Many thanks Farrell for your #1, I was at Wellington that day and watched closely all three of the Vulcan's approaches. To me it remains an abiding mystery why the pilot did not full-stop after his second shot, the touch down point was well judged and with drag chute he could have stopped easily. On the other hand the third approach looked wrong from the word go, very 'draggy' and plainly well below the ideal slope, so much so that I subconsciously urged him to take corrective action. Given the close proximity of the crowd to the runway's left side, a frightful accident was only narrowly averted by a combination of quick pilot reaction, the Vulcan's tremendous thrust, and maybe an input from Providence in preventing ignition of all that fuel streaming back from the ruptured tank.
For me it was a real thrill to see the rest of the action in that video, although as captain of the Britannia I wish we had featured more. OK so an airliner type cannot match combat aircraft for spectacle, but then not many aircraft are able to taxy backwards immediately after landing!
Originally Posted by
Farrell