Originally Posted by
Dan Winterland
The RAF deep maintenance for the VC10 was done at St Athan (5996ft) which presented no problems. BEagle and I landed a K2 there in 2000 and managed to turn off before the intersection which was less than 3000ft in the direction we landed. Obviously, depending on weight and temperature there would be some take off restrictions, but the Ten was designed for such runways.
Indeed we did, Dan! It was when we took ZA144 on its last flight to be scrapped. I seem to recall that there was some limitation on the southern taxiway, so a short landing was preferable. Your prompt spoilers, idle then full reverse certainly helped us to stop - whilst I was getting drenched in some water which had gathered in the roof panel or whatever!
A 20 min flight, followed by a slow trip home in an uncomfortable white van along the M4 via Swindon.... I recall we discussed the opportunities which biz jet flying might offer?