UK 'B' Series registrations… a question…

Thanks for the info David, I assume it wore this because of being evaluated by a British firm?

Correct.

Thanks for the info David, I assume it wore this because of being evaluated by a British firm?

Surely B class markings are only applied to British built aircraft and manufacturers?

In fact there are plenty of examples of aircraft of foreign manufacture being allocated ‘B Conditions’ markings. A random example illustrated in the aforementioned Air-Britain Digest article was the Romanian-built IS28M motor glider that was used by Slingsby for evaluation and testing. It flew as G-7-100.

Tony T are you sure you are talking about the same thing? Surely B class markings are only applied to British built aircraft and manufacturers?
I would think what AP says above is right and that carefull logging of flying time and manouvres flown (especially on test & research types) would be important.

The other thing about flying under B conditions I think you will find the hours flown do not count, I know of one USA built exec jet that was flown by the company under B conditions for a year doing trial work before being sold, its hours started from when it was registered.

We certainly didn’t adhere to those conditions. Accurate engine and aircraft logbooks were always kept. All the test aircraft I flew in had proper airframe logbooks. They may have had “proper” G- regs but they were flying under “B” conditions.

As far as “B” class regs, they were required to be displayed in the appropriate places, under the wing, on the fuselage sides and the interior identity placard. The exterior serials didn’t always last the flight though! I once took off in a 125 with G-5-657 on the fin and landed with VP-B something after the sticky plastic flew off.

AgCat – thanks for pointing that out- my link that I use for checking had been updated 2 years ago – but I had omitted to change the title in the Prefixes webpage.

An absolutely fascinating set of replies… thanks folks…! I never realised that they were allocated to a Manchester…!

Zeb

Dave: Just checked your website and I see that you are still referencing CAP 475. Note that this CAP was withdrawn on 13 August 2008. Details of current approvals under BCAR Section A8 are now listed on line here:

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/1204/srg_A&A_AppOrgs_BCAR_20101126.pdf

There are currently 12 organisations approved to operate aircraft under B Conditions.

The other thing about flying under B conditions I think you will find the hours flown do not count, I know of one USA built exec jet that was flown by the company under B conditions for a year doing trial work before being sold, its hours started from when it was registered.

Just because they’re “current” doesn’t mean they’re used though!

In some cases in the past “use” has boiled down to a short (minutes) flight with the B conditions registration G-x-x written on a piece of paper in the cockpit.

Many are/have been used without ever being recorded properly by either the users or those watching such things (like us).

Westlands have certainly still been flying aircraft using their allotted G-17-x in the past year.

EG: G-17-510 Merlin – at Culdrose on 28 July 2010

AGWHL have used B class registrations in recent years, one that comes to mind is the Merlin G-17-510

That’s the ones I was thinking of!

Ah, thanks for that Arthur!
I was thinking that the last military types that I can think of in B markings were export Canberras, Lightnings, & possibly Jags (all Warton aircraft strangely) of the late ’60s early ’70s, but as SeaKing93 points out Westland has used it far more recently, didn’t their proposed version of the Sikorsky Blackhawk appear in B class marks?

We tested 146s under G-5 until 30/1/90 when it changed to G-6-

I flew in BAe146-200 E2074 as G-5-074 on 30th Jan 1990 and flew in it again on 1st Feb as G-6-074. From then on all 146s and RJ were G-6. G-11 was used for ATPs and 748s and early 146s out of Woodford. The 125s out of Chester were all flown as G-5.

I think “B” is “B” as opposed to “A” which is fully certificated and registered and “B” which isn’t. I think…

As stated above, the ‘B’ refers to ‘B Conditions’ which are used to allow the flight testing of uncertificated or modified aircraft.

Yes but what does the ‘B’ actually stand for?

Fascinating list there Dave, I had no idea that it was so extensive or that some were still in current use, if not applied anymore.

Just because they’re “current” doesn’t mean they’re used though!

B Conditions markings are still in use .

If you look in my list of International Registration and Callsign prefixxes – scroll down to the G section and there you will find a complete historical list of which G numbers were allocated to which manufacturer. Those that were listed by the CAA as current at the beginning of December 2010 are marked with an asterisk*.

Here’s the link…..
http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/pref.html#

Now where do I start? I’ll get back to you on that one as soon as I figure out which of their weird ideas is the worst in terms of its effect on aviation safety.

Oh OK. I look forward to reading those.

Now where do I start? I’ll get back to you on that one as soon as I figure out which of their weird ideas is the worst in terms of its effect on aviation safety.

Because the majority of their new legislation seems to be rule making because they can rather than on the grounds of proof that said rules are actually beneficial to aviation safety,in fact some of their rules are actually detrimental to safety.

Which ones are they?