558 to fly soon well done all donaters
The general opinion is that 558 will fly again soon i know that the two ma techs required have been lined up for return to bruntingthorpe 2 of the techs will not be going back as it stands at the moment.
The aircraft is due anti-det runs and some NDT work is been scheduled for this week this will ned u/c swings and brake functions and indys hope two can manage it
my opinion is she will fly within the next 3 weeks no thanks to tvoc sponsorship drive but again joe public
as for the future i see that it has sneaked out about the mod needed on key publishng there is documented proof of this
quote ..
All this back and forth on whether the Vulcan is as iconic as other aircraft is a bit pointless in my opinion surely the only thing that matters is if she will fly again this year (or for how many).
Yes signs are good that TVOC have stumped up the minimum required too MA to get the program up and running again but what about any unforseen costs? Sure it wont all be plain sailing (hope it is) but things sometimes dont go too plan.
Take all the focus being on the engines life for how long the aircraft flies it is not. At the moment the airframes fatigue index is sat on 236.24 if mod 2429 is not embodied the FI limit is 251.8. If the estimated FI usage is about 3 or 4 per year well in less than 5 years thats it game over. The mod has never been drawn up and even if BAe were too do it a rough cost of 1-1.5 million has been banded about, and i think that on top of the running costs could be a bit ott.
As for when the next flight will be I really cant see it being in the next few weeks even if they doo get MA back there soon, surely the majority of the functionals will need to be carried out especially the flyers and full U/C checks.
I am certainly not holding my breath.
Dave
THIS will make the running cost for the 2010/2011 season a litlte over 3 million give or take £250k for inflation not much to ask for from joe public
this ask i feel will be one too much now dis-gruntled as let the cat out the bag we await tvoc confimation or denial of all knowledge