VC 10 to fly again as a tanker
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I cannot see it mentioned but B707 (1959) HZ-123 was parked outside at SEN from 1999 until its departure to Aussie on Dec 08 2006. From recollection a lot of monies were spent on it and on return it flew a lot of miles to get home. So anything is possible, accepting that there is still B707's flying and a good spares source. Not so for the VC10!
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Tons of VC10 spares on eBay..
This discussion isn’t really about the venture for investors or the adventure for thrill seekers, it’s about the technicality and legality of getting it to where it needs to be...a nice lump will find someone to fly the worst crate.
Back in 1999 we had to recover an aged VC10K2 from St Athan where it had been in 'storage' - it was needed for one of Bliar's mini-wars or something.
During the air test, we had a serious electrical issue during the shutdown and relight sequence, such that it suffered the "It can't happen" #1 & #3 bus fail. Well actually, BWoS, it can and did! Lots of lights, various PCUs failing and cabin alt increasing - together with all gyro instruments running down.... Fortunately after relighting the engine we restored the power, although various bus ties were cross-line to protect the system as we took it to Brize. The cause of the failure was corrosion in an alternator control panel due to the wonderful Welsh climate, which caused a slow electrical failure.
A few days later we took it for a partial air test including a ELRAT drop. Again a serious problem, this time due to corrosion in the ELRAT alternator system.
It was all fixed and took us across the Pond to China Lake a couple of weeks later though.
But 150 has been sitting around for ages and the spares situation is hardly what it was when that VC10K2 gave an experienced air test crew such a nasty surprise in 2 consecutive sorties. Even if structurally sound with 4 good engines, although flying it might seem straightforward, it would need a VERY experienced air engineer to cope with the vagaries of an electrical system that has been sitting around for ages with no certified spares available.
I simply cannot see 150 ever flying again...….
During the air test, we had a serious electrical issue during the shutdown and relight sequence, such that it suffered the "It can't happen" #1 & #3 bus fail. Well actually, BWoS, it can and did! Lots of lights, various PCUs failing and cabin alt increasing - together with all gyro instruments running down.... Fortunately after relighting the engine we restored the power, although various bus ties were cross-line to protect the system as we took it to Brize. The cause of the failure was corrosion in an alternator control panel due to the wonderful Welsh climate, which caused a slow electrical failure.
A few days later we took it for a partial air test including a ELRAT drop. Again a serious problem, this time due to corrosion in the ELRAT alternator system.
It was all fixed and took us across the Pond to China Lake a couple of weeks later though.
But 150 has been sitting around for ages and the spares situation is hardly what it was when that VC10K2 gave an experienced air test crew such a nasty surprise in 2 consecutive sorties. Even if structurally sound with 4 good engines, although flying it might seem straightforward, it would need a VERY experienced air engineer to cope with the vagaries of an electrical system that has been sitting around for ages with no certified spares available.
I simply cannot see 150 ever flying again...….
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As reported by the team over at Scramble, the 4 ex-RSAF KC-135R tankers have been sold and allocated FAA serials. They are registered to the Wilmington Trust in Delaware which is well known for supporting Omega Air in terms of financing and aircraft registration until they are brought into operational use.
All ‘ageing aircraft‘ (over 15 years old) have corrosion problems in electrical systems and that is normally part of the handover inspection process to inspect/test essential systems, that the IPT, dare I say, ‘possibly overlooked’ in 1999. The risks of first flights from long-term storage will always be be taken up by ‘confident‘ crew (and all for the right price) and there are a lot more experts desperate to fly lately.Waiting....
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The RAF VC10 C1 fleet was totally rewired at East Mids before the c1’s were flown to Bournemouth to be converted to tankers. Though that doesn’t help as the ones involved are not C1’s.
i agree Riga.
i agree Riga.
The first C1 arrived in Bournemouth in 1991 and any problems with the original wiring had to be replaced like with like. A lot of it had seen better days then and best left alone if possible. If they needed re-wiring then, I imagine that they will need a serious look at now.
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They opened the pressure bungs when doing it, in fact I seem to remember the tanker conversion wiring was done at Bournemouth and Hunting at East Mids offered to run the wiring and coil it through the bulkheads while they had them apart so it didn’t need to be done again thus saving both time and money, but it was turned down as it was a different contract. The last Ten to leave East Mids lost some U/C bay panels on departure to much embarrament.
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As reported by the team over at Scramble, the 4 ex-RSAF KC-135R tankers have been sold and allocated FAA serials. They are registered to the Wilmington Trust in Delaware which is well known for supporting Omega Air in terms of financing and aircraft registration until they are brought into operational use.
rsaf-kc-135rs-find-new-home-with-us-firm-meta-aerospace
