Classic British Flight Sim

XH558 lunched 2 engines at Doncaster on Weds, 2 spares to go in leaving only 1 spare engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzkQ7sSpATU

Looks like it might be engines rather than airframe that might ground it first now.

Very sad.

Brian

They put silica bags in the engine intakes to soak up moisture

Someone left them in #1&2 and they were sucked into the engine.

The Olympus is not able to be overhauled now and I think it's 200 hours per engine allowed...I was reading about this a couple of days ago

They have two new bagged up, they will fit these and the next engine problem needing replacement, grounds it.

None of the ground runnable Vulcans has flight cleared engines and in fact one of them has two from '558 which were exchanged of expired time units.

Did the bags have red streamers on them, to show they were still in the intakes during pre-flight?

MikeW

Couple of 201 engined Vulcans outside the UK, I wonder what condition XL361 is at Goose Bay Canada or XM573 at the Strategic Air Museum Nebraska are in.

I think they would need a lot of work to get them airworthy!!!! There are a few running in other ac that don't fly that may be a possibility though. Be interesting to hear what actually happened....

Tonks

They didn't have streamer on and it's been suggested they should have

It's the Vulcan people themselves with the story of the bags

The two spare engines they will fit are the only ones in the world capable of flight.

There is no Olympus overhaul and repair now other than small bits replacement

If a way was found to overhaul/repair, they've already said it would be too costly.

Unless someone comes up with some crated unused Olympus

There is no airframe damge which did occur sometimes with Vulcan engine failures.

This is a posted quote form the Vulcan people


Quote:
The technical team spent yesterday (Tuesday) investigating the engine damage on XH558, to determine its cause and to start assessing the timescale and cost of rectification.

We have already established that both engines No.1 and No.2 on the port side are sadly beyond repair, both having suffered blade damage and the effect of excessive heat.

The primary cause of the damage has been determined to be ingestion of silica gel desiccant bags. The most likely sequence of events was that material was ingested by No.1 engine, which surged and suffered LP compressor blade failure. Debris was then sucked into No. 2 which then also failed.

All relevant agencies and technical authorities have been informed. “We have been greatly reassured by the support from industry colleagues, and would like to thank all those who have offered help,” said engineering director Andrew Edmondson.

We would also like to place on record our thanks to all at Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield for their swift and professional reaction on Monday, whilst also apologising to those affected by delays or diversions.

In accordance with normal procedures, a formal investigation into the incident has been opened, chaired by the Chairman of the Trust’s Safety Review Committee.

The technical inspection has so far showed that no airframe damage was sustained, with damage being limited to the engines. The next step is to replace the damaged engines with two from the Trust’s remaining stock. Timescales for a return to flight are not yet clear – we will of course update the web site with progress and give details in the e-newsletters each week.

“We are deeply sorry that this incident has happened, and at this time in 2012. The additional unplanned costs are clearly very worrying as resources are, as ever very tight” said the charity’s chief executive, Dr. Robert Pleming. “We are actively working on a plan to recover our Jubilee season schedule and we will share this with you as soon as practical via the newsletter, Facebook page, Twitter feed and the web site.”

With many thanks to all for continuing to support Vulcan XH558.

Tonks wrote:I think they would need a lot of work to get them airworthy!!!! There are a few running in other ac that don't fly that may be a possibility though. Be interesting to hear what actually happened....

Tonks

XL426 is a 201 engined aircraft but not sure what's working there are the moment as it's being worked on. Another 201 is XM575 at East Midlands which had 3 working a few years back but hasn't been started up for ages. The only other working 4 engines are on XM655 but they are 301s and would need further work and (even more) money spent on 558 to fit them if they could be.

It was mentioned elsewhere, in relation to the availability of engines from other ground runners, that their engines came from '558. Certainly two of the runners on '426 at Southend were on '558 when she landed at Brunters in 1993.

What we have to hope for now is that she never suffers this kind of bad luck again. With possibly the last 4 servicable Olympae, a geographically poor engine failure could lead to the airframe ending up somewhere very inconvenient in terms of long term preservation if she was then un-airworthy.