Ok, so we all know what the boat is, but what is the aeroplane ?

If you wave that kind of money about at North Weald you can probably get yourself a whiz-round in a Jet Provost. Better be quick though as John (affordable housing) Prescott has got the field in his sights.

I have to agree with Will J, The Twin Pin is a hoot. Go to one of the open days at Coventry, and you could have FIVE flights for your money…Rapide, DC3, Prentice, Chipmunk…..

Yak 52’s are brilliant, you should not have trouble finding a willing cost-sharer if you put the word out.

Time will tell whether the Vulcan can be operated on a business footing – God forbit that she be required to generate a profit! But even to those with all the infromation at their finger-tips, the maths must be pretty scary.

Apart from ‘Red Bull’ style sponsorship, or the chance of some film work, the primary source of income must be air diplays. Certainly there are plenty of events in the UK, and Northern Europe, but the real issue is how many would book, or could afford to book the Vulcan. Some, such as RIAT and the bigger, military-themed shows would be dead certs, but multiple event sites such as Duxford and Old Warden could not be expected to schedule the Vulcan more than once or twice a year.

Even on the roughest ‘guestimation’ of direct fuel and insurance costs, it must be coming in at circa £5,000 per hour, taking no account of hangarage/engineering crew currency and practice displays. If these costs are to be covered by booking fees, this will be a HUGE munch out of the budget of most displays, let alone the smaller events which are run on a shoe-string because they are trying to generate funds for charity. Remember that the Red Arrows and BBMF are very heavily subsidised (by us tax payers) and their cost to airshows is ‘relatively’ small; for the public at large, the Arrows will still top a Vulcan.

It seems reasonable to suppose that in its first year, with novelty and interest at its peak, in a whole season it could make perhaps 25 paying appearances, assuming no difficulties with servicability or weather or crew availability (spare crew?) In the following year this figure would probably decline to maybe 20-15, and maybe similar or slightly reduced in the third year. Can this enterprise be sustained on this level of revenue?

Everything about the Vulcan project is enormous, the noise, the thrills the COSTS, the potential complications, and lastly, the implications for operators of display aircraft should this all end badly. I would be very pleasantly surprised if the Vulcan were to make more than 50 revenue earning flights before circumstances, probably money force her to retire, though issues such as the durabilty of the u/c may end up being a factor. At that level of utility, dividing up the cost of restoration incurred, each flight would have cost £54,000 +consumables.

Of course this speculation may be way off beam, and funds will remain after restoration to pay for many years flying. I would love to be proved wrong, and can only wish the team every success.

Re; Sally B down in the weeds, looks like Barton to me. Great shot!

Don’t forget that the CAA is now tasked with generating a 6% operating profit as well!
It really feels as though GA is under attack from all quarters at the moment, with the possible imposition of statutory navigation charges and compulsory transponders, regardless of your need/desire to use such services.

Then there is the insatiable appetite of developers to gobble up airfields, with Barton and North Weald currently under high-profile threat. Not to mention the NIMBY’s who move into an area and then protest (successfully) to get flying curtailed. PPL training is in decline at present, and there must be many marginal Flight Schools which could be pushed under with the burden of ever-increasing costs. If one were of a paranoid disposition, it could feel as though there is a concerted effort to kill off private flying and the question is, can AOPA/PFA et al, turn the tide? The difficulty is knowing what we, as individual pilots, can do to defend ourselves.

Having said all of that, the main thing is to keep flying, not allow ourselves to be regulated out of the skies, and to believe in our right to exist.

Tiger Moths in Norway-that is real devotion! The rear cockpit is the worst, and a non-standard screen is needed make it bearable.

The cosiest open-cockpit machine I have tried is the Jungmann, which is roasty-toasty in the front.

TMN -Did you take (and can you post ) any pictures of the Tiger Moth? I have a special reason for asking.