Royal Transportation (land, sea, air)

[pacomartin]

What happened to the new royal helicopter? The old one was supposed to be replaced by a new model in August, but I haven't heard anything.

 

[ashelen]

what other transportations do they have ????, do they have their own cars or they just always use the one belong to the fmaily?
I never listen anything aobut the helicopter! what about other royals?

 

[pacomartin]

The new helicopter has been delivered. As transport they have a nice car, a royal helicopter since 1998, and a royal train since 1977 for the silver jubilee. The royal yacht was christened in 1953 but was decomissioned in 1997. There was a division of the Air Force called "The King's/Queen's flight". They accepted a new VIP version of the BAE jets in roughly 1983 (two planes). But this jet can only fly non-stop to Europe. It is incapable of crossing the ocean. In the last 25 years, the planes are getting very old, and they are used by the military brass, and for other reasons. As they age they need a lot of maintenance. The royal family is relying more and more on chartered jets.
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The queen only leaves the UK two to three times a year. When she does it is almost always on a chartered British Airways jet. Her children or her cousins leave several times a year, and they charter jets from luxury charters which may have Swiss or some other countries logos.
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Charles' travel costs have exploded in recent years. He is renting more and more elaborate jets, and going further and longer. Costs are in £,000
2009:£1,710 2008:£1,157 2007:£1,485 2006:£1,149 2005:£1,059 2004:£825 2003:£478

 

[wbenson]

AFP: Queen's corgi-friendly car on sale in Britain

A top-of-the-range Daimler formerly owned by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is up for sale, with unique features including a handbag holder and corgi-friendly fittings.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Handbag holder and corgi friendly, just love it.
That would be a wonderful car to own.

 

[RoyalistRiley]

Since the Royal Yacht Britannia was retired, have any of the Royals used ships to travel on official tours? Or is it just too expensive to sail the seven seas these days?

 

[muriel]

Since the Royal Yacht Britannia was retired, have any of the Royals used ships to travel on official tours? Or is it just too expensive to sail the seven seas these days?

The PoW and the DoC hired a yatch for their working visit to the Carribbean a few years ago.

 

[kristens]

The Daimler is very nice and will definately be a collector's item. For her visits to Canada, the Canadian Forces supply a jet from the base in Trenton, ON. Operated by the 437th Squadron of the RCAF, it's a military version of the Airbus A310.

 

[Opal]

I'm curious as to how much it's worth? It doesn't give an asking price in the article.

 

[kristens]

What's the old saying? "If you have to ask, you can't afford it"

 

[muriel]

AFP: Queen's corgi-friendly car on sale in Britain

A top-of-the-range Daimler formerly owned by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is up for sale, with unique features including a handbag holder and corgi-friendly fittings.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the car to be sold, and whether it is a UK buyer or an overseas collector.

 

[Mrs.Smith]

I hope this is the right thread to ask this question, if not, please move my post! On Saturday a limousine passed by me near buckingham palace, with an royal emblem on its roof and the license plate WE 1. Sorry for this stupid question, but was that one of the queens cars?? Since its windows were light reflecting, I couldnt clearly identify the persons inside, but it was an elderly lady wearing a hat and an elderly man. I'm so excited now because I might have seen the queen whoohooo . But I think it must have been "at least" an other family member's car.

edit: I did some google research, it's apparently westminster's lord mayor's car. Which makes sense, WE for Westminster....

 

[muriel]

FYI: HMs official cars do not carry any registration numbers. Her private ones tend not to have cusotomised number plates.

 

[Sereta]

Does anynone think William would/could ever use his flying skills for his royal duties someday? For instance piloting (or co-piloting) a helicopter to his royal engagements. Did Prince Andrew ever do this when he used to fly helicopters?

 

[Lumutqueen]

I doubt he would ever personally fly his helicopters to his events, just like they wouldn't drive themselves to events. There would be a lot of paperwork involved. Plus William i don't think, has been trained to fly the helicopter that is being used for taking royals to far away engagments.

 

[Sereta]

What type of paperwork would they have to do?
Isn't he learning to fly a complex helicopter already? He may have to be certified for a specific type of helicopter, but once you learn to fly a helicopter aren't they all similar?

 

[Iluvbertie]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he did in the future.

