DEREK FLYNN
CAREFUL WORK: Royal Australian Air Force corporal Adam Bland, left, and air force flight sergeant Jeff McHaffie check each of the rivet holes around the cockpit of the first of three Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules being upgraded at Base Woodbourne, near Blenheim
Waikawa man Graeme Gilmore was supposed to be retired for good.
But when his old friend and former colleague, Deputy Secretary of Defence (acquisition) Des Ashton asked for help to put the C-130 Hercules life-extension project together, the retired Safe Air boss had to break a promise to his wife and come back for one last job.
Mr Gilmore is the Defence Ministry programme manager for upgrading the three remaining aircraft at Base Woodbourne. The upgrade is expected to extend the operational life of the planes by 15 to 20 years.
The $254 million project involves stripping and rebuilding the five 1960s C-130 Hercules, installing modern avionics and new systems to protect the aircraft from missile attack.
Two aircraft used as prototypes for the project have already been completed in the United States.
The Defence Ministry project is using a 50-strong team of mostly contractors after the original plan using Marlborough company Safe Air fell over last year.
Safe Air pulled out and underwent restructuring after more than two years of delays as the head contractor, US-based L-3 Communications, struggled to overcome technical problems with the project.
It was the first time the ministry had run a production project and it was a massive job, Mr Gilmore said.
The whole plane was being rewired – a total of 82 kilometres – and every part, down to each rivet, was being checked.
A total of 110,000 man hours were being spent on each plane, believed to be the largest single job on an aircraft in New Zealand, he said.
The first plane is due to be finished by April 30.
"One thing I'm crystal clear on is that we'll do the job and it will come out as a really good plane."
He has the credentials to be confident. He spent 33 years in the air force, and was former assistant chief of defence staff, engineering manager of Air New Zealand, vice-president of planning for Singapore Airlines and general manager of Safe Air.
He has retired a few times before being drawn back into work, but he and his wife moved to Waikawa to retire for good after his spell at Singapore Airlines.
"That was supposed to be it," he said.
But then Mr Ashton, approached him last year to help get the project running and he could not say no.
The contractors working on the project have come to Marlborough from around New Zealand and the world for the three-year project.
"There are some very clever guys working here," he said.
The upgrade team was finding more maintenance work than expected, he said. This needed more materials than planned, especially fasteners, but they were ordering enough to cater for the two remaining planes as well.
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