Flipflapman, you said:
Padhraic Kelleher in his statement referred to the CAA having to be satisfied as to the structural integrity of the aircraft, and how "several large specialist organisations" were not "content" with the state of the aircraft. Those organisations were none other than BAE Systems and Marshall Aerospace, due solely to the fact that TVOC had not carried out the Fleet Sampling checks that were mandated by these organisations to be carried out upon XH558, as it was the only Vulcan in the fleet. Talks between TVOC, BAE, Marshall Aerospace and the CAA lead to a concession that the checks could be deferred and taken place using XM603 as sample due to the fact that the areas concerned (Fin Bolts etc) would be in a similar condition, having been preserved under a layer of sealant, and would be acceptable from a safety point of view. Flight then took place, along with an extended period of "Servicing" during which time TVOC had the opportunity to carry out the neccessary work on XM603. This work never took place during this time, for reasons best known to TVOC and so the situation occurred at Waddington where the aircraft was without a permit due to a situation that could, and indeed was resolved within a short period of time with the work being swiftly carried out and letter of "We've done the work" being sent to the CAA, and the CAA stamping the permit that day
Regarding the parts I've highlighted in bold; we simply don't know why the work on XM603 wasn't carried out. It could have been anything from TVOC lacking the manpower to BAe not allowing them onsite to carry out the work during that period. We all know it should have been done, but unless you can inform us exactly why it didn't occur, it's probably a bit unfair to speculate it was all TVOC's fault.
The other point is that I thought that the permit, when given, was just a three month extension to the current one and the work on XM603 still had to be done. I could be wrong, but that's how I saw it.
The whole Waddington issue as I understood it was because TVOC had been given assurances they could get a three month extension to the permit, and for whatever reason that didn't happen on the day despite all the efforts to get it sorted.
Tim, you said:
The Waddington fiasco was clearly not the CAA's fault. No matter how you look at the saga, it was VTTS/TVOC that created the problem. They were fully aware of the fact that the aircraft would not be permitted to fly and yet they still allowed the aircraft to be flown to Waddington and even fly a rehearsal display before being grounded. Clearly, this gave the impression to everyone (ie- every potential show-goer) that the aircraft would fly during the show, even though it must have been clear to all concerned that it would not. So, VTTS/TVOC wilfully misled the public. It wasn't the fact that the aircraft didn't fly which annoyed people, it was the fact that VTTS/TVOC could have informed the public of the situation before they turned-up and paid their money.
Your statement that TVOC misled everyone is a little unfair I feel.
From what I've read and heard, it seems that, as I said above, TVOC were given assurances that a three month extension would be given to the permit to fly, even right up to Waddington.
They flew there with a day remaining on the permit, and I can only think that they were fairly certain that the paperwork would all be sorted that evening, allowing them to fly the next day. Alas we know something wasn't right and they didn't get the permit.
As to who's to blame, whether that be TVOC, Marshalls or both, one things is for sure, and that's TVOC had to rightly or wrongly suck it up and take a hefty kick in the knackers for it.
Given that a few days later, and at the last minute, the extension to the permit was granted, they got the Vulcan down to Yeovilton pronto, and in pretty bad conditions to make the following days show.
I really don't think they intentionally went out to mislead the public at Waddington, I think they went there in good faith that the permit would be given and they'd be able to display.
Also when you consider some of the lengths they've gone to to get to displays in 2009 (Dunsfold is one good example) then I only feel they've tried their best to display to the public whenever possible.
Finally, I'd just like to say that I'm no TVOC fanboy, but sometimes I feel they get a lot of flack when perhaps it's not all entirely their own fault.