Charles and Philip both did in the past.

 

[Mermaid1962]

Yes, that's true. Andrew should fly himself as a cost-cutting measure. Actually, I have no problem with Prince Andrew using the helicopter; but the papers make a fuss over it.

 

[Sereta]

I could see William using his flying skills perhaps some of the time. There might be times when it's not feasible for instance if he's going from one engagement to another and he needs to go over his speech or review the agenda with his staff.

 

[SLV]

Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands also does this.
When having to fly to an engagement, he often flies himself.
Apparently, he really likes doing so, and at the same time he keeps up with the necessary number of flight-hours he needs to keep his licence.
William can do the same thing.
Why would that be too much paperwork?

 

[Lumutqueen]

There was probably at some point alot of paperwork for Prince Wilhelm to do it.
They are both heirs to their respective thrones, paperwork to go out on a daily basis is needed. This is flying a helicopter.

 

[SLV]

Didn't one of the posts above somewhere mention that William also has a 'normal' flying licence?
Or does 'fixed-wings' mean something else?

 

[Lumutqueen]

Those two posts above you mean?
Fixed wing is to fly aircraft such as an aeroplane.
But we aren't talking about any ordinary person flying a plane, there would be paperwork involved, probably each time depending on the destination, the course the plane/helicopter would day etc.

He may well choose to fly his own plane, i just don't see the point.

 

[Opal]

Didn't one of the posts above somewhere mention that William also has a 'normal' flying licence?
Or does 'fixed-wings' mean something else?

Yes, but William is only licensed to fly small planes. Doesn't Willem-Alexander fly large passenger planes? William could always do further training if he wanted to fly larger planes.

 

[SLV]

I have no idea when a plane is called small or large or if you need separate licences.

De Nederlandse regering heeft een Fokker 70 (F28-0070) voor het vervoer van de Koninklijke familie en regeringsfunctionarissen, zoals de Premier en andere ministers. Het toestel heeft de registratie PH-KBX; PH voor Nederland en KBX voor Koningin Beatrix. Het vliegtuig wordt gevlogen door geselecteerde vliegers van KLM Cityhopper en onderhouden door Martinair

Nederlands regeringstoestel - Wikipedia
Translation:
Dutch Government (And RF) has a Fokker 70 airplane and has two Rolls Royce engines.
Fokker 70 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
No idea if this is too large for prince William to fly, though.

@lumutqueen

I don't see the point in William going through all the paperwork now too.
But once Prince Charles is king, and Williams takes up more royal engagements and he enjoys flying (which is something that CP WA does), I can see him flying when travelling. Shouldn't make any difference in paperwork, if William or another pilot does the flying. There are always two of them anyway.
Air transports of heads of state and government - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But if the British RF doesn't have their own airplane, like mentioned here on Wiki, I can understand this not happening.

 

[Lumutqueen]

They have there own helicopter which is what he would presumably fly. When he goes on overseas tours, he will fly by actual plane.
The difference is that when his father ascends the throne, he will be the heir to the throne. Paperwork would have to be filled out for all kinds of things and as i said for each different event. Yes he enjoys flying, but can't he fly something less dangerous.
I don't see why he doesn't just sit back and relax being flown about.

 

[Iluvbertie]

If Philip and Charles could and did do it there is no reason why William can't fly his own helicopter to events.
It is certainly safer than driving anywhere. Statistics show that way more people die in car accidents every year than ever die in air accidents.

 

[Sereta]

He may well choose to fly his own plane, i just don't see the point.

Wouldn't it save money as they wouldn't have to hire a pilot? Unless they use military personell as pilots then I suppose it wouldn't cost anything.

 

[Opal]

A small plane would be a single engine, two passenger type of plane. The pictures you showed are what I would call large passenger planes, meaning they carry alot of people. They are basically the same as commercial flights. I do believe you need further training to fly one as they are more complex.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Small planes can hold at least 4 people. I have a friend who had a small plane license and he was able to fly up to 10 or so people with that license. I have been in a plane with him with 6 other people (8 in total) and he only had the first level license. It is a bit like cars - up to a certain size is the basic license and then a new level of license is needed for larger planes and then for the big commercial jets but the basics are the same just the size of the vehicle and thus the manourvrability of the plane has to be learnt.