Lightning flight tonight (UK)

[Argonautical]

For those of you who might be unaware and may be interested, the presenter of the “Power of the Earth”, on BB2 tonight, investigates the troposphere with a Lightning flight from Thunder City.

[Mike7777777]

Straight up. Is there is anything that does it better than a Frightning? The passenger looked a bit unsettled afterwards :)

[Wod]

Makes me all nostalgic.

Farnborough - years ago - arrive early enough for the announcer to say "Met Flight's going up" and watch a Lightning rotate into the vertical and go up, and up, and up, and dissappear into a clear blue sky.

Magic stuff.

[chevvron]

Farnborough '62*; I was still a schoolboy and ATC cadet; 74 Sqdn 'The Tigers' were there; we walked back to the car at the end of the display to be treated to a stream takeoff, rotating just abeam where the car was parked; craning my neck to try to track visually the 7 silver arrowheads as they disappeared vertically into the clear blue sky.
Years later, teaching a trainee in the tower at Farnborough while the F6 was returning from a 'trial' over Cardigan Bay; the aircraft arrived too heavy to land and 'burnt off' fuel in the circuit; guess how!! (In those days we could under some circumstance use 6000ft overhead Farnborough, and we needed it with the Lightning). To say my trainee was awestruck would be understating it. 'Vertical' circuits at the end of a sortie were almost the norm with one or two of the pilots; I gather they found it an 'enjoyable' chariot!
* Thinking about it, could have been '64!!

[WG774]

Did anyone notice the presenter say that Cape Town was one of the only places in the world where the Lightning still flies?

So, where else is there?

All credit to the people at Cape Town Jets.

[320psi]

Hi, there's no where else in the world where a Lightning flys

[chevvron]

Another thing was explaining to the trainee that Lightning mainwheel tyres operated at 360 psi, and lasted on averge 5 or 6 landings, hence they never did touch and go's, either go arounds or full stop landings. You had to learn to expect the unexpected too; the pilot might call 'downwind land', then on short final say 'round again'. If you misheard and said 'say again' it would be too late, as following the 'round again' call there would be a sudden increase in noise level as the afterburners ignited and he climbed away!

[Mike7777777]

Hi, there's no where else in the world where a Lightning flys

The twins are Bruntingthorpe get their noses up ..... and that's it :(

Whenever one meets someone from the CAA, one should enquire why Lightnings are not permitted to fly in the UK. I mentioned this to a young helicopterist the other day, his response was "What's a Lightning?"