Originally Posted by
BEagle
Is there anyone still alive who remembers when Mass Rapid starts were banned on the Vulcan B2?
We did single rapid and simultaneous cross feed to the other 3, or the occasional 'ripple rapid', but they were nothing like to true Mass Rapid start.
The reason behind discontinuing the use of the Simultaneous Start in favour of individually selected rapid starts (2,3,1,4) was that the likelihood of of a failure to start was significantly lower and the additional time required was negligible. The only significant feature that was lost was the automatic start of the PFCUs during the Sim Start sequence. Even this could be regained by holding down the Rudder channel start button whilst the alternators came in line. Simultaneous Start sounded like a good idea but in practice wasn’t worth the extra complications.
YS