What’s Going On?!? - February 2025
Hello 30 Sqn Association members!
My name is Jamie, one of the co-pilots on 30 Sqn and the new 30 Sqn Association rep. Hopefully this will be the first of many regular updates from the Sqn, a bit of a “whats going on” from the boys and girls on the front line. We love nothing better than spinning dits and moaning, so I will hopefully capture both!
Feburary, traditionally cold, wet and miserable, but not for those that travelled out West to the US to start the year on one of the many Para exercises conducted in the States. A400 is now well established in its High-Alt Para role and the number of qualified crews is ever increasing. A skill called for during several other exercises later in the year.
Up north in Norway, day & night crews conducted cold weather training around several airfields and challenging terrain with the night crew focusing on night NVG ops, which will help the A400s NVG low level procedures.
From up North to very, very South, the deployed crew in the Falklands got to experience some breath taking views of Antarctica as they recce’d an airfield just shy of 80° South. Recieveing gas from the deployed Voyager tanker abeam the north tip of Antarctica before continuing South, it was certainly the furthest South an A400 has been, and possibly the furthest south a RAF aircraft has been for several years.
An A400M of 30 Sqn over Antarctica
The Falkland deployment provides a fun and vaired flying program for the crew that deploy for roughly 1 month at a time. A mix of Maritime flying aswell as holding standby for Search & Rescue and Medevac flights to the mainland.
Living in the space-like super block that has everything under one roof, bad weather can see crews surface for fresh air outside a couple of days later – almost like the whales we try to spot when we are supposed to be searching for ships!
The crews are reminded daily of the many past members that have darkened the doors of the AM det corridor, who have written their names “artistically” on the wall since 99’. Pictured below is the last C130K deployment (excuse the Sqn) in 2010, with some of the names hopefully recognised by the readers. The walls continue to adorn the names in typical C130J fashion (read ugly) of those that deployed on the J, before the (more beautiful and far superior) A400 crews began to take over in 2018.
Plenty of other bits and bobs from a flying and non flying side, but I won’t bore you with how many ILS approaches were flown into UK airfields as training sorties!
That’s enough from me, I hope to continue this as regular as I can. Please let me know if there is anything you would particularly like to feature. (Use the Comment box below - Ed)
Ventre à Terre,
Jamie