classic flight engine run on sunday 14th december

Engine run-ups

Should have been there but got lazy after Christmas shopping and didn’t go. I’ll definitely go next time and cadge a lift off Joh H like I should have done this time.
I once stood behind the DC-6 at Woodford about 10 years ago when she started up. Even on idle the propwash was such that it blew a whole pile of crowd barriers away. A draught definitely not to be underestimated.
What happened to the Shack on Sunday, wasn’t that supposed to be running too? The sound of multi-Griffons is almost extinct now but the sound of Multi-R-2800’s comes a very close second – especially at full chat.

(Lazy and regretful) Anon

Great event and thoroughly enjoyed it. Have just about warmed up now as well 😉

The only gripe I had was how rude some of the photographers were. I expected a bit of “eagerness” as everyone understandably was keen to get their shots, however I wasn’t expecting a total suspension of basic manners :confused: I lost track of the number of times someone standing behind me would just manhandle me until I was out their shot. No excuse me or similar, just a push on the arm or a prod in the ribs…. Then there was the muppet who continually insisted on forcing his way past my girlfriend (standing next to me), usually giving her a good wallop with his rucksack as he went and then standing in front of her ruining any view she had. Still, thankfully these fools where very much in the minority.

Rant over, job well done AA!! 🙂

Also good to finally meet you face to face Roger 🙂

Jon

Hello Brian, unfortunately if we had opened the hangers a bit all you would have seen was the nose of Dove G-ARHW at a range of about 3 feet! 😀 In the past people have unfortunately tended to ignore ‘bits of rope’ but having said that I will repeat that Sundays photographers were impeccably behaved. The hangers are an issue which we will work hard on to rectify for a future event. I believe this is also the first event were no access has been possible at all. One other consideration was the fact that the engineers were working inside until 1800 (yes even on a Sunday!) and they wouldn’t have appreciated getting so cold!! :D:)

Thank you DGH and Alanl for answering my question about the dc6
and thank you peter for your nice comment about my pictures.

all the best

Anthony

With regards to the Hangers, how about having the doors open but cordened off with a bit of string across, like they do at Duxford. No access but you can still see and photograph what is inside.

Brian

Thankyou Rich. We try our best!

Can I also thank all the photographers who were impeccably behaved, the best I’ve ever known.

Under normal circumstances we would have more than welcomed everyone to have a look around the hangers, unfortunately the public end of hanger 7 is currently full of lots of aircraft in a heavily dismantled state and it was just not really safe for us to let people in. The other advantage of having all these aircraft outside is of course that the other end of the hanger was virtually empty so in future if its possible we will try and position some of the aircraft that are perhaps ‘less exciting outside at night’ in such a way that you can get good open shots of them lit by the hanger lights. 🙂

Thanks for the praise Rich!
Hangar tours were mooted but vetoed in the end as we thought that most folks wouldn’t want to go inside in case they missed anything!

Hangar tours will of course be available at pleasure flying events as normal.

As for the Heron,I am not sure to be honest.

To all who organized the AA event – a great evening all round – well done!!

Room for improvement?? Err a little bit warmer next time would be good!…..err.. the only other thing I can think about is perhaps being able to peep into the hangers??

Every time I have been to AA I am always impressed by the general attitude of staff members – they always seem really pleased to be doing what they are doing – something which is rare these days – especially on a cold night in December!

The Heron in her new paint is looking gorgeous – anyone know what her plans are?

Thanks once again!

Hi Anthony glad you had a good time,ref your comment about the DC 6,bear in mind that the ‘ 6 is a big aircraft and throws out a lot of prop wash even at idle.Yes it would have been good to allow a bit more, side on access to the aircraft but we are limited to the space that we can safely use,where the aircraft were parked is AA land,the rest of the apron space is not ours to utilise unfortunately.

I think thats a good point Anthony. The original idea was to put G-ANAF next to her but we broke the tug while positioning her and then decided that there really wasn’t enough space for the old girl. Perhaps we could put her side on? One of the other things to consider is that the 2 white lines behind the aircraft are the active taxiway markings and the aircraft needs to be within them, hence why it was so close to the building. I will raise your point on our internal forum 🙂

Hi DGH I think if there was any room for any improvement for next year move the DC6 in to the middle of the ramp so more people could get near it.

all the best

ant

Thanks for posting the links DGH!

Thanks for the heads up Peter. 🙂

DC6

Venom

There are a couple of videos up on youtube one of the vampire and the DC6

Hello Anthony, glad you enjoyed it and great photo’s. This was a first for us and seemed to go down well. All comments and suggestions would be welcome so we can learn and try and incorporate them into a future event. 🙂

Excellent pics Anthony,thanks for sharing!