Another Quick question

[rickshaw]

Does anybody know the minimum take off and landing distances for the Avro Vulcan?  Fully and lightly loaded?

[PR19_Kit]

I've got Tim Laming's 'The Vulcan Story' handy and it tells you EVERYthing you'd possibly need to know about flying a Vulcan, except THAT! 

The 'Vulcan Manual' section at the back of the book is taken from the official MoD publication for the aircraft and there's very little mention of the airfield limitations in there. The only mention I can find about runway limitations says 'If it is necesarry to land at an AUW greater than 140000 lbs a runway of 9000 ft or more should be used'

There's loads of info on weights and speeds etc, but nothing about distances.

[deathjester]

Yes, there I was too with that very book, confidently expecting to find the required info...

Maybe the question just never came up - bomber airfields are fairly huge, and that's where they operate from, so it never went into the manual?  If you are running out of runway by decision speed, and before rotation speed, then you abort take off!

[deathjester]

Just looked through 'Vulcan 607' - it doesn't say in there either!  Maybe an email to the 'Vulcan to the Sky' folks would help, see if any ex-Vulcan crewmembers remember the sort of distances involved?

[Rheged]

Just looked through 'Vulcan 607' - it doesn't say in there either!  Maybe an email to the 'Vulcan to the Sky' folks would help, see if any ex-Vulcan crewmembers remember the sort of distances involved?

That's probably the  only way  to find out.

There's  plenty of Vulcan footage on Utube   etc, but I can't work out T/O  distances from the material   available.

[deathjester]

Well, I suppose Martin Withers would be the man to speak to then - he has handled lightly loaded Vulcans, and the heavily overloaded 'Black Buck' aircraft, where the MTOW was significantly over 204,000lbs, and the Vulcan showed extreme reluctance to leave the ground!!

[Go4fun]

"Quick men! Open the windows and flap your hands"! 

[lenny100]

when the Vulcan was delivered to sunderland it was flown in at near empty weight and according to the pilot he could have stopped  the aircraft at half way down the 2.800 foot runway and it did a touch and go before that, although a buccaneer landing at the same airport at nearly full weight ran off the end of the runway!!!

[martinbayer]

There's a claim on the Professional Pilot's Rumour Network (http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/264069-v-force-dispersal-query-5.html) that a "Mark 2 Vulcan ..., fully laden, could probably get off in well under 6000 feet".

Martin

[PR19_Kit]

I've just remembered another story from John Farley's 'A View from the Hover' about landing a Vulcan in a short distance.

He was doing some demonstration flights for a very overbearing Government official and decided to do a 'max performance' landing by using the Vulcan's massive aerodynamic braking ability to stop REALLY short. He dutifully did this, using the brake 'chute as well, and brought the aircraft to a halt BEFORE they reached the runway intersection on RAE Bedford's short 23 runway, which was very asymmetric anyway.

This piccie, gleaned from Google Earth, shows the part he landed on outlined in red. From other information about RAE Bedford I reckon that bit is less than 2000 ft long!

[Rheged]

 The Vulcan is turning out to be "Quite Interesting"   I list those things it is alleged to be capable of:-

At high altitudes it could mix it with fighters------- but could also aviate under a rattlesnake's belly.  It had a most imposing visual and aural presence------but was radar stealthy. It appears to have had STOL characteristics  and could climb "like a homesick angel"

Most of all, it coukld make small boys clutch at themselves in  excitement and adults cover their ears and say "GOSH"

Avro seem to have got this one about right.

"....and how and when   did you learn that the Vulcans had successfully penetrated the NORAD  system, general?" ......."Rowdy RAF crews in a Manhatten bar, sir"

[Riksbar]

They landed two of them at RAF Catterick for the fire school there on a 3050ft runway.  They used to close the A1 road which ran past the end of the runway but I know that on one occasions the road wasn't closed due to a Zulu/Lima time confusion.

[Steel Penguin]

from my copy of  The Vulcan Story,  Peter R. March, Sutton Publishing,   P111 under specification,  fully loaded take off run 3500ft ( 1067m)

hope it helps a little 

[NARSES2]

the heavily overloaded 'Black Buck' aircraft, where the MTOW was significantly over 204,000lbs, and the Vulcan showed extreme reluctance to leave the ground!!

Why do I have this mental image of a rather petulant Vulcan stamping it's undercarriage legs on the ground and going "No, no, no, NO .... I want my mummy" 

There's  plenty of Vulcan footage on Utube   etc, but I can't work out T/O  distances from the material   available.

My favourite footage is of the squadron mass scramble that they show in the bomb bay of the RAF Museum Hendon aircraft 

[PR19_Kit]

My favourite footage is of the squadron mass scramble that they show in the bomb bay of the RAF Museum Hendon aircraft 

Dunno how the pilot of #4 can see through the smoke! They don't take much runway to get off in that clip, but they probably have the whole of 55 Sqdn waiting to top them up already.