Vulcan XH 558 Threads (merged)
But certainly time for Cold War masterpieces of British aeronautical engineering!
Despite much of the doom and gloom pervading the project at the moment, one very bright spot indeed is the release of the 'First Flight' DVD from Primetime Video. In 16:9 with excellent camera work, it is a DVD worth acquiring. Dubya dubya dubya dot primetimevideo dot co dot UK will get you to their website - and buying the DVD will help support the continuing efforts of the 558 team.
Despite much of the doom and gloom pervading the project at the moment, one very bright spot indeed is the release of the 'First Flight' DVD from Primetime Video. In 16:9 with excellent camera work, it is a DVD worth acquiring. Dubya dubya dubya dot primetimevideo dot co dot UK will get you to their website - and buying the DVD will help support the continuing efforts of the 558 team.
Cunning Artificer
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...Cold War masterpieces of British aeronautical engineering
They were certainly ingenious contraptions, but hardly qualify as 'masterpieces'. Harry Tripp would have given Vickers 4 out of 10 for the Valiant, Avro would have got 6 out of 10 for the Vulcan and Handley Page a massive 7 out of 10 for the Victor. But you needed 8 out of 10 from Harry for your work to qualify as a Masterpiece.
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The second 'first flight' of the Vulcan couldn't have come at a worse time. As good as it is to see it fly again, I wonder how many would-be large corporate sponsors are afraid to lay their cash on the table for fear of intimidation from the huggy fluffy, Guardian reading, carbon offset monkeys??
Lets face it, despite being an icon of bombing things and making a lot of noise, the Vulcan is definitely not an example of a carbon neutral masterpiece by any means..
Lets face it, despite being an icon of bombing things and making a lot of noise, the Vulcan is definitely not an example of a carbon neutral masterpiece by any means..
Screw the flawed science of these weenie-greeny envirofundamentalists! 'Carbon footprint' is just political propaganda to allow governments to invent new taxes.
I'm just off to play with my 354bhp car - to burn lots of fossil fuel and make lots of CO2! Because I can!!
More seriously, why don't the lentilista Grauniad-reading tree-huggers try putting in the data for, say, 1920 into their 'we're all doomed' computer program and see what it comes up with for 2000?
The UK was a major wine exporter during the Roman era!
4 x Olympussies - the sound of freedom!
I'm just off to play with my 354bhp car - to burn lots of fossil fuel and make lots of CO2! Because I can!!
More seriously, why don't the lentilista Grauniad-reading tree-huggers try putting in the data for, say, 1920 into their 'we're all doomed' computer program and see what it comes up with for 2000?
The UK was a major wine exporter during the Roman era!
4 x Olympussies - the sound of freedom!
Thought police antagonist
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For Messrs Beagle and Dandridge, and from a fully paid up member of the Grudiad fraternity, I would venture to suggest the objections may well come from those who constitute the NIMBY element of our society.....as in "we've just moved to this super des res in the country, but the noise from those nasty aeroplanes at the local airfield is simply appalling....they have to be stopped!".......either that, and I know sod all about the finances of the venture, but a lack of £££'s may also play a part.
I did speak to somebody recently who said she was due a compass swing however.....true or not I cannot say.....and that the location for the swing was proving difficult to find. This was just a passing conversation by the way.
As for the corporate world, well times is about to get a "wee bit hard" I suggest...so not much spare cash available for ventures such as this....sadly.
4x Olympussies...the sound of freedom.....Amen to that Beagle
I did speak to somebody recently who said she was due a compass swing however.....true or not I cannot say.....and that the location for the swing was proving difficult to find. This was just a passing conversation by the way.
As for the corporate world, well times is about to get a "wee bit hard" I suggest...so not much spare cash available for ventures such as this....sadly.
4x Olympussies...the sound of freedom.....Amen to that Beagle
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...and that the location for the swing was proving difficult to find. This was just a passing conversation by the way.
. An airfield can make its own compass base in an afternoon.http://www.caa.govt.nz/aircraft/compass_leaflet.htm
Awesome but Affordable
During a recent presentation Dr. Pleming said that there was a possibility that Brize Norton might be available for that compass swing.
Cheers,
Reaper 69
Cheers,
Reaper 69
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Compass Swing
It depends on the standard of swing required.
