts?

I was thinking that too.

I think we would need more information on MAM Ltd. and their track record to be able to make any judgement on whether this is going to be beneficial to the area. Too often hopes have been built up and dashed again.

As I said above, their website does not have a great deal of information about the company and the projects that they have been involved in, and what information there is is hardly going to be independent.

It does not say who actually owns the company and how much input central government/MOD has in their activities.

If the site is in fact being sold to this company,why was it not put on the open market?

The website of M.A.M does indeed not give much info hopefully this is not intentional..
The two bases they mention were radar bases mainly and were not if I remember very big. RAF Buchan was Highland radar and Scatsta was basically just a radar station feeding other centres. Neither was anything like the scale of Machrihanish.
The idea of attracting transatlantic passengers aircraft in for fuel was voiced a few years ago and I can give you many many reasons why this is a no-no..

So "keep you,re powder dry guys" treat with caution.

Dunc

Dunc wrote:The idea of attracting transatlantic passengers aircraft in for fuel was voiced a few years ago and I can give you many many reasons why this is a no-no..

So "keep you,re powder dry guys" treat with caution.

Dunc

Please give us your many,many reasons Dunc as to why this would not work, in the pure interest of debate of course.

First let's look at the Atlantic Track system.
All aircraft have to be sorted out before reaching the Oceanic Boundary at 10W ATC at Prestwick don't like stuff coming up at the last minute to get to ther predetermined levels .Aircraft even coming from Glasgow have to climb hard to get up there and that is costly on fuel. Jets like to be at 30 to 45 thousand feet where its more economical.Aircraft from even Rome are all sorted out before this boundary.They would frown upon stuff passing thru those levels from close as this and it could have a few problems.
Big jets burn a lot of fuel and to make extra climbs is costly.
I think someone said there's nothing below 24k out there well have a look at a screen at Atlantic House if possible ..not everything is a jet and the Military still play at those levels below the track system.

However more important the type of fuel big jets use (JetA1 etc) probably all comes from the same refinary be it labelled Shell or B.P or Texaco and if you want to attract big translantic jets you got to sell it cheaper. There is no benefit to Shell etc selling it cheaper at Machrihanish or Heathrow, they sell it anyway..they have no reason to sell it cheaper at Machrihanish.
The type of fuel they use has a shelf life and is also hydroscopic eg absorbs moisture and thus has to have this regulary checked.If it fails this it has to be discarded..thrown away or flogged for central heating (it don't even burn well) other than that it has to go back by bowser to the refinary which is costly. So you must have a fast turn-around. Possibly the old RAF tanks are still serviceable thou..but you must have the thru-put.

Big jets are heavily insured and must have certain standards which they work under especially ATC. There is no ATC at Machrihanish and the fire coverage is way below that specified.That alone is a no-no.
They also require certain aid's to land (insurance requirements) There is only a VOR/DME and NDB at Machrihanish ..no radar coverage and no ILS.The low-level radar coverage from Tiree and Lowtherhill is sadly lacking for approach usage at Machrihanish.The RAF had all those aids and more when they were here together with ATC staff and all the back-up required.

But lets ignore all the above and say we have our aircraft on the deck It is I think still illegal to have passengers on board when taking on fuel so where are you going to put 300 to 400 passengers wains etc..in the terminal??
Another point is those passengers will have went thru Customs etc at their departure airport so they must be kept in a sterile area.This goes for outgoing aircraft as well as incoming aircraft.
So our jet is now all fueled up with cheaper fuel than he origionally had and now has to hack a climb up again to his predetermined height thus negating the reason he landed for ..the climb burns off any advantage.
Most of the stuff you see as vapour trails are already all sorted out our jet has to hack it's way up into this track system remember.
The Eastbound flow comes across about 0500 till 0900 so you would need to cover this with the Westbound flow from 1100 till 1400 virtually a 24 hr airport with all that needs ATC Fire Service..and the back -up

It was recently more costly to land an aircraft at Machrihanish or Wick than to land the same aircraft at Heathrow due to the charging methods used again not something an Aircraft operating Company would like. So again any saving in fuel is negated. You would have to give the fuel away free.

Mr Reid our MP? asked in House of Commons recently a question on Machrihanish and the answer was if I remember correctly that the MOD and the Scot Exec were talking with ArgyllBute and others as to its disposal. He was to be given the answer later..have'nt seen it yet.
I really hope this is not a case of M.A.D. promising the world but with someone else's money eg mine and you'rs.
The two bases which M.A.D. have already got were small in comparison to Machrihanish and were in fact basically Radar Stations with a few buildings...Highland Radar and Scatsa

This is the second time I,ve typed this as I lost it somewhere after the Submit bit

Cheers

Duncan ( Community buy-out better idea)

Oh and it would keep the residents awake..

Dunc