Big screw up at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome on Sunday

[Flibster]

It was a Cold War Jets day. They normally have a couple a year and usually good fun. Get in all the old jets and trawl them down the runway at speed.

Comet, Buccaneers, Hunter, Jet Provost, Canberra and Lightnings amongst others, including on this fateful day, the Victor Tanker - Teasin' Tina

BTW - You haven't experienced noise until you have stood under 10 meters away from a Lightning with both engines on full afterburner. :shocked: :D

Anyway, Teasin' Tina arrived at Bruntingthorpe in '93 and has been there ever since. When she arrived she was on the verge of airworthyness as all the Victor's has been flown to within an inch of their lives during the first Gulf Argument. She's called Teasin' Tina as she's still in her Gulf paintscheme and thats her nose art.

The aircraft themselves are insured as jetcars as they are not airworthy and don't fly - they normally have experieced crew members at the stick.

Sadly it didn't help on Sunday.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57189808@N00/3498639970/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57189808@N00/3498639884/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57189808@N00/3498639828/

:shocked:

Yup - thats an unairworthy aircraft around 30feet up in the air.

It's otherwise known as a huge Whoops!

Teasin' Tina managed to get down on the ground... just... I'm still awaiting more info on it. Touchdown happened with one wheel bogey on the grass rather than the tarmac, but she stopped with a whole 150ft of useable tarmac to spare! Other than that, no damage that I have heard of.

Empty - that aircraft weighs 51tons - they normally keep them reasonably full of fuel as it stops water getting into the fuel systems - so possibly 70 tons of aircraft got airborne accidentally.

Luckilly no one watching or in the aircraft was injured - although I suspect the pilot of that flight may need his buttcheeks surgically seperated after that...

At the moment the Air Accidents Investigation Branch says it is "aware" of the incident, but it is not conducting an inquiry.

The CAA has been unable to comment further, pending clarification of the incident, but says the aircraft is not on the civil register.

A world of cack awaits someone... Allowing an aircraft to fly unregistered, not showing registration markings or holding a valid exemption, without a valid C of A/ Permit to Fly, Uninsured, without owners permission, endangerment to aircraft, endangerment to persons on board, endangerment to persons in the ground, endangerment to property, invalid mass & balance data, flight crew not holding suitable type ratings... amongst others

It's not the first time this has happened, notably Southends Vulcan and the Lancaster 'Just Jane' have both left the ground - but I believe this is the first time with several hundred witnesses...

The worst thing is I look at those pictures and think...

1) Thats really not good at all...
1) ...but it looks so cool! A Victor airborne again :D
2) ...and I missed it... Damn damn damn damn! :angry:

[Darrin]

As some of the commenters on there have said, it's a photo to treasure because it's not like you're going to get the chance tomorrow to get another like it.

And I agree with on what you're thinking at the end of your post there...

[Desmo]

That plane looks a bit wonky ;D

Somebody is going to get their head chewed off.

[kaiowas]

But it's not an aircraft it's a jetcar which just happens to look a bit like a plane. ;)

Did the CAA get involved when Hammond's jetcar inadvertently became airborne?....

[Wossi]

Gonna have to look at those tonight as the net filter at work has blocked flickr :(

[Jonny69]

Whoops! So what happened? A bit too much beans down the runway and a bit too much air under the wing or was it a bit more, how shall I put this, deliberate? :D

[Fayshun]

Bugger me, a flying jet car!

Awesome!

[Flibster]

Whoops! So what happened? A bit too much beans down the runway and a bit too much air under the wing or was it a bit more, how shall I put this, deliberate? :D

From what I gather

1) It was a bit gusty - Victor's maximum crosswind ability is around 25mph

2) Takeoff flaps were selected.... :shocked:

3) She got reasonably close to V1

4) Nose was lifted as normal for show.

5) Gust of wind happened and lifted the right wing - had to lift the left to prevent it digging in to the runway\grass

It was the best thing they could do in this case to prevent an accident.

I just can't believe that I normally go to these and I decided to skip this one as the weather was looking a bit crappy. :( Damn damn damn damn!

[vix]

Great pics, wish I'd been there.

They used to put the Victor out at Elvington for taxi, and I remember one of the commentators asking the pilot, 'Is it ever tempting to give it a few more beans and get the wheels off?' His answer was basically yes, but the thought of getting his head chewed off by the CAA made him keep the wheels on the ground.

[Jonny69]

3) She got reasonably close to V1
I understood everything except for this one, what does that mean? :D

[Darrin]

V1 is launch velocity. Where a plane is GOING to fly unless you either slow it down or forcefully keep it on the runway.

You know, that speed that your buzz bomb powered skate board hits? ;)

[Feek]

3) She got reasonably close to V1

I understood everything except for this one, what does that mean? :D

Effectively it's the point of no return. Once you reach that speed then you are going to fly! You may not actually don't have the runway in front of you to be able to stop! On commercial airliners once that speed is reached the pilots take their hands off the throttles so they won't instinctively retard them.

The calls (again on commercial aircraft) go:
Take off thrust set
80 knots
V1 (point of no return)
Rotate (hands pull back on the yoke)
V2 (effective speed for climb out)
Positive rate, gear up

...and so on.

V1, Rotate (Vr) and V2 and generally pretty close together.

Back to the incident, I'm quite surprised the aircraft is taken close to V1 but I suppose that if the nose is going to be lifted then it's essential but as can be seen here, all it takes is a gust at the wrong (right!!) time for the aircraft to get into the air.

I'm betting this 'fast taxi' ;) won't be allowed any more if there are any winds whatsoever.

Impressive though :D

[Flibster]

The current rumour on the cause...

"the victor was being commanded by an ex pilot of that type but the throttle man was just a helper under instruction from the pilot when instructed to shut down the throttles he only reduced it a bit the pilot then told him all the way at witch point he panicked and went to full power instead the rest is history."

:shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked:

Oh, and to give you an idea of how overworked these aircraft were.
There is something on all aircraft called a Fatigue Index (FI). This goes from 0 to 100. 0 for new - 100 for end of life. Simple.

Before the first Gulf Argument they Victor tanker fleet were given an extension so they could provide the necessary tanker cover. The surviving airframes sit at the wrong side of FI 135

Ouch.