I hesitate to rake over coals that have by now lost much of their earlier white heat. But a new development has belatedly poured some extinguishing water on an unpleasant conflagration. And at the risk of stretching this metaphor beyond twanging point, I feel that that earlier heat singed so many feathers that the new circumstances deserve wider dissemination.
After the regrettable events at Waddington, when a serviceable XH558 couldn’t fly because her permit had expired the day before the show, a huge amount of abuse was hurled around by all and sundry, much of it aimed at the Vulcan To the Sky Trust. My attempts to defend VTST put me firmly in the firing line of some heavy-duty slagging off on this forum, some of it official. I retired temporarily hurt, sense of humour failure light flashing.
(Page 125 of this thread, and many pp thereafter)
So it was with some interest that I read an interview with Padhraic Kelleher, Head of Airworthiness at the CAA, by Gary Parsons of Key Publishing. There’s plenty of interesting stuff, but the interview starts with the Vulcan permit problem. Mr K comes down firmly on the side of VTST.
They (VTST) behaved impeccably, and just what you would hope for an organisation that’s in charge of such a fabulous symbol.
and
We always envisaged that for the truly complex ex-military aircraft you would need the right kind of team behind it, and one has to salute the Vulcan to the Sky Trust to be able to put the right team behind it.
You can see the whole thing at
Right to reply: the CAA speaks: Key.Aero, Airshows
sean
airsound
commentator for Vulcan XH558