Have been in to said DA library this afternoon...
The piece is a short paragraph:
"Not so VC Tender!
A VC10 was carrying out an ILS approach prior to a roller landing during a conversion sortie. When it reached 400ft on finals with the IAS at 135kts there was a very loud band, the aircraft began to vibrate severely and the pilot noticed a tendency for the starboard wing to drop. The aircraft began to accelerate, and despite a reduction in power the airspeed remained high until the runway threshold was reached"
Wg Cdr Spry's comments then follow.
" A most unnerving experience! The captain quite rightly made the landing final and took the VC10 back to dispersal for inspection. To everybody's surprise, there were no signs of damage anywhere on the airframe, which was subjected to a microscopic examination...
... At the time of the incident there was also a Belfast in the circuit and it had made an approach some minutes earlier. Thus the VC10's experience could only be ascribed to the presence on the approach of slowly-decaying turbulence from the Belfast..."
Wg Cdr Spry went on to add a couple of lines about turbulence in general, then a Board of Trade Info Circular on turbulence caused by large aircraft.
There are no photos or illustrations accompanying the piece; the only photo on the page in question is in a piece called 'Spare My Moustache, please' and is of the fin of a Canberra post-bird strike and a cartoon of Wg Cdr Spry ripping his moustache off in rage at the pilot's foolishness for continuing the NAVEX after the bird strike because he couldn't see any damage .
Last edited by Archimedes; 27th June 2007 at 20:22.