Airbus 380 launch

[mal 97]

VULCAN, LIGHTENING

ah the memories, i will tell you what my favourite aircraft is even though a close friend of mine was killed in one. and kev, you might appreciate this as it started life as a naval plane (but they couldnt fly them to their full potential) man8um and that is the Buccaneer. (now who's showing their age). i once saw a bucc pull a farmers fence down he was so low, and once in norway a pilot dropped his plane onto the cusion of air that builds up between the plane and ground and under the plane a giant snow ball was formed in the swirling air. i would not have believed this if i hadn't seen it for myself.

i did join the air force, but the raf regiment but spent six years doing other stuff till i broke my back. then spent four years on mrt as my basic level of fitness was still there. not quite your regular crab hat. :t

 

[KevKing]

The mighty buccaneer, it had just been retired when I joined the FAA but nonetheless an impressive beast. Strange how steam catapults always invoke a sense of Real flying at sea - taking off in a seaking was never quite as impressive although some of the landings were a bit hairy on the small postage stamps we used to land on. You know there seem to be a lot of us ex- somethings - maybe we should have an ex-something story telling weekend at some stage?! And Mal, its OK, we are just jealous of the RAF 3 day week!

 

[mal 97]

three day weeks eh, what the f are they :dunno: a ex something or other story weekend sounds good but i dont think i could relate any of mine even now. i wouldnt want to be responsible for you having nightmares now would i. just tell me where and when and i'll be the one watching from a distance and you won't even know i've been there till you wake up and find all your mates gone :B

 

[Centaur]

Crabfat

So Centaur - Crab or Pongo?? Or something else? :neenaw:

15 years and loved every bit of it. Mostly on Shackletons but Hercs, S&R Choppers, Lightnings, Hunters, Varsities, Provosts, Whistling tits andTrisomethings in Kenya. Can't remember them all but God I loved them all. :bow:

 

[KevKing]

OK all, if you think the idea of swapping a few dits (as we say in the RN) is a good one then I encourage you to support the porposed Dartmoor weekend (date TBC sometime in Sept), see the rideout scheduler for more ideas. Look forward to seeing you all there, no matter what your previous service persuasion!

 

[XXrider]

Powered by 4 x Trent engines from RR Derby!

Uh oh...

Y'know, this CV-22 Osprey that I work on is running with a pair of RR engines, but I'm not impressed. We are pleased with that fact that, for the most part, they run pretty faithfully. However, a "power-by-the-hour" concept keeps us from actually maintaining them - we have to call RR people for every little hiccup, and they invariably either say "it's fine, we'll write a memo" or "change it". Repairability? HAH.

If this is the Co. making the 380's motors, good luck on any genuine maintainability data.

Should have had the XX's engineers in on it....even for piston-builders, it would have been considerably more reliable.

'rider