Vulcan Ground Support Question.

This method has served the RAF and every other Display Team well for many years now, so ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’!!

That’s fine, I just hope that you have the RAF’s wallet to match.

exmpa

From my experience in the ATC in the 80’s of “Guarding” ‘558 on the saturday overnight stop at the North Weald Fighter Meets on a couple of occasions, I don’t recall there being a huge amount of ground support equipment being present.

What did make me laugh was the “No-Step” symbol(s) on the underside of the wing though! Are they still there? Were they a ground crew prank, or are they indeed required?

Happy memories…

There will still be a dedicated team of Engineers and Ground Support staff following XH558 around the airshow circuit.

Obviously, for a large amount of these, she will take off and return to Brunty, however, at the venues she ‘Lands Away’, it will operate very much as in the RAF days, as a standard ‘Det’. There will be an Advance team detached to see the aircraft in at the away base, and a Rear Party, to despatch the aircraft, who will then follow the aircraft by car.

All necessary GSE, including the Houchin, STAD and Towing Arm, will be despatched along with the Advance party of engineers awaiting 558’s arrival.

This method has served the RAF and every other Display Team well for many years now, so ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’!! 😀

Flipflopman

The piece of equipment in very short supply these days (apart from the tow bar already mentioned, although there are several of these at Bruntingthorpe;) ), is a 200v 400 cycle AC 3-phase, 28v DC ground power unit, a Houchin. They’re like hens teeth, and a bit heavy….:)

There’s one of those monstrosities not 100metres from where I’m sitting right now, though what use it would be if you tried to use it in anger I don’t know as I’ve never seen it running yet-maybe I never will.

The piece of equipment in very short supply these days (apart from the tow bar already mentioned, although there are several of these at Bruntingthorpe;) ), is a 200v 400 cycle AC 3-phase, 28v DC ground power unit, a Houchin. They’re like hens teeth, and a bit heavy….:)

Especially if you’re looking for a 60KVA unit.

The piece of equipment in very short supply these days (apart from the tow bar already mentioned, although there are several of these at Bruntingthorpe;) ), is a 200v 400 cycle AC 3-phase, 28v DC ground power unit, a Houchin. They’re like hens teeth, and a bit heavy….:)

Well, we used to go around the world with only a crew chief and there is not really any reason why the crew cannot do their own Pre Flight Inspection and transit servicing. The Daily inspection can be done prior to departure from base and could normally be expected to remain valid for the departure the following day. However if required the crew could carry out this inspection as well. If the stop was more than one night then there might be a case for some engineering cover. Any parking would of course have to be self-manoeuvring. Whilst most ground handling agents have Boeing and Airbus towbars, Vulcan ones are in pretty short supply. Unless of course the organiser accepted the additional expense of having the item pre-positioned.

If you have any defects that’s another story. If they cannot be carried under the terms of the Minimum Equipment List then you are going to require engineering support and spares. The spares are going to have to come from the main operating base as it would be impractical to carry around or pre-position a sufficiently large range of items to cater for any likely problems.

It is worth bearing in mind that this is now a civil aircraft and the engineering schedule will be be approved by the CAA and not Bomber Command Engineering Staff. The latter would have had a very large pool of manpower (I know it didn’t seem like it at the time!) to carry out the tasks and would have utilised them all. The CAA regulations do not make such assumptions they just require that the schedule is adequate.

The bottom line however is cost. The aircraft is going to be expensive to operate and it will have to be done with the minimum number of personnel.

exmpa

Indeed, although supplies of nitrogen, air, OX38 and OM15 on location would help. A couple of ladders would also be useful:D

It is not an aircraft you would kick the tyres and light the fires and go

Well, we used to go around the world with only a crew chief and there is not really any reason why the crew cannot do their own Pre Flight Inspection and transit servicing. The Daily inspection can be done prior to departure from base and could normally be expected to remain valid for the departure the following day. However if required the crew could carry out this inspection as well. If the stop was more than one night then there might be a case for some engineering cover. Any parking would of course have to be self-manoeuvring. Whilst most ground handling agents have Boeing and Airbus towbars, Vulcan ones are in pretty short supply. Unless of course the organiser accepted the additional expense of having the item pre-positioned.

If you have any defects that’s another story. If they cannot be carried under the terms of the Minimum Equipment List then you are going to require engineering support and spares. The spares are going to have to come from the main operating base as it would be impractical to carry around or pre-position a sufficiently large range of items to cater for any likely problems.

It is worth bearing in mind that this is now a civil aircraft and the engineering schedule will be be approved by the CAA and not Bomber Command Engineering Staff. The latter would have had a very large pool of manpower (I know it didn’t seem like it at the time!) to carry out the tasks and would have utilised them all. The CAA regulations do not make such assumptions they just require that the schedule is adequate.

The bottom line however is cost. The aircraft is going to be expensive to operate and it will have to be done with the minimum number of personnel.

exmpa

I belive from reading the TVOC forum, that they now have several vehicles available to them, some provided by sponsors, to accomplish the task you speak of if required though it has never been indicated that landings away from Bruntingthorpe are planned I am sure they will occur on occasions like RIAT maybe…:D