Frightning return to flight status….. The Movie

Has anyone any info on the Lightning restoration at the Gatwick Aviation Museum ,they were doing a superb job ,but no info for a few months ? the standard of work on this Project would have been good enough to return this airframe to Flight Status

Hi All,
TonyT,
Many thanks for the posting lovely to see these beautiful aircraft where they should be, come CAA let us have one over here ! After watching the video I watched the video below, it got me wondering the large scale model seems to be frighteningly agile would this transfer to the real aircraft ? If any pilots think this would be nice to find out.

Geoff.

The first question in my mind is : Is it still the same maintenance staff ? What really change to avoid the complete failure of their maintenance who took the live of one of thier pilot ?

As others have said, that’s the question everyone is asking.

But, it must also be said that the pilot in question at the time showed a clear disregard for SOP’s for the Lightning leading up to the loss, so wasn’t entirely blameless in the loss of the a/c, but, it’s still tragic that the safety equipment failed because of the maintenance issues forcing him to ride the jet into the ground.

The only time I saw one fly in the UK was at an airshow in 1977 irc. It cruised in and turned to point skywards and in a flash was gone like a bullet from a gun.Well impressive.

A unique shape in the sky… always has been and always will be. Hopefully, one day my boys will also enjoy the sight of EE’s finest turning and burning in the skies.

Fingers crossed for safe servicing & ops… will the F6 be next in the air?

Awesome stuff…lets be glad there are people with the money and guts to do this, flying one of these beasts will never be exactly safe, lets just hope they are doing everything they can correctly.

I see the report on the other one has disappeared http://www.caa.co.za/resource%20center/accidents%20&%20incid/reports/2009/8706.pdf

Would it be possible to operate the Lightning with reheat disabled?

Mike Beachy Head has put his body where his confidence is. Flown this iconic beast and returned it safely to its lair. Lets hope that all safety systems are now in place and working at 100%. This beast will bite even if looked after properly, as we have seen many times in the past. I find it hard to believe that S.A. authorities would have allowed this flight without a massive oversight.

RH seat @ Thunder City was reserved for my retirement as was a trip in Concorde. Unfortunately sad events overtook all of that. BUT! I can still remember the joy of a ride as a mere Junior Tech in the RH seat of T4 XM970 from 60 MU Leconfield after Major Servicing which will live with me for ever.

Good luck and Godspeed Thunder City.

Lots of ‘on their high horse’ armchair expert pomposity on another forum about this , but after seeing the video I couldn’t help thinking how great it is to see a Lightning airborne again.

The first question in my mind is : Is it still the same maintenance staff ?

I think that’s the question everyone has.

Moggy

The first question in my mind is : Is it still the same maintenance staff ? What really change to avoid the complete failure of their maintenance who took the live of one of thier pilot ?

What a Great Video ,,thanks for posting that

Put it in the back of a C17 or AN124 and bring it to the UK for the Waddington or Fairford Airshow,s that would bring the punters in !!!

When I Was in South Africa in 2002 visiting family, my Dad sooooooo nearly paid for us to go up in one of the Thunder city planes, I don’t remember which one, but I remember the operators trying to offer us some sort of deal

Still mixed feelings after what happened to the pilot in their last one,but overall i wish them a safe future.

Awesome. When can we get a ride..!?!?!?! :cool::cool::cool:

Thanks for posting. Well done to the Thunder City team and Mike Beachy Head for getting the Lightning back in the air. Any idea what the plan is going forward with the rest of the fleet?

Awesome 😎

Thank you so much for posting this.

Regards

Jason