The rain removal system was fitted retro, and as stated was basically just bolted externally then faired over, the warm air is supplied by both engines. The splitter plate was added so that at higher speeds the air was not required, as this plate diverted the air around the windscreen. initially without this plate many screens cracked because of the air temp caused many temp differences at varying altitudes and speeds. Just another bit of stick it on and see what it does.

G-NATY

After many years of try, finally today I have been given G-NATY’s “Permit to Fly”,so now we get get her out and about!!!

Hi again,some more info, the Vixen has had her Permit to Fly renewed however she has to have an air test prior to the issue of a full permit, and because of the predicament she is in at the moment the CAA has issued the test permit for one year (normally its a month), we carry out ground runs and fast “taxy’s” to maintain the engines as required by the CAA. she is coming in for her annual next week and having the tanks fitted!!!!!!. With regard to sponsorship that is still ongoing some sparks but no dosh. As for going around with the hat, its a good idea but having checked into the legal side of it we would need to employ a lot more people to administer it, again the paperwork side haunts me.

I would like to set the record straight and answer some of the questions that have been posted on the question of the Sea Vixen.
I will answer the last first, for MarkW, no the Vixen is not yet insured and there is no answer on the horizon, if you got this information from a BAM volunteer, it’s, well according to them they own it?.
We are trying to get a sponsor, at present we have come up against the green issue with nearly all the possible candidates we have approached. The only place the Vixen is green is in the inboard corner of the wheel bays.

As for the cost of running the Vixen, where do you start,

Fuel, the Vixen burns fuel at the rate of 56 litres a min, so every time you saw the Vix taxing to the hold she is starting to empty, it is quite a task trying to balance what fuel you need and enough for safety and for a display you have to keep the fuel as low as possible. The max fuel we can carry is just under 6,000 litres.
An example of the amount of fuel we use going to somewhere like Southend, Transit from Bournemouth – Southend, 2 displays, transit Southend – Bournemouth = 12,000 litres of fuel at 56p a litre. the average airshow pays approx £3,500 plus display fuel (lost out already), in a year we use approx 185,000 litres of fuel

Maintenance, the Sea Vixen is usually in maintenance for 5-6 months of the year (CAA requirement), and for the rest of the year has 2 engineers working on her almost all the time, you can work that out for yourself. A mainwheel tyre costs nearly £1,000, ejection seat cartridges £2,700, parachute repack £600, radio license £350, Permit to Fly £345, Landing fees £250-£600 per landing (she made 31 landings last year), update radios to conform to new EASA regulations £25,000, on and on. Apart from the first year when all the teething problems set in, servicability has not been an issue, in 4 years we have missed only one show for tech, and 4 for weather (she is only allowed VFR?). All together about £150,000 per year.

Insurance, we have to under the EASA regulations to insure CVIX for now, 84 million Euros, $60 milliom passenger liability? and $50 million baggage liability? cost in the region of £90,000 per year, we are hoping to get that reduced.

All together that works out to be £250,000+ a lot of dosh.

A lot of people have commented on Brian’s display as compared to Dan’s, they are both extremely good, if not brilliant pilots, they both have their own individual displays, however the Sea Vixen is 44 years old and yes she is built like the preverbial s*$t house, but, have you not heard of age fatigue!!! luckily there is no evidence yet, but the time you find out is when the tail or wing comes off. We have put a 4g limit on her for displays, that way if we can keep her flying your great grand kids will still see her.

One of the main reasons we have not approached the likes of you all, is that it is a large amount of money to find from donations, and people, we thought would be Vulcan’d out and we would need 50,000+ fivers. So now you know.

I think CVIX is a wonderful machine, she is big, noisy, dirty and complicated all that is required for airshows, and I have now 90 hours as the Flying Engineer.