When operational the Vulcan needed a Class 1 compass base for an accurate swing. As it no longer has a bomb nav requirement an simple swing should suffice.
The problem of a compass swing base is not simply whether the base is a Class 1 or Class 2 base but whether it can accommodate a Vulcan. While Brize should certainly have a suitable base I would have thought that Waddo could also handle in.
When operational the Vulcan needed a Class 1 compass base for an accurate swing. As it no longer has a bomb nav requirement an simple swing should suffice.
The problem of a compass swing base is not simply whether the base is a Class 1 or Class 2 base but whether it can accommodate a Vulcan. While Brize should certainly have a suitable base I would have thought that Waddo could also handle in.
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have no cash for any more flying. Of course, that's not based on any fact
Then why post it? Lots of speculation, some of it quite negative.
The update on the 10th by the Chief Exec. seems quite upbeat. Lets wait and see what he says in the New Year, shall we?
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The rumour currently being discussed, is sadly no more than that. A rumour.
There are no issues, nor have there ever been any issues surrounding suitable sites for a compass swing for 558, as has been mentioned previously by forget, pretty much anywhere free of magnetic interference can be used. This is certainly not the reason that XH558 is still awaiting the remainder of her test schedule to be carried out.
There appear to be many issues dogging TVOC Management at present, and one of the major issues is sadly the financial aspect, and how that has been handled. This is unfortunately the main reason XH558 has not flown since the 18th Oct, and not any technical issues with the aircraft. XH558 has been handed over to TVOC as a fully serviceable airframe, and any issues now are with funding and management.
Flipflopman
There are no issues, nor have there ever been any issues surrounding suitable sites for a compass swing for 558, as has been mentioned previously by forget, pretty much anywhere free of magnetic interference can be used. This is certainly not the reason that XH558 is still awaiting the remainder of her test schedule to be carried out.
There appear to be many issues dogging TVOC Management at present, and one of the major issues is sadly the financial aspect, and how that has been handled. This is unfortunately the main reason XH558 has not flown since the 18th Oct, and not any technical issues with the aircraft. XH558 has been handed over to TVOC as a fully serviceable airframe, and any issues now are with funding and management.
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Silly question but where do BA do there compass swings if you can swing a 747 im sure a Vulcan will fit.
Furthermore, if you look at the compass cards on the B747-400 fleet, they are the originals dating back to 1989 for the oldest.
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From the CH.Ex.
In the light of what Flipflop has said I trust this isn't just spin!
So what are we doing? On the fund-raising side, at the start of the New Year you'll see some initiatives to find new supporters, and to stimulate additional donations and merchandise sales. We hope that our existing list of 25,000 donors will be keen to safeguard their investments in XH558 by making further donations; we remain totally reliant on this donation flow to keep us going until the sponsorship revenue stream commences.
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A statement on the official website, issued this month, says:-
We have taken sensible decisions in paring our costs back to the core whilst retaining our operational capabilities, but that still leaves us with the need to raise £60,000 per month just to remain viable. Any additional activity, such as actually flying the aircraft, requires us to raise substantially more cash.
Where on Earth is that sort of money going to come from, by way of voluntary contributions?
We have taken sensible decisions in paring our costs back to the core whilst retaining our operational capabilities, but that still leaves us with the need to raise £60,000 per month just to remain viable. Any additional activity, such as actually flying the aircraft, requires us to raise substantially more cash.
Where on Earth is that sort of money going to come from, by way of voluntary contributions?
Cunning Artificer
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Silly question but where do BA do there compass swings if you can swing a 747 im sure a Vulcan will fit.
Older "Classic" B747s that do still have compass systems commonly receive "Electrical Swings" performed using a generic test set.
In modern airliners the compass system has disappeared, superseded by IRS coupled Flight Mangement Sytems. The only compass in these aircraft is the standby. As this needs to be accurate only to +/-5 degrees we no longer bother with ground swings; the pilots will snag it if it differs from the Inertial Reference System by more than the permitted limit. If the standby compass is changed for any reason - bubble in the fluid, sticking or hysteresis - we do an Air Swing against the IRS. A modern FMS is far more accurate than the old V Bombers' navigational capability; that's why specialist navigators have vanished from the crew lists.