The last flying Victor - not intentionally!

[HoHoHo]

I’m guessing that most of you who frequent this forum will be aware of the last flying Victor but I have a question.......

Quite an interesting story of a fast taxi at Bruntingthorpe in front of the paying public that as a result of the co-pilot freezing and not reducing the throttles at 100kts at which point the Captain having to take control of the throttles and moving hands around the aircraft ‘lept into the air’ (quoted by Bob Prothoro, ex RAF Victor pilot sitting in the left hand seat that day)

Link to YouTube documentary here

So my question is simply; Given the aircraft got into the air and assuming Bob’s memory and reactions were both good enough to cope with what must have been a bit of a stressful situation, would the aircraft have been airworthy enough to complete a circuit and land in one piece and at what point do these aircraft that are OK to taxi lose their ability to fly? At the point it left the ground would it have been essentially configured to fly with correct flaps etc. given the fact it was ‘only taxiing’?

I’m not sure how difficult (indeed if necessary from the CAA) certificates to taxi are to gain however I assume for example in order to be certified to taxi they’ve got to be almost ready to fly?

[toastyhamster]

Given the skills at Brunty "probably", in fact everything fast taxi there would "probably" manage a circuit, nobody stupid enough to try it, punitive punishment no doubt as well as the rest.

Get some engines in the Guppy :-)

[telecat]

The reason they are limited to Taxi-ing is that there is no manufacturer/maintainer willing to certify/support the aircraft. That's what happened to Concorde and the Vulcan. The Main reason the Victor came off flight duties was due to fatigue in the Main wing spar's.

[aeropilot]

HoHoHo said:

So my question is simply; Given the aircraft got into the air and assuming Bob’s memory and reactions were both good enough to cope with what must have been a bit of a stressful situation, would the aircraft have been airworthy enough to complete a circuit and land in one piece and at what point do these aircraft that are OK to taxi lose their ability to fly? At the point it left the ground would it have been essentially configured to fly with correct flaps etc. given the fact it was ‘only taxiing’?

I’m not sure how difficult (indeed if necessary from the CAA) certificates to taxi are to gain however I assume for example in order to be certified to taxi they’ve got to be almost ready to fly?

As someone, has said, 'probably' would have been OK to make a circuit, but more likely it would have been 'dumped' back down on the runway/airfield confines in any way possible rather than attempt a 'circuit', regardless of the implications to the airframe. The risks associated with the 'probably' for the duration it would have to be in the air and implications if it came down outside the airfield perimeter would render such an option a no-no in everyway.
While most if not all the taxi-capable a/c at Brunty are maintained in a fully servicable condition, they are all done so with a degree of non-airworthy, non-lifed components to a degree, so there's no certainty that it would stay in the air long enough for a circuit.
Yes, all the fast runway runs, are in effect aborted take-offs, not taxi trim, so in theory, yes the aircraft would have continued to fly had no immediate changes in control imput not been actioned to abort the resultant 'hop' into the air.

[LotusOmega375D]

There was a long thread about this back in the day.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=68...

[FourWheelDrift]

It wouldn't have had enough fuel to do a circuit.

[lufbramatt]

On a Victor the ground steering is a separate small steering wheel from the yoke that controls the ailerons and elevators. According to the operators of another victor in the UK the pilot liked to nudge the yoke back to lift the nose slightly.... same people also said the Victor at Brunty only has 3 operational engines due to lack of spares, not sure how true that is. coupled with the centre of gravity not necessarily being correct due to military equipment being removed, they were very, very lucky.

[chunder27]

The last time I went they were certainly not fast runs, mush shortened sadly.