View Full Version : Vulcan Mishaps At Wellington
Farrell
31st Oct 2019, 02:03
Good video about the Vulcan mishap at the opening of Wellington airport. Some great footage in it.
https://youtu.be/BTN-x21W2kQ
chinook240
31st Oct 2019, 07:47
Thanks for sharing the video, really interesting. Should make an interesting case study for a display pilots course!
Wander00
31st Oct 2019, 09:55
Pass me my brown trousers, Hardy!
MPN11
31st Oct 2019, 10:44
What a day!
Vulcan in Malta wasn’t so lucky.
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/55313
Wensleydale
31st Oct 2019, 12:17
Vulcan in Malta wasn’t so lucky.
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/55313
Probably more parallels with the accident at Heathrow when returning from Australia/NZ just a couple of years earlier.
Compass Call
31st Oct 2019, 22:42
Same video as posted on 'Aviation History and Nostalgia' last week!
Sandy Parts
1st Nov 2019, 13:46
yoikes - dangerous things airshows - bet the bar was busy later... ::ooh:
Re the Malta crash, any cause noted, turbulence etc?Just before hitting the runway, the Vulcan's port wing sank dangerously, making contact with the ground. As a result the mainwheel undercarriage on that side was torn off, and fell onto the runway. During landing the port (left) undercarriage collapsed forcing the crew to overshoot to do another circuit for an emergency landing on foamed runway.I thought the downwards Vampire bomb burst a butt clenching moment.
Megan.
https://raf-luqa.weebly.com/xm645-crash-oct-75.html
Timelord
2nd Nov 2019, 10:23
I think there was a problem with turbulence from the hangars at Luqa when the wind was in a certain direction.This caused the late sink that took the co pilot by surprise and the lip on the end of the runway did the rest.
Megan.
https://raf-luqa.weebly.com/xm645-crash-oct-75.html
My OH remembers it well. It was in the middle of a TACEVAL, when she was ADC to the Air Cdr. He was at another Unit at the time, instead of in the office. Mixing Exercise and Real proved a nightmare.
harrym
5th Nov 2019, 14:52
Many thanks Farrell for your #1, I was at Wellington that day and watched closely all three of the Vulcan's approaches. To me it remains an abiding mystery why the pilot did not full-stop after his second shot, the touch down point was well judged and with drag chute he could have stopped easily. On the other hand the third approach looked wrong from the word go, very 'draggy' and plainly well below the ideal slope, so much so that I subconsciously urged him to take corrective action. Given the close proximity of the crowd to the runway's left side, a frightful accident was only narrowly averted by a combination of quick pilot reaction, the Vulcan's tremendous thrust, and maybe an input from Providence in preventing ignition of all that fuel streaming back from the ruptured tank.
For me it was a real thrill to see the rest of the action in that video, although as captain of the Britannia I wish we had featured more. OK so an airliner type cannot match combat aircraft for spectacle, but then not many aircraft are able to taxy backwards immediately after landing!
Good video about the Vulcan mishap at the opening of Wellington airport. Some great footage in it.
https://youtu.be/BTN-x21W2kQ
tartare
5th Nov 2019, 20:46
Crikey - great video.
The Vampire star-burst story is great too - wasn't aware of that.
Lived in Wellington for 7 years - many, many crosswind approaches in all kind of aircraft, looking sideways at the runway!
Octane
6th Nov 2019, 04:19
Watching aircraft at Wellington airport viewing area (Northern end towards the cutting to Miramar) as a nipper started my lifelong interest in aviation. DC-3's, Bristol Freighters, Fokker Friendships etc :)
John Eacott
6th Nov 2019, 05:22
https://youtu.be/R3iMw7Q7H68
https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/572393-rnzaf-vulcan.html?highlight=vulcan
Octane
6th Nov 2019, 14:08
Re video above,
"superb skill" wouldn't have landed short:}
GeeRam
6th Nov 2019, 14:38
I see it took a UK repair team some 2 months to return the 617 Sqn Vulcan to airworthiness, it eventually departed RNZAF Ohakea for the UK on Jan 4th 1960.
Ewan Whosearmy
7th Nov 2019, 00:29
The Vampire pilot talks of a then-secret ability for the Vulcan to immediately generate full power. Can anyone add some detail?
Fareastdriver
7th Nov 2019, 15:46
The RR Dewent, De Haviland Goblin as fitted to the Meteor and Vampire respectively suffered from compressor surge if accelerated too quickly from low RPM. At or below that speed the throttle had to be 'milked' to ensure that the engine didn't stall on you. Once you got the RPM up to around 8,000 or so then you could slam it forward and the engine would readily follow suit. This affected your ability to manoeuvre not being able to call on full power on demand. It was especially critical on final approach were if one was baulked then it could be difficult to get the power on to overshoot before arriving on the runway. Multi engined aircraft like the Meteor were even worse where one engine would respond and the other not leading to a large asymmetry of power at low speed.
Around five hundred Meteor pilots died because of that.
With the advent of later marks of the RR Avon and Bristol Siddeley Sapphire came the ACP (acceleration control unit). This was a device the measured the ratio of fuel being delivered compared with intake pressure and throttle demand. It would automatically allow as much fuel as the compressor would accept so that maximum acceleration was available. This enable the pilot just to slam his throttle forward knowing that the engine would be accelerated at its maximum rate.
MightyGem
7th Nov 2019, 19:52
Around five hundred Meteor pilots died because of that.
That seems an awful lot for a known problem. :eek: :eek:
morton
8th Nov 2019, 09:48
The Vampire pilot talks of a then-secret ability for the Vulcan to immediately generate full power. When I read that I assumed it to be either/and/or the Take Off / Cruise switch and the JPT limiter switches, either of which would help out in times of need but I stand to be corrected. I was not aware of them being secret.
Pages 16/17 and 51 of the link
http://cdn.justflight.com/support/manuals/Avro_Vulcan_BMk2_manual.pdf
Pontius Navigator
8th Nov 2019, 18:47
Morton, the take off/cruise switch was, I believe, applicable only to the Mk 2 with 301 engines. The aircraft at Wellington, if that is the one referred to was a Mk 1. No I am not sure but I think the Mk 1 had a similar start system to the Mk 2 though not quite the Mass rapid.
Essentially they could go from power off to airborne in about 30-45 seconds. I watched one display scramble where one aircraft got airborne on 3 and another on 2 and a third spooling up after lift off. The captain in that instant was Dicky Bird.