Navy News
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Navy aviation experts complete complex Chinook repair
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23 July 2025
Royal Navy engineering experts have completed a complex repair on a Chinook helicopter in Estonia.
A team from 1710 Naval Air Squadron – CPO James Barron, PO Nicholas Tacey, PO Robert Dale and PO Andrew Sparks – flew out from their home at HMNB Portsmouth to Ämari Airbase.
The Chinook Mk6A had damage to the outer cap, web and aircraft skin – damage beyond the capacity of the regular engineers assigned to the helicopter, but not the 1710 team who carried out a swift repair to enable the helicopter to continue on operations.
“The successful completion of the repair reaffirmed 1710 NAS’s reputation for operational excellence and technical proficiency in handling complex maintenance tasks,” said Lt Tobias Barnicoat, from 1710 NAS.
The team perform a unique service for the UK armed forces, providing specialist engineering support to helicopters operated not just by the Fleet Air Arm, but also RAF and Army Air Corps.