Quote:
Having said that, the team at Bruntingthorpe have done a magnificent job of keeping their two in airworthy condition. I was speaking to a friend of mine (Air Commodore ret'd) the other year and he said that during a high speed taxi run, in reheat no less, he was very tempted......
Thanks for the vote of confidence, we do try to keep them 'going' and thats all, they are far from airworthy, they both flew in (728 June 24th 1988 and 904 Jan 23rd 1993) and we have kept them as servicable as possible ever since, but as we 'only' ground run them and fast taxy them none on the systems are anything like flight worthy.
I assume you mean
JS taxying
JS, he does get a kick out of it still, but he wouldnt
Ive been close to these two beasts for 20 years and know them inside out and I can see why the CAA are nervous, everything aircraft is so complex and on the limit.
Getting all the OEM's to support a Lghtning is just not going to happen.
And there remains the main question, which airframe currently in the UK would be a possible candidate ?
A T5 would be the best candidate, but which one ?
Best to get a ticket to S Africa I think, or come to Brunty on July 22nd and see our two in action and put some cash in our QRA hangar rebuild fund
which will see them both preserved for the future.
As for fuel consuption the Avon 302 get though the best part of 3.5 gallons per second in reheat
Cheers
Andy B (LPG)