mart360

It has just been confirmed that this flying season will be the last ever

Gutted

Lets hope they take the old girl out with a full on package of wingovers and howl the living daylights out of the engines




Mart

Tidgy

saw that but not why?

Dirk Diggler 75

What a beast,be sad not to see it again .

wrx300scooby

I'm going to go out of way to make sure I see this, I'm only a few miles from Doni airport

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Guess its certain parts are about to time-expired again so it won't be classed as airworthy.

YODI

iTrader: (3)

The engines are almost time ex and they can't get them rebuilt and some of the other components are already on extension.

scooby1994

iTrader: (2)

i am not having it that in this day and age they cant find the money or what ever is needed to keep this flying,this is as much a british heritage as a grade 1 listed building and as such should be preserved in flying condition

Tidgy

Tens of Millions a year isn't exactly look behind the sofa to find.

lozgti1

Despite being so old looks futuristic!

Amazing

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Yep...its not like that they can just quickly knock up some new parts on a CNC machine. That'd be the easy bit. The schematics, and the license to make a copies of those parts from orginal plans causes legal hoops as some probably belong to Rolls Royce, others to the Military and I bet BAE has some ownership rights too, some design plans could even still be held under the secrets act.

Then say if copy parts were made... these copies would have to tested and certified etc. for airworthiness.


Put it this way. It costs tens of thousands to keep a WW2 tank running without the red tape involved. Even common-as-muck Shermans of which parts are plentiful which statistically is almost like a Spitfire in the ratio of numbers, available parts and enthusiast interest. However something rare like a Tiger I (big f**k off German tank) which is akin to the Vulcan; Where there is very little global interest (therefore little funding), survivors can be counted on one hand and only one running in the entire world, and all parts to keep it running are salvaged off rotting tanks or made new from scratch with limited schematics....even simple wear and tear parts like tracks - none exist that aren't either worn or rotten.

An aircraft is just scaled up by a factor of at least ten, with much more added legal red tape.

Jamie

wrx300scooby

Tomorrow is the Vulcans very last flying day so I believe Does anyone know what time it is taking off/landing at Doncaster?

donny andi

iTrader: (3)

Next weekend is the final flights I think?
Saturday the north and Sunday the south of the country or vice versa!

Sad Weevil

iTrader: (1)

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/appearances.html

^Qwerty^

I'm finding it difficult to believe that they could not be rebuilt/zero timed. The reason cited is lack of skills, having to drag people out of retirement etc. yet RR advertise a service themselves where engines like these are rebuilt. Now I know every engine is different but how different and what makes the engines in the Vulcan so different that they require a different skill set?

I'm asking the question from a genuine interest, i.e. it would be good if somebody could give a proper explanation as to why they can't be zero timed rather than the vague woolly statement given by VTTS which doesn't stack up with information available on the RR web site.

Tidgy

It wont be the skills, it will be the almighty pound that makes the decision.

njkmrs

I believe it is flying around the North West tomorrow for the final flight.

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

It's flying over my farm tomorrow at approx. 15:30 as I'm next to the flight path from Staverton airport.

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

It flew over us today, still sounded awesome at that height.

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

When I saw it at the Scottish airshow, the commentator mentioned the airframe has already passed the maximum service life of any previous Vulcan, and is now in unknown territory with regards to stress.

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

Was driving back from Gloucester at 15:20 and people were lining a bridge obviously waiting for it to come over. We were rushing to get home and as we turned off the main road to go through some lanes, I turned my head and saw it there behind me for a split second before my view got covered by trees. When we got home there was nothing so it must have been turning to go a different direction just as I got a quick glimpse of it My girlfriend thinks I imagined it .

dark_angel

Just seen her flying over Llandegfedd Reservoir in Pontypool - what a site and huge sound !!!!

Glad I got to see it.

Andy

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

Pulled over at Manston Airport and watched it go over. I actually didn't know but saw all the people by Manston and said to the Mrs I bet it's a Vulcan (I mean what else could it be) she googled it and we had about 15 mins before it was due over. Pulled over and it came over early.

When we drove off there were people stood further down looking out toward the airport like they'd not seen it. Must have been expecting it on time!