I did some work for the MR4 project and quietly asked what the engineering reasons for termination of the A/C.
I was told that one of the most insurmountable problems was that the airframes had all been built to DeHavillands / BAe drawings but, said drawings were used as a guideline rather than as rule during manufacture.
This led to each airframe being 'individual', almost bespoke and required that standard components were having to be tailored and modified to permit installation. (A case of having a jet-pipe manually adjusted with a hammer to enable its fitment and an issue of cabin floor beam location comes to mind).
Obviously, a costly and time consuming exercise in what should have been straightforward maintenance.
Last edited by jetslut; 2nd Jun 2015 at 09:23.
Reason: duff spelling