OT Vulcan

[harry]

I know there's people here interested.

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

I made one of the photos my desktop background. Brill!

[Brian-Gaff]

I suppose the work needed to refit and overhaul such an old aircraft makes it far too expensive to keep it flying. That was the excuse about Concorde as well. In the vast scheme of things though, keeping such game changing aircraft airworthy really should be funded by the state I feel for future generations. We do it with buildings after all. Brian

[philipuk]

useum.html

All aircraft have a limited life. Metal fatigue will eventually happen and lead to disaster. The Vulcan has already been flying 10% more hours than an y other Vulcan, so proceeding any further is playing Russian Roulette with peoples lives. Eventually something will fail.

They are also running out of engines. There were only something like 6 engi nes available. Obviously they need to keep a spare set so that they don't h ave to cut the aircraft up should they have a failure away from base.

It's sad but the time to stop has come. It will still be a taxiable aircraf t for a very long time.

I would love to see an English Electric Lightning flying again, but again v ery unlikely to happen.

Philip

[DerbyBorn]

A good summary Philip.

[Jethro_uk]

There was a story over the weekend about getting a Concorde airworthy for

2019 ...

I always thought it was spiteful of BA to refuse to sell one to Beardy Branson.

And it's sad to think that coming generations probably won't know nor care, that NASA admitted the engineering challenges of Concorde made Apollo look like a walk in the park. Bearing in mind Apollo was basically

2 one-way journeys.

[Andy Burns]

I've heard murmurings of a private scheme to bring back Concorde recently

[Adrian]

It's more of a paper trial problem. Concorde, being a civilian airliner, was even worse - but you need to have the properly qualified companies agreeing to provide full support. If they step back and refuse to hand the paperwork over, then no matter how much money there is, you're stuffed.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Thought they had a pair in South Africa still flying

[philipuk]

-museum.html

and lead to disaster. The Vulcan has already been flying 10% more hours tha n any other Vulcan, so proceeding any further is playing Russian Roulette w ith peoples lives. Eventually something will fail.

engines available. Obviously they need to keep a spare set so that they don 't have to cut the aircraft up should they have a failure away from base.

craft for a very long time.

in very unlikely to happen.

I think I remember they stopped flying after a pretty bad accident.

Philip

[soup]

.

They did (a company called Thundercity), after a crash Thundercity closed. The FAA have said no Lightnings will fly in Britain[1]. Old films, youtube and (I believe) an example in Mississippi are the only way to 'see' them flying now.

[1] Probably something to do with letting civilians loose on Mach 2 aircraft without manual reversion.

[soup]

Add fighter to aircraft.

[charles]

What has the FAA got to do with it ? They're an american Authority.

But, seeing a mass take of at Farnborough was rather impressive. They went striaght up!

[Tim Streater]

Nothing at all. Soupy is a fathead.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Light fuel load and no weaponry...

[soup]

Brain fart. Meant CAA.

[soup]

Less of the abuse please, I had a simple brain fart.

[RayL12]

Yes. amazing shots.

[damduck-egg]

Didn't help when they wrecked some a while back because of failure to check that bags of silica gel had been removed before take off.

Fingers crossed it doesn't suffer any technical failures for the remaining displays, I only had to travel 15 miles to Old Sarum where it was due the other day after a display Goodwood but it turned back for Home with a fuel problem. The chaps to my right had come up from Haverford West and the woman with a Grandson to my left had come up from Truro and were very disappointed as was a mate who spent a not inconsiderable sum on travelling from the I.O.W .

Got tickets for Old Warden which ATM is the last one listed on the Vulcan website.

G.Harman

[Tim Streater]

Ner ner ner ner ROFL.

Sorry, but you made Oi larf :-)