Tim,
How absolutely correct you are, it is an utter farce. I can't see the lottery people giving any more money for one simple reason - the management of this project have been shown to be seriously lacking, and whilst they are in place, at the helm of a rudderless ship, no one in their right mind would give any more cash.
I have waiting for a responce from Airsound, but I note that he is at an airshow with his good friend Dr Pleming! (no wonder he supports him so much) May I suggest that Pleming would do better if he got his backside back here and started answering some questions about what is happening?
Here is the post I put on the other forum:
So,
Surprise surprise, the Vulcan is in trouble yet again. When will they ever learn down at Brunters? How can so few people, make so many errors in their calculations and get it so wrong, so often??
In a statement, Keith Mans states:
Under their Companies Act obligations, the Board of Trustees must have sufficient confidence that the levels of funding required will be forthcoming at the right time. The Trustees have decided, with the deepest regret, that unless such confidence is gained by the end of March, further activity by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust will for the time being be suspended. So once again, we are dependent on the goodwill of others to ensure that XH558, the people’s aircraft, continues to fly. In August 2006, the public responded magnificently to our plea for support, and as the result, XH558 took to the air last October. Would you please join the Club and/or make a donation now to ensure that we are able to keep our promise to give XH558 back to you this summer?
Tell us Keith, will they be the same people who you wouldn't let come to see 'their aircraft' take to the skies last year?? And I notice you to have reverted to the old 'pay up or it fails' thread again eh?
And the good Dr Pleming writes:
The next phase in the new life of XH558 takes the aircraft from today up to its first public display. In funding terms, we estimate that it will cost about £575,000 to meet our target of returning her to public display on 1st June, an amount which is consistent with our estimated gross annual running costs of about £1.6million. Following on from the enormous financial goodwill shown by many companies, and by Marshall Aerospace in particular, in enabling us to achieve the first test flight on 18th October, we have chosen to avoid the risk of future fiscal embarrassment by electing to pay for any major work before it starts. Whilst the largest proportion of the £575,000 pays for the monthly £70,000 baseline costs of salaries and other vital items, the steepest part of the new challenge is the upfront outlay of £85,000 required now to restart the test flight programme. The costs of the display work-up flights and aviation insurance are the other major elements making up the total.
Tell me Robert, did no one advise you about the Insurance costs? Did you not even have an inkling yourself? And what about these salaries? have they just been introduced or what? Why were neither of these costs factored into your budget plans? Just who is running this show?
Just as a matter of interest to all those thousands of people who, like myself, have given over their hard-earned cash to you for the past few years, who is in charge of finances at TVOC? Do you have a treasurer?
No doubt Dr Plemings friends will soon kick off here, telling us what a fine chap he is, and we are wrong to bad mouth the project, but the fact remains that, IMHO, and i suspect in the minds of many others, this project is rapidly turning into a joke. The sad thing is that the joke is on the thousands of people who have thrown good money at it.
OK, standing by for a barrage of abuse from you-know-who!
TSM