Written question asked by Robert Key (Conservative) on Thursday, 16 November 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 27 November 2000. It was answered by Lord Moonie (Labour) on Monday, 27 November 2000 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason (a) the typhoon tanking trial flight at Warton on Friday 3rd November was abandoned and (b) the weather window was lost.

Answer: Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason (a) the typhoon tanking trial flight at Warton on Friday 3 November was abandoned and (b) the weather window was lost. [139470] Dr. Moonie: Standard pre-flight checks, which identified a number of faults requiring investigation, prevented the Eurofighter development aircraft from taking off at the scheduled time for the tanking trials on 3 November. By the time the faults were rectified the weather conditions, which could affect the sensitive trials instrumentation on the aircraft, were unfavourable and the flight was abandoned. The flight trial was successfully completed a few days later.

Secondary information