Aircraft General Discussion

[Adam MaraParticipant @adammara]

Thanks Alan

It did not sound like the Lancaster, and I believe the Lanc is being repaired and is due back in Coningsby anytime. Seen Sally B fly over a couple of times in previous years, and also saw her at Duxford. B17's have a special place in my heart, my FIL was an air gunner in a B17 of 214 squadron doing RCM, has grandson still has some of the chaff/window they dropped.

[Martin Dilly 2Participant @martindilly2]

I have had passed on to me about a hundredweight of back numbers of Aeroplane Magazine, going back to the Richard Riding editorship. They are too interesting to bin and would be free to a good home. I'm in the Croydon/Bromley area, as they'd need to be collected. PM me if that sounds interesting, and they're yours..

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Samsaranda, 12 hour flight to Stanley in a Herc, You had it easy. In 1982 September or October, I can't be sure, I was on Ascension for my second trip there by Herc each time. The second time I was out there was because my opposite number on the other shift had got fluid on the lungs and couldn't fly so I had to replace him. When I was there he was flown to Stanley in my place. His trip consisted of UK to Dakar for a refuelling stop and no more, then on to Ascension for another short refuelling stop. They then set off for Stanley with in-flight refuelling but couldn't land because of the weather so flew back to Ascension with in-flight refuelling. They then gave them 48 hours rest to recover before flying them back to Stanley.

Martin C

[DrDaveParticipant @drdave]

A DH Rapide has been flying around south of Bedford most of the afternoon. I suspect that it has been visiting Old Warden, possibly to give pleasure flights.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Bugger, I kept hearing a twin engined aircraft but couldnt see where it was coming from. Based in Berkshire and has a nice history including military history.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 14/08/2021 21:40:38

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Martin

I find that Flightradar24 is very useful for those aircraft that you hear but can’t track , it’s free and easily installed on a phone or IPad, if I hear an aircraft and can’t see it I use Flightradar24 and as long as the aircraft has IFF then all its details will display. Been watching a drone on Flightradar24 this morning, it’s flying out of Lydd and is tracking up and down the Channel from Folkestone to Hastings, no problem guessing what it is looking for. Dave W

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Dave,

I'm now using it but yesterday I was loading my trailer with engines for sale for a pending bring and buy with a mate and still two pairs of eyes couldnt see anything, If I go into the house to look at the computer I get have you finished yet from the boss

Martin P

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Martin

Point taken, we all suffer from the same scrutiny from wives. Dave W

[Andy Freeman 1Participant @andyfreeman1]

Martin,

Just in case you hadn't noticed, on Flight Radar 24 you can click on Playback and go back to a time and date and see what was flying.

No need to rush inside the house to your computer!

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but I found this an interesting and informative lecture:

The title is "The Secret History of Fighter Aircraft Engine Development in WW2"

The first few minutes are a bit glitchy, but it's worth sticking with it. I'm tempted to buy the presenter's book, which apparently contains much more of the same.

[ChrisBParticipant @chrisb35596]

This morning at work, just outside our hangar…a pretty nice line up!

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

At a local garden centre with my wife, daughter and grandson this morning when I heard the sound of helicopter blades and spotted a red coloured James Bond style Autogyro passing overhead towards Bedford, something that I've rarely seen except at airshows.

Martin P

[Lee RogersParticipant @leerogers95060]

There was a James Bond fly/ drive in at Shuttleworth. Autogyros and Astons.

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

I will risk name dropping accusations, but I have been a commercial pilot for 22 years, mostly Airbus, but other types too.

The BA loose Airbus engine cowls and the BA 787 landing gear pin misplacement are frankly unbelievable, but they actually happened, and are indicative of general deskilling and reduction in training within the industry.

Any engineer worth their salt would not make such a basic mistake of putting a ground-lock pin in the wrong hole. Putting the pin into the leg pivot bore and seating on the pin's shoulder instead of it's barrel would have felt completely different, so it is staggering how an engineer could make that mistake – you could feel the difference without even looking. So whoever did it either had no engineering skill or feel at all, or had no experience at all – to make that sort of mistake they cannot have ever put a ground-lock pin in. Having said that, why not a simple label on the gear leg, pointing to the ground-lock pin hole?

The engine cowls – both one engineer and one of the pilots should each have performed separate walk-arounds before closing up and pushing back on every flight – standard operating procedures. Clearly, either no walk-around was performed, or neither person noticed the loose engine cowls. This seems to be a problem – but it is really simple to check the cowl latches, but you do have to bend right down to look underneath. This involves putting a hand on the ground or on the engine intake, resulting in a wet hand on a rainy day – but so what? Far too many times, I heard other pilots joke that they just count the wings and get back in. Not me.

Another possible reason is that almost every other pilot I have ever seen, never wears ear defenders for their walk-around, (I do). This means they have to stick their fingers in their ears against the dangerously loud sound of the aircon packs and the APU – which in turn means that they cannot release a hand to enable them to look underneath the engine cowls, as described above, Therefore, the cowls don't get properly checked.

