Great cockpit pictures, you might get some more good shots at the Cockpit-Fest at Newark Air Museum, June 17th & 18th 2006.

See link for details:

http://www.internationalcockpitclub.org.uk/cockpitfest.htm

There are some interesting comments in the latest issue of Professional Engineering [3 May 2006] under the headline “Vulcan bomber flight hit by unexpected cost increases”

Professional engineers and registered users can log on to the website at http://www.profeng.com but below IMHO are some of the interesting points made in the article.

1. “Plans to return the historic Vulcan bomber to flight have suffered a big setback because of unforeseen cost increases from two un-named aerospace contractors”.

2. “Felicity Irwin, Vulcan to the Sky Campaign director, said: “The overrun is arising from an under-estimation of the complex nature of the aircraft and the amount of manpower hours needed to complete.” “We need another million to be in flight – £350,000 immediately, £500,000 for the first test flight and £150,000 to prep for the first display.”

3. “The project has cost £4.2 million so far and the plane is currently halfway through the refurbishment programme.”

4. “Irwin’s comments have surprised Marshall Aerospace, the primary contractor for the project, which has 20 people working on the plane. It said the complexity of the plane was not a hindrance to engineering work. “We are delighted to be involved in the project and work is continuing to a high standard. We have had no indication that work is going to have to stop and from our view point work on the plane will be completed by the end of the year.”

A large vote of thanks must go to Peter Wood and Alan Purdy who brought her from a wreck to something that was very near flight.

Well said David! We should also not forget Alan Purdy’s team!!

: [U]Non HLF costs
( Items pre-granting of HLF funds and
those items outside the scope of the
grant application e.g .fundraising etc) £334,000…Recognise this figure, the original shortfall……Project set up costs???

This is an interesting comment / observation that strikes me as though someone perhaps did not fully appreciate the terms of the Heritage Lottery Fund [HLF] contract with respect to what work would be eligible for funding!

Also with the project running on a 70% HLF funding and 30% VTTS matched funding basis I presume that HLF would require proof of money in the bank or a detailed fund raising plan / strategy.

I assume that it would be the latter i.e. fund raising plan. If that is correct what activities that VTTS listed in this plan are not working to generate the matched funding needed?

Do you think there would be much interest if Robert carried out a web cast for Q&A’s?

I saw RP on the TV last week and IMHO I would not put him forward again as I believe you require someone that appears to be more inspirational.

Would be interested to see the breakdown of actual cash donated to the project as compared to “gifts in kind”.

Too much of the latter can lead to cash flow problems with Heritage Lottery Fund [HLF] projects. Especially as I believe that the HLF normally pay accounts after the ‘project’ has settled a monthly account with the contractor, this can be 28 working days after the project has paid the money. As a consequence cash flow can become a critical aspect for a small organisation trying to run a big project on limited funds.

1. One of my pet hates is clouded canopies due to outside display and the effects of ultra-violet light (why don’t people put covers over them when their museums are closed?). One of your shots shows the Newark Swift thus blighted, with a cockpit section next to it with crystal-clear prerspex; why not swap them?

Steve,

I think Newark would have a couple of problems with the above idea:

Newark is open 361 [362] days each year and I doubt they could cover all cockpits each night!

I believe that the complete Swift and prototype Swift cockpit [arrived at Cockpitfest 2005] are both on loan with Newark, from different people and therefore unlikely to be able to swap canopies. They might not even fit!

An interesting comment on the VTTS message board last night from Felicity Irwin [VTTS Fund Raising].

“Everything possible is being done to keep things ‘alive’ and please be assured that all monies donated since the moment we had real doubts have been put into a special account. So no chance of fraud! Yes we need substantial support and it may still be there. Meanwhile every little helps.”

See link below for full text, bottom post on April 20th @ 20.43

http://www.tvoc.co.uk/cgi-local/board/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=1;t=22;st=10

TT,

Sounds like you are already doing much of what’s needed for Registration i.e. records, receipts etc.

I know the ‘muggins’ feeling well, but with a sympathetic Curatorial Advisor on board you should consider the jump with Registration, it can be very rewarding. I’m sure that EMMLAC would be supportive.

Not sure about HLF and the need to be a Registered Charity, I thought a properly constituted body was all that was required, although the charitable status perhaps helps.

Even charitable status is not the be all and end all as problems can still arise if you do not follow Charity Law and keep your returns up to date with the Charity Commission!

Keep up the good work and further enhance the reputation of your group.

Here’s a thought less time on the Forum and more time on the paperwork! 😉

For both of us me thinks! 🙂