Vulcan Brake Chute

Hi everyone, great photos. I’m currently based at RAF Akrotiri and undertaking a project to examine the history of the Station. I would therefore love to see any photographs please from anyone who served on the Vulcan bomber force during their time in cyprus [late 60s-early 70s]. All photos, comments and stories relating to your time here gratefully accepted. They will all go towards the memorabilia in the Station museum. many thanks in advance. best wishes
steve chappell
contact on [email]stevechap50@hotmail.com[/email] if easier

Thanks for explaining the process, that makes sensenof what I saw happening.

Having seen film of the fun time had by all concerned in refitting one on the Victor I can understand how they figured a bill of £1000 if the system was similar. I recall it looked they were feeding a giant white sausage into the chute bay then the final touch is that one guy stamped and jumped on it to get it to finally in place whilst the other members of the team stood and watched.

Having fitted quite a few chutes in a Victor whilst on a night stop at RAF Luqa and others. What you describe was the correct procedure it took a good kick to get it into the Hopper and the doors shut over the drogue bag not forgetting to remove safety pins.

The chute and shackle weigh about 170lbs and the system is all hydraulic, The two doors are spring loaded and held by retractable bolt that opens the doors. Disconnect this and retract it The Chute had a life of 25 streams and was scrapped after that. The Victor had a minimum landing distance of 7,000ft and the streaming of the chute was mandatory except if the runway was over 10,000ft e.g. Goose Bay

Two experienced rigger could load a chute in 10-15mins from unloading it from the Land Rover up giraffe at the correct height. Shackle in and locked in. Chute in one door closed, remove safety pins close other door reconnect retractable bolt tow the giraffe out of the way and sign for the fitting NO pyrotechnics involved.

Having seen Vulcans landing at Akrotiri and Luqa I never saw a chute streamed. The only time I did was whilst working at Fighter Meet at North Weald in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. The Runway was only 6000ft and the streamed on every landing I watched them fitting a brake chute and the time taken was well in excess of the average Victor Refit. the chute was similar to that of a Victor, but the shackle was Chrome Plated. I have both in my collection

Cabbage, he probably didn’t lose it, the standard thing was to jettison it at the end of the runway for the rag packers to collect, before taxying back in. Ours used to try and avoid using them in Gib, they would use aerodynamic braking ( keeping the nose high and using the drag to slow it )

The one I saw definitely lost it before crossing the public road. I saw the black end cap come off, but no chute deployment. I was in the old terminal building awaiting the flight back in a Hercules.

The best ones were the Jags, forget to put the pip pin in, or not in properly and when they streamed the whole can would deploy lol, chute and all still nicely packed in the can. 😀

Or when they’d been left wet in Norway and came out as a frozen ‘popsicle’

Also, I wonder if there’s a limit as to how long the chute can remain packed without streaming on the Vulcan. It was 28 days on the jag once fitted.

Remember a cost goes with using the brakes as well, they wear out and would normally need overhaul in normal use. Although I suspect the Vulcan crew has a stock of already overhauled units to draw from which will last them to the end of its flying life, so the real cost has already been spent.

Richard

Having seen film of the fun time had by all concerned in refitting one on the Victor I can understand how they figured a bill of £1000 if the system was similar. I recall it looked they were feeding a giant white sausage into the chute bay then the final touch is that one guy stamped and jumped on it to get it to finally in place whilst the other members of the team stood and watched.

At a guess the cost is to transport and repack the chute.

They have a finite life – something like 30 deployments I think it is then it’s life-ex and I believe a new one IIRO £30K so they don’t deploy them as a matter of course. Again I’m guessing but I suspect it was due a change that’s why it was deployed and maybe to exercise the system. It was said at Waddington on the Sunday the chute would be deployed but it wasn’t so I found that disappointing.

£30K ÷ 30 uses = £1000 per use replacement cost.

The other half of the quoted £2000 per use would be inspection, repair, repacking, and re-installation.

Cabbage, he probably didn’t lose it, the standard thing was to jettison it at the end of the runway for the rag packers to collect, before taxying back in. Ours used to try and avoid using them in Gib, they would use aerodynamic braking ( keeping the nose high and using the drag to slow it )

The pilot was probably waiting for his brakes to cool down. Gib is not blessed with the world’s longest runway by a long shot. I think Akrotiri, Cyprus may even have a longer runway and that is also built on a bit of land sticking out into the sea.

I remember seeing a Jaguar lose its chute a Gibraltar. It seemed an awfully long time before it taxied in from the Western end of the runway.

It happened in around June 1983, when 41 squadron had a detatchment based there.

The Jags did that on the way into Cosford on their last flight, had the odd one stream in flight over the ranges at low level.. Brakes on…. Chute rips itself off…. Brakes off 😀

The best ones were the Jags, forget to put the pip pin in, or not in properly and when they streamed the whole can would deploy lol, chute and all still nicely packed in the can. 😀

I’ve seen the Mig29 (probably Biggin or Fairford) pop the chute while still in the air albeit not far to touch down.
Makes quite a sheet crackling experience.

The best ones were the Jags, forget to put the pip pin in, or not in properly and when they streamed the whole can would deploy lol, chute and all still nicely packed in the can. 😀

Remember though, the chute these days isn’t ‘mission critical’ for several reasons, not least because the CAA have restricted their MLD so they will only land on rwys with sufficient length not to require the chute. And the aircraft is quite a bit lighter than in service so won’t carry as much inertia. But it probably has to be serviceable just in case they have to divert to a marginal rwy.

I’d also guess they have a few in their parts bin, so I doubt they’ need to get any new ones made up. After all, when 558 only did ground runs at Brunty, the popping of the chute was almost a pre-requisite, but it is a seldom seen event these days.

And Jonathon also popped his chute in the Hunter which was a nice surprise … but which I failed to capture.

At a guess the cost is to transport and repack the chute.

They have a finite life – something like 30 deployments I think it is then it’s life-ex and I believe a new one IIRO £30K so they don’t deploy them as a matter of course. Again I’m guessing but I suspect it was due a change that’s why it was deployed and maybe to exercise the system. It was said at Waddington on the Sunday the chute would be deployed but it wasn’t so I found that disappointing.

I always thought you just repacked the chute. Just wondered if there was any pyro involved in ejecting it?
Sea Vixen and Canberra cancelled which was a disappointment and shows it’s not just the Vulcan that goes tech.

I agree the Hunter (Hunters) were very very good but for me the star of the show was the Sea Fury.
Can’t fail to be impressed how that aircraft climbs vertically at what appears a relatively slow speed and just keeps climbing.
Love the clattery sound of it’s Centaurus engine.

BTW did you travel to the show via the 303 from London?
Did you get stuck behind that blooming Caravan!

What, like this…..

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…which I thought was funny after Sean Maffett claimed it cost £2k per deployment and as the rwy was so long it wouldn’t be needed or deployed; surely it’s just the re-packing cost & the implication was that each chute deployment was a one-time use only, which is rubbish.

Good on them for popping the chute though, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it used since 558 return to flight. Think it was to offset some of the ‘disappointment’ of the inevitable cancellations.

Have to say though, the star of the day for me was Jonathon Whaley with his Hunter. A good egg all round taking up some of the cancellation slack and extending his display (and coming back in for an unplanned & impressive run-in & break after having his ATC clearance rejected for some reason).