Owing to the relentless driving down of airline ticket prices and low cost operators, training budgets are being slashed. Pilots and engineers are no longer necessarily highly trained or experienced. Gits like me do not get employed any more, even though I have a good 10 years commercial flying left in me. Younger, much less experienced types are being preferred and we are seeing accidents and incidents resulting from really basic mistakes. The Boeing 737 Max fiasco, involving two fatal crashes, is another result of driving down costs.

 

Edited By John Doe 2 on 30/09/2021 12:31:35

Edited By John Doe 2 on 30/09/2021 12:34:01

Edited By John Doe 2 on 30/09/2021 12:39:16

[JAParticipant @ja]

Just had two unusual aircraft in the last 20 minutes.

A glider trying to get lft off the Cotswold Edge. It seemed to be unsuccessful and flew south. Although the nearest glider field, Nympsfield, is only 14 miles away we get about one glider a year.

Five minutes later a Wallis type autogyro flew over the house. The last time I remember seeing one, for all the wrong reasons, was at the 1970 Farnborough Air Show.

And it is not even the weekend.

JA

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Oh dear, was that the year ???

[JAParticipant @ja]

Posted by Speedy Builder5 on 22/10/2021 14:14:18:

Oh dear, was that the year ???

I think so. I also saw the Breguet Atlantic clip the Black Shed's roof two years before.

JA

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

We've had the B1 bombers based at Fairford fly over a couple of times. Impressive looking planes, more so when they came over so low!

John

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

I missed John Doe's post earlier.
I agree entirely. For engineers a lot of the reduction came with EASA. I did the "old school" CAA mainence engineers licence (avionics). We were expected to know the details of how the systems worked down to component level. Also how the test equipment worked. We were expeced to diagnose faults without detailed guidance. The licenced engineer carried the authority and had the final say on This was one of the best systems. EASA "levelled the field" across europe. This resulted in the company holding the authority and the engineers having less detailed knowlege and being constrained to follow the aircraft fault finding manuals.
As aircraft become more reliable "human factors" are playing a much bigger part in accidents but the engineers role is being "dumbed down".

Robert.

[Martin Dilly 2Participant @martindilly2]

Not sure if this is quite the right place for this, but mods please move if not.

I have several hundred copies of Aeroplane Monthly magazine that are too good to bin. They go back to the 1980s and are free to a good home. Collection only. I'm in the Croydon/Bromley area. PM me if you might be that good home and they're yours.

[Adam MaraParticipant @adammara]

Posted by Martin Dilly 2 on 23/10/2021 10:40:44:

Not sure if this is quite the right place for this, but mods please move if not.

I have several hundred copies of Aeroplane Monthly magazine that are too good to bin. They go back to the 1980s and are free to a good home. Collection only. I'm in the Croydon/Bromley area. PM me if you might be that good home and they're yours.

I recently gave my collection of aircraft and train books to a friend who is a U3A member, he is reading them and then handing them on to other members of the 2 groups.

Edited By Adam Mara on 23/10/2021 11:06:39

[Anonymous]

Posted by JA on 22/10/2021 12:10:13:

The last time I remember seeing one, for all the wrong reasons, was at the 1970 Farnborough Air Show.

I didn't see the accident as it was a few years before I started working at Farnborough. However, I do remember it. The AAIB report mentions the Helicopter Flight Group at RAE. My father worked at RAE Bedford, starting with NAD (Naval Air Department) and later became head of Structures at Bedford. This encompassed the helicopter group and I remember him talking about the tests and visiting the AAIB at Farnborough. Easy in those days as there was an air ferry from Bedford to Farnborough and back three times a day. If I recall correctly Ken Wallis did some test flying at Bedford as part of the report.

Due to my fathers contacts within the AAIB when I started at Farnborough in 1975 I was lucky enough to get a personal tour of the AAIB facilities.

In later years I used to commute from Bedford to Farnborough on the air ferry on a Monday morning and back on Friday afternoons. The flights were flown by RAF test pilots, mostly using DH Devons, although we sometimes flew on a Dakota. A few times I was the only person on board, so the pilots would lend me a headset and divert slightly off route to show me significant landmarks.

Andrew

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

In the mid 80's on the maintenance dept where I worked we had a mill wright who was a bit of a Del boy, what ever you wanted he could get and you name it he had been there and done, I was working with him and happened to mention that a few of us in the factory had formed an Aviation Society, he asked me if we would like a look around the AAIB at Farnborough, with a pinch of salt I said yes, next day he gave me a name and number to ring so I rang the chap and found out that I was talking to the mill wrights brother inlaw and he ran the site and when did we want to visit, we filled a large mini bus and enjoyed a good day out.

Martin P

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

In the context John Doe's comment about feel – I recently found sand in an engine and on offering a finger full to a colleague to feel was offered a rubber gloved hand – I was stuck for words and those I did utter cannot be written here ! There are those jobs where feel is vital and a rubber glove DOES NOT give that feel ! For 60 years I have put my hands in alsorts of substances without any skin complaints, yet we are told all about the hazards Etc, never mind about the poor soul who will rely on my feel or judgement for their safety !

Just the world we live in ? Ah well ! Noel.

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