XS422 – Progress?

The XS422 team have followed up on their reply to me and posted a bunch of videos to their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrfNHaTwMp-ltqnwBNmiCWQ/videos

That’s great to hear! The team said they will upload to YouTube soon.

I’m not on Fbook and it works for me, thank you for the link.

She was fast-taxied in 2019, its first since 1987:

https://youtu.be/TjWYBxAFY0M

https://youtu.be/mf1pAeLf-Qk

Taxi trials have now recommenced, a video was posted of one that took place on April 15:

https://fb.watch/cs9s5zrTiN/

Hopefully you can see it without needing a Facebook account – I know many forum users are not participants of that platform so I’ve suggested to the team they share it on the group’s YouTube channel too.

Yes indeed it is true, once it was made known that the Lightning would be retired around 18 months or so from the actual due date, the crews were largely let off the hook with regard to fatigue conservation as it was no longer nessecary, i do recall an 11 Sqd pilot saying that once it was set in stone that the Lightning was going away nearly every mission flown was ACM, both because there was the intent to use up the remaining fatigue life on the aircraft but also “just because we could”.

lucky bu99ers

talking of hours, the first F-104 delivered to the German airforce was used for ground instruction and only has 19 hours in total, even thought its the oldest one they have! i had heard that towards the end of the lightnings time in service the pilots regularly took them to their limits to use up the remaining hours. was this true?

Yes indeed it is true, once it was made known that the Lightning would be retired around 18 months or so from the actual due date, the crews were largely let off the hook with regard to fatigue conservation as it was no longer nessecary, i do recall an 11 Sqd pilot saying that once it was set in stone that the Lightning was going away nearly every mission flown was ACM, both because there was the intent to use up the remaining fatigue life on the aircraft but also “just because we could”.

talking of hours, the first F-104 delivered to the German airforce was used for ground instruction and only has 19 hours in total, even thought its the oldest one they have! i had heard that towards the end of the lightnings time in service the pilots regularly took them to their limits to use up the remaining hours. was this true?

The houred life of a Lightning is 4000hrs, (some were extended later to give an extra 500hrs) our two having gone out to 4500hrs
Cheers

Thats quite away longer than i was expecting to hear, i was thinking something like 3,500 hours, as they take quite a beating.

i think the shortest houred life for a fighter ive ever heard of is the Sk37E Viggen, something around 2,800 hours.

any idea what her FI consumed is?

i also remember reading somewhere about 422 being time expired, a convenient excuse to pension it off maybe? just out of interest what is the houred life of a Lightning approximately?

i think Mike has got the best of the lot down in Sth Af though, i recall something about XP693 having only 1,800 hours on it.

No idea, what FI 422 has consumed, MJR will know 😉

The houred life of a Lightning is 4000hrs, (some were extended later to give an extra 500hrs) our two having gone out to 4500hrs
Cheers

he he, geoff’s starting to get a southern US twang to his voice, hes out there so often:p getting wet. ha good one, thats guaranteed I rekon. I hope those southern bells like “Eau de Jet a1”:rolleyes:

Hi peter, Ive heard that before somewhere about 422, but 422 has loads of hours left, she only had 2200 on her when she retired at Boscombe down, and never led much of hard life with the OCU’s, before boscombe.

any idea what her FI consumed is?

i also remember reading somewhere about 422 being time expired, a convenient excuse to pension it off maybe? just out of interest what is the houred life of a Lightning approximately?

i think Mike has got the best of the lot down in Sth Af though, i recall something about XP693 having only 1,800 hours on it.

he he, geoff’s starting to get a southern US twang to his voice, hes out there so often:p getting wet. ha good one, thats guaranteed I rekon. I hope those southern bells like “Eau de Jet a1”:rolleyes:

Hi peter, Ive heard that before somewhere about 422, but 422 has loads of hours left, she only had 2200 on her when she retired at Boscombe down, and never led much of hard life with the OCU’s, before boscombe.

Question..
I read in a Lightning book that XS422 was taken out of service as being time expired? Has there been mods or something similiar to the vulcan that have been done to give here a new life?

Ditto, progress is very much budget driven in an ever tightning US climate. Leccies have literally just retuned from a trip, heavies leave tommorow for USA, lecies then return June, whilst heavies return again in a few months. everyone is very busy. When not in Stennis, black box and instrument refurbs continue here in UK. The southern UK electro mechanical team (Avionic/fuel MU) are also up to our eyeballs in Zf579, which serves as a slave test bed for some of the Black box, along with XS458 for T5. The Northern UK team (insti and mech MU) are similarly busy with cockpit systems in Binbrook/grimsby, whilst Egress progress is driven from Warton and New Zealand.

320 only “enough” things to do at home? pfft Lightnings, utter rubbish:D

Thanks MJR for your input, knew I could rely on you;)

Its not only Lightnings we ‘mess’ around with you know, that big shed thingy keeps us busy :rolleyes:

Ive just had a mail from Geoff he tells me he is on a flight out there tomorrow to start the fuel/defuel leak checks, wished him all the best and not to get to wet 🙂

Cheers

Ditto, progress is very much budget driven in an ever tightning US climate. Leccies have literally just retuned from a trip, heavies leave tommorow for USA, lecies then return June, whilst heavies return again in a few months. everyone is very busy. When not in Stennis, black box and instrument refurbs continue here in UK. The southern UK electro mechanical team (Avionic/fuel MU) are also up to our eyeballs in Zf579, which serves as a slave test bed for some of the Black box, along with XS458 for T5. The Northern UK team (insti and mech MU) are similarly busy with cockpit systems in Binbrook/grimsby, whilst Egress progress is driven from Warton and New Zealand.

320 only “enough” things to do at home? pfft Lightnings, utter rubbish:D

cheers, always interesting to hear about such a project 🙂

Hi, after I saw this thread I dropped a line to Max Waldron, one of the lads that go out twice a year to do abit more to 422, here’s his reply:

Hi Andy,
422 is going well electricians just returned and ready for power on. Fuel trip about to start so things moving along. Same old story as ever budget driven and so we just react to the cash flow coming in. we are moving and should have engines in by November.

Cheers

Max

Thats all at the mo, MJR might want to add some more if he’s around 😉 As he is closer to 422 than I, we have enough things to do at home
Cheers

Still a few years from even looking like a first test flight

Last I heard was that she was close to having an engine fitted sometime this summer…