To Men from a certain Era, a sight that'll bring a tear

[tdm34]

WOW!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcHygKWWQwI

[Eric Mc]

Formatting needs sorting.

[Simpo Two]

Just like my Jaguar (car) you hit the loud pedal and it says 'Restricted Performance'

[baldy1926]

Makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.
Just such a shame they have to back off and not complete the take off

[andy_s]

Just got that plug out in time...

[spitfire-ian]

They'll be doing that again on the 27th July

http://www.lightnings.org.uk/

[onyx39]

I realise the CAA will never let them fly again (which is a damn shame) but how close is that aircraft to airworthy?

[Hooli]

Such a shame it'll never fly again, they look & sound so damn good.

[eharding]

andy_s said:

Just got that plug out in time...

Well, about 5 seconds after just-in-time, and a second or so before slightly-too-late.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

It's a pity the blurb from the 'Master Controller' was just so wrong (they really should have got a Fighter Controller to do it!)

As for a QRA Scramble? Pah! Binbrook Lightnings were regulary airborne inside 3 minutes!

[Ryan T]

They Are restoring one out here, a T5, in Mississippi.

http://www.lightning422supporters.co.uk/

engines run in Nov 2013, the FAA is much more open to getting aircraft like this flying again.

[Eric Mc]

More open land in the US for when it all goes horribly wrong.

[aeropilot]

onyx39 said:

I realise the CAA will never let them fly again (which is a damn shame) but how close is that aircraft to airworthy?

It's not even close to airworthy, as a lot of the 'lifed' components will be long out of life etc., engines etc., bang seat., all sorts of stuff will be non-paperworked...which is the real definition of airworthy. When the weight of the paperwork = the weight of the aircraft
In a physical sense though, it all works as it should as it's been maintained as if it could fly, just without the immense paperwork trail and need to use 'lifed' parts etc and if the pilot pulled back on the stick, sure it would fly and probably doing a circuit and land....probably

[b14]

aeropilot said:

It's not even close to airworthy, as a lot of the 'lifed' components will be long out of life etc., engines etc., bang seat., all sorts of stuff will be non-paperworked...which is the real definition of airworthy. When the weight of the paperwork = the weight of the aircraft
In a physical sense though, it all works as it should as it's been maintained as if it could fly, just without the immense paperwork trail and need to use 'lifed' parts etc and if the pilot pulled back on the stick, sure it would fly and probably doing a circuit and land....probably

True, as long as it didn't decide to go up in flames in the meantime. I love the look and the power of the Lightning but I don't understand the slightly rose-tinted view that many have of the a/c - it unnecessarily killed a significant number of British pilots due to fires in the tail section. A lovely a/c but not without significant failings.

Sounds lovely though.

[Eric Mc]

I was chatting to an engineer who worked on Lightnings and said they were dreadfully complicated, dreadfully unreliable - but magnificent beasts.

[Simpo Two]

andy_s said:

Just got that plug out in time...

Indeed. I can imagine him muttering 'F*cking hell come OUT you bd'.

So they didn't have cables/tubes that automatically disconnect when you move forwards?

[aeropilot]

[redacted]

[Brigand]

I was but a lad when my dad was at Binbrook working on those things; I can still remember the noise of those taking off in groups, it was deafening even from the married quarters a mile or two from the runway!

[Le TVR]

Eric Mc said:

More open land in the US for when it all goes horribly wrong.

We have RAF Dogger Bank for that.