Vulcan XH 558 Threads (merged)
Just another erk
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Agree with you Blacksheep, and normally the standby compass differing from the Inertial Nav system can be cured by removing the manuals the crew place underneath it. 
More bang for your buck
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normally the standby compass differing from the Inertial Nav system can be cured by removing the manuals the crew place underneath it.
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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.
STH
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The G4B compass was a reliable bit of kit and the need for a swing is probably to satisfy certification for further flights which, I thought, were to be VFR conditions anyway. Maybe the cost of fuel to carry it out is of more concern. I'm puzzled too why B'thorpe isn't suitable. Thought there would have been a pan there.
Military Fright System is no longer used in '558 - it has a 'conventional' gyrocompass system and conventional attitude indicators.
A compass swing shouldn't take as long as it did when we had to swing MFS. I was once unlucky enough to do one of those with a particularly finicky nav plotter. We were towed around the compass base at Scampton for about 3 hours - as was the Houchin. I was only there to work the brakes and pass the Watts Datum values (signalled from outside)to the plotter as we stopped on each heading. I seem to remember we did a 4 pointer first, then an 8. Each time we had to wait until the 'velodynes' (?) stopped spinning.
We normally sent the compass book off to someone else to do the analysis but, on this occasion, the plotter actually did his own Fourier analysis on an HP programmable calculator......
Hopefully it'll be much simpler to swing '558!
A compass swing shouldn't take as long as it did when we had to swing MFS. I was once unlucky enough to do one of those with a particularly finicky nav plotter. We were towed around the compass base at Scampton for about 3 hours - as was the Houchin. I was only there to work the brakes and pass the Watts Datum values (signalled from outside)to the plotter as we stopped on each heading. I seem to remember we did a 4 pointer first, then an 8. Each time we had to wait until the 'velodynes' (?) stopped spinning.
We normally sent the compass book off to someone else to do the analysis but, on this occasion, the plotter actually did his own Fourier analysis on an HP programmable calculator......
Hopefully it'll be much simpler to swing '558!
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it has a 'conventional' gyrocompass system and conventional attitude indicators
I think pilots regarded compass swings as a 'black art' and rather bothersome.
.
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FF Thanks for pic. Looks very smart compared to the old conventional panel I was familiar with. Still recognise most of it. Re the HSI system BEAg's, the Zero Reader was probably the forerunner of this. Also I'm now off the G4B thing.
Last edited by goudie; 28th Dec 2007 at 12:09.
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Compass Base
There's also the need to maintain a certified Compass base, checked to be free of magnetic anomalies.
The CB at LGW was certified as Class II and used to get checked out by the Admiralty (from their experience with de-gaussing minesweepers I believe) but they gave up a while ago and the last check was done by Qinetiq, though as is the way with these things, it was the same guy who turned up! When it was re-certified following extensive taxiway reconstruction works, he found a wheelbarrow, shovels and all other manner of construction equipment buried in the soft.
Maybe B'thorpe doesn't have a certified CB?
As indicated by the posts above, it's a passing thing for big aeroplanes now, the LGW facility probably doesn't get used more than a couple of times a year. I stand to be corrected, but the old CB at LHR has actually gone?
TheOddOne
The CB at LGW was certified as Class II and used to get checked out by the Admiralty (from their experience with de-gaussing minesweepers I believe) but they gave up a while ago and the last check was done by Qinetiq, though as is the way with these things, it was the same guy who turned up! When it was re-certified following extensive taxiway reconstruction works, he found a wheelbarrow, shovels and all other manner of construction equipment buried in the soft.
Maybe B'thorpe doesn't have a certified CB?
As indicated by the posts above, it's a passing thing for big aeroplanes now, the LGW facility probably doesn't get used more than a couple of times a year. I stand to be corrected, but the old CB at LHR has actually gone?
TheOddOne
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Sorry, my bad.
Garmin 430 is indeed situated at the AEO station, with a Garmin 165 repeater at the top left hand corner of the First Pilots console.
Do you come with a 'Vice Like Grip' as well as the 'Eagle Eyes' StopStart?
Flipflopman
Garmin 430 is indeed situated at the AEO station, with a Garmin 165 repeater at the top left hand corner of the First Pilots console.
Do you come with a 'Vice Like Grip' as well as the 'Eagle Eyes' StopStart?
Flipflopman
Pleming on Radio 4
For all of Dr Robert Pleming’s many fans (and perhaps even a few detractors) there’s a chance to hear him on BBC Radio 4 this Wednesday, 9 January. He’ll be on ‘Midweek’, as one of Libby Purves’ guests. The programme starts at 09:00hrs, and it's repeated (slightly shorter) at 21:30
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For anyone who doesn’t know who he is - he’s the CEO of The Vulcan Operating Company.
http://www.tvoc.co.uk/about_us.asp
airsound
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For anyone who doesn’t know who he is - he’s the CEO of The Vulcan Operating Company.
http://www.tvoc.co.uk/about_us.asp
airsound
Last edited by airsound; 6th Jan 2008 at 19:30. Reason: adding repeat time
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So what's the news then?
Will it ever fly again or was that a one hit wonder?
Not going to paint myself into a corner, but I have to say I'm not wholly convinced by the viability of the ongoing operation.
Big shame if that is the case
Will it ever fly again or was that a one hit wonder?
Not going to paint myself into a corner, but I have to say I'm not wholly convinced by the viability of the ongoing operation.
Big shame if that is the case