Final season announced for Vulcan XH558
 

Rather sad to hear but probably inevitable at some stage. I'm pleased my children have had the opportunity to see the big beastie fly but a real pity for future young ones :sad:

Vulcan XH558 - Weekly Newsletter

Another final season.

There's always next years final season.

Just waiting for the begging bowl again.

Engines are on their last legs in running hours and seeing they trashed two of the good eight ones they started with, they will have no flight worthy engines past the end of the year. Also the Design Authority (RR) have refused to extend the life of the engines, thus the thing cannot operate under the CAA regs. Most definitely the last year of flying.

So glad I had a couple of years watching 4 sqns of them doing their thing as part of 1 Gp. Awesome beasts, with crews to match! ;)

The last 1 Gp Survival Scramble, from both secret bases, was awesome. Lincolnshire vibrated, and I'm sure many plaster ducks fell from walls, as both Wings punched out on their 'Fan Tracks' into a clear blue sky. An amazing sight, I assure you.

Glad to have had the privilege to be there, and see it, albeit [eventually] at the end of the Vulcan days [Black Buck and 50's Tankers]

Yes, crazy. Enough money has been raised to keep the aircraft flying as long as the engines last. What more do you want?

Of course the new Vulcan hangar with training school is being planned and that will keep some if the higher echelons of the VTTS still in their nicely paid positions..

Ahh let's see now, teaching young people on redundant 1950's military technology, that'll be handy for getting a job on BA's latest passenger thrungebucket.
As for the still able to blast up and down the runway... Well that's going to go down well if Doncaster international ever becomes busy.
Personally, she would be better returned to Bruntingthorpe where she could continue her runs.

I think they are going to be in for a shock trying to generate funds by begging bowl for a grounded hulk, especially anything close to their previous amounts, then they want to look at the other ground running Vulcans up and down the Country, as she will just gave joined their ranks as another grounded museum frame.

It's wonderful to have seen a Vulcan flying for 8 years. I never expected to see it fly out of Bruntingthorpe but was thrilled to see it in the air. Say what you want about the VTST but they did achieve that.

A few things trouble me/confuse me though which seem to be unanswered

The engine disaster was never fully explained - think it's now described as a servicing error. Umm, shocking carelessness I think.

Even with the loss of these engines, the marine Olympus is still in service around the world and up until very recently in the Navy. There's even a company in Aberdeen who advertise Olympus rebuilds. The marine version is very similar to the 202 so I don't see why it's such a skills shortage. After all the 6 or 7 they have left all have very few hours on them. Just feel we are not being told the whole story on the engines.

As for the Doncaster project I can't help thinking this is crazy. Who is going to pay for this facility long term? Visitors are not going to pay any more to go there than Southend and Wellesbourne but the costs of maintaining this facility will be much higher. It would be much more responsible to use the remaining funds to hanger it at Bruntingthorpe or even Elvington where the long term future seems safer. Even better see if they can use their fundraising to get a hanger over some of the other Vulcans.

The information is freely available from VTTS if you choose look at it.

1) The only engines approved for use in 558 are the original version of the Olympus. Unless you can find some in the back of a hangar correctly stored and with paperwork to prove it there are no more.

2) The CAA insisted on a very short engine life compared with original service use. This is about to expire.

3) The only body approved by the CAA to rebuild the engines is RR, and they aren't prepared to do so.

I suspect that RR, Marshall Aerospace et al have risk-assessed this to death and are no longer prepared to carry the potential liability. I admire them for having done so for so long, and I have never understood the business case for doing so, but then I am one of the curmudgeons...............

I agree with you on this, Elvington alongside the Victor with a fund raising effort to put a roof over both of them would be the preferable choice IMHO.

Just don't see it working long term at Finningley or whatever it's called these days.

Even when stored in a VP bag engines are lifed by RR, that's probably one reason they rotated the stock, bung them on the wing, fly some cycles off them, then remove and rebag, your time period will start again.

The fiasco with the silica gel simply shorten the inevitable, I still cannot understand putting anything in the intakes without a shadow board to ensure they all were removed and damned long warning flags on them, they should have been in the jetpipe if anywhere.

Reading the article in Flypast, Flemings away with the faeries in hoping Something will turn up and they can continue into 2016.

I have read this thanks, very familier with it. My point is that I don't think it's a case of lack of expertise or forgotten skills, perhaps not even money although I don't doubt it is not cheap. The point I was trying to make was that the similar marine and power generation Olympus is still in use and can be overhauled and up until recently Conways were overhauled for the VC10 fleet. I'd just like a bit more openness and honesty - do RR just not want to take the risk anymore? Has the 202 got parts that are completely different and impossible to manufacture at realistic expense? Not expecting to get an answer but genuinely interested in knowing. It seems to me that the engine situation isn't as impossible as it's made out just wonder what the background to not being able to have them overhauled.

The thing only had a scheduled flying life of 10 years with 8 good engines, so to get 7 years out of it on only 5 is not bad going (they had already had one engine removed from service due to excessive metal chips in the engine oil found during routine maintenance before they FOD'ed the two in May 2012).

Wellesbourne's Vulcan is under threat with the plans to stick houses on it.

Yep, I bet they had kittens when it flew over London, down the mall and over Betty's place

Didn't that happen when it was still in service with the RAF??? It was cleared to fly down the Thames at the start of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee River Pageant, but the clearance from the CAA came through on the same afternoon that the trashed the engines while it was starting its take off for a practice display at Coningsby (where I was based at the time).

I read that article in Flypast too. Really seemed to be hinting at some more years of flying - up to 7 years of fatigue life. Yet just a few weeks later it's a catagoric last season press release. I have a feeling VTTS have been hoping that RR would permit the engines to be overhauled. I wonder how much creditability and confidence was lost when they trashed two of them.

The flying was bound to end eventually though whatever is being said behind the scenes. I feel disappointed and worried about Doncaster. Access and viewing will be poorer for fast taxi runs than Bruntingthorpe or Elvington. And how long will taxi runs last or be viable once funding ends. Bruntingthorpe and Elvington are unique sites where she could be safe for the forseeable future, looked after by people with the right skills and survive on a very low cost. The level of interest in 558 will plummet once she's not flying. With 655 being under threat, 558 facing a short term future at Doncaster (in my opinion) we might only be left with 426 as a runner - and 426 hasn't been down the runway in years.

I bet if VTTS actually asked their benefactors where she should go the vote would go to Bruntingthorpe.

Pleming stated in Flypast this month that the airframe still has another 7 years of fatigue life left on it. It's engines that is the major problem.

RR haven't rebuilt an Olympus 202 since 1982 and it was never envisaged that they would start again, it's hardly as if this is a sudden decision due to sinister shenanagins. There was a long shot of getting a life extension in the light of experience but apart from that it was always understood that once the engines were timed out the aircraft would be grounded

Mr Pleming said at a talk I was at some years ago that RR at the moment would not consider overhauling them - clearly that position never changed. You are right to say nothing sinister, it's up to them. But to say it's impossible or the skills don't exist is simply not true as RR were overhauling Olympus Marine engines up until quite recently and the industrial version will continue to be overhauled for many years - both of which are very similar.

It's a shame but I presume it's just a risk that's not worth taking for them.