Vulcan XH558
Posted by: Mike-B on 29 August 2015
Its getting close to the end of its last flying season.
If anyone is interested where its flying in the next weekends, search Vulcan in the Sky & a very useful twitter can watched during flights. They normally give location (flying over) & show a map of the scheduled flight path.
https://twitter.com/XH558?ref_...serp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
The flight path to central south England is normally right over my house, it looks like its doing so today, so hope to click some pics in about 40 minutes, will post on the forum if OK
Doncaster - Crew Aboard: Bill Ramsey, Phill O'Dell & Phil Davies:
ETD: 14:20
Display ETA's
- Goodwood 16:10
- Old Sarum 16:40.
Doncaster ETA: 17:25 (aprx).
Its also going to a photo shoots off Eastbourne & Brighton on the out leg before 16:10 @ Goodwood.
Just passed my place heading for Popham
- big disappointment as it was west of flight path & much higher than normal at 2-3000ft. Last time it flew over it was 500ft maybe less !! - see my pic #2 post on the previous page
Sorry folks, somethings wrong, its just flown directly over my house (nr Oxford) at 16:25 & heading north. Tracking on FlightRadar24 it overflew Goodwood & then headed north, its now approaching Northampton
- its NOT going to Old Sarum.
Update - Twitter feed says
- Crew aware of a technical issue. XH558 is returning to base.
The reports are that she's had an attack of incontinence, rather unfortunate, but then she is an old girl.
I was on the ridge north of Salisbury with a wonderful view over to Old Sarum (the real one - not the modern upstart) with the sun in the west, mostly behind me, lighting the scene beautifully. I was hoping to get some shots of her turning over the hill fort, or over the valley just on the south side.
Shame - hopefully nothing too untoward and she'll be ok for what remains of the season. I managed to catch every flight from arrival and validation to departure at Farnborough last year to make the most of this magnificent machine - Farnborough 2016 won't be quite the same 
The report I heard said it was a case of incontinence - a fuel leak!
Huge is right. A friend and I got ourselves over to Goodwood just before 4 today in anticipation of seeing her. We didn't go into the main event (tickets sold out) but just hung about in the nearby carpark watching the assorted Spitfires etc while we waited for what was for us the main event, binoculars in hand.
Then at about 4 I spotted far away a large aircraft to the north flying in from the east going westward. Though the binoculars I we were sure it was the Vulcan as shape is hard to mistake. It kept going westward and was in view for five minutes or more before disappeared in distant cloud. We waited, and we waited. Then about 4.30 we made enquiries of the stewards to be told that it had just been announced that the Vulcan's flypast had been cancelled as it had developed a fuel leak. There was much disappointment.
My slight consolation was that unlike most of the crowd I'm pretty sure I got a distant and final view. Ah well. I tried.
Mike
Oh well such is life, but in this old ladies case I'm sorry to say Tena were of not much use.
Officially last evening it was a fuel "issue" rather than a leak, more investigation is needed today & they hope to have a better report at 12:00 today.
Just announced: 13:08 ........ Status update: crew planning a short test flight and providing all is well, will continue to Coventry.
Coventry is the Vulcan in the Sky Club meeting
ETD: 1500. Flypasts at 1545.
From the press:
"The final flight by the world’s last remaining flying Vulcan bomber will now take place later this month - and not this weekend as was believed by aircraft enthusiasts.
Cold War icon XH558, which is based at Robin Hood Airport, is set to undertake a two-day farewell tour around Britain this Saturday and Sunday - with many understanding it to be its final appearance in the skies.
Now owners the Vulcan To The Sky Trust have confirmed that a ‘final’ flight will now take place later in October.
It is the latest in a series of ‘last’ dates announced by the Trust with thousands of enthusiasts from across the country turning out to see the plane over the summer season fuelling demand.
In a post on the Trust’s website it said details of XH558’s final flight would be “advised mid-late October.”
Yesterday, crowds were warned to stay away from Doncaster for this weekend’s farewell tour this weekend - with warnings the flights could be axed if thousands of sightseers turn up.
Police have warned owners the Vulcan To The Sky Trust that the flights may not be able to go ahead due to safety and security concerns if thousands of people descend on Doncaster.
Superintendent Caroline Rollitt, of South Yorkshire Police, said: “Although I understand the passion of the supporters of the Vulcan over the past few months as we approach its final flights more and more spectators have turned up at events where the Vulcan has been.
“I must ask everyone please, do not come to Robin Hood to see her take-off and land. This has started to overwhelm local authorities and emergency services.
“My first priority is ensuring the safety of all road users and local communities. Doncaster airport is a small commercial airport that can accommodate its passengers.
“However, the infrastructure around it cannot accommodate a large influx of people hoping to see the Vulcan.”
Dr Robert Pleming, chief executive of the VTTS said: “Please do not travel to Doncaster. We need to minimise the risk of flight cancellation.”
The iconic aircraft has been enjoying one long summer of flypasts and displays with thousands turning out to see her.
But while Vulcan XH558 may no longer be soaring gracefully through the skies, she will stay in Doncaster – as the centrepiece of a new museum celebrating her heritage as well as her life and times, in the former RAF Finningley hangar where she sat in readiness for fighting and bombing during the 1960s and 70s.
Vulcan To The Sky chiefs have had to make the tough decision that this year will be her last - for safety and technical reasons.
Dr Pleming said that while the aircraft, affectionately dubbed the ‘tin triangle’ was still safe, the age of her airframe, engines and a growing difficulty to source skilled engineers to keep her airborne were all factors taken into account when deciding her fate. It also costs £2 million a year to keep the plane in the air.
Details of the farewell tour this weekend are expected to be revealed later today.
She's out again this weekend, 10 &11 Oct..
Check website for details.
steve
Flew over my house in North Yorkshire at 3.30 this pm.
steve
http://theaviationist.com/2015...o-vulcan-red-arrows/
http://theaviationist.com/2015...o-vulcan-red-arrows/
For those of you who were unable to catch any of these flights there's a great 5-minute video taken of her flying over Penarth Pier where she was booked as part of the Penarth Holiday Festival in July this year. She comes in really low and circles a number of times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...ed&v=DSxgb35GxfM
I went to try and see her fly over the Bristol Channel just now but I don't think she can have gone the route that was intended.
The end of service for another amazingly beautiful piece of flying machinery - whatever the less than beautiful purpose of her existence may have been...
I enjoyed that video. She really is a magnificent beast.
What the invading Argentinian soldiers made of the Vulcan when it bombed the Stanley runway back in the early eighties can only be imagined.
Caught a quick flash of a view near Bicester this afternoon as I was driving.
Thats it folks, no more flying Vulcan ........... but never say never.
Just picked up this ........
XH558's FINAL FLIGHT - To be advised mid-late October
We had a short view of XH588 at the normally tranquil Sussex village of Wisborough Green on Sunday, at the turning point for Duxford. Unfortunately only a side view, but quite low, slow and quiet.
A crop of a shot, not too good. Note to self get a longer telephoto!
Some interesting Vulcan cockpit video ......
..... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34505010
No info yet on the last flight date.
Last piece on tonight's BBC News at 6:00.
G
We had a short view of XH588 at the normally tranquil Sussex village of Wisborough Green on Sunday, at the turning point for Duxford. Unfortunately only a side view, but quite low, slow and quiet.
I think you mean Dunsfold 
. We saw her 10 minutes later over the airfield at Farnborough. Beautiful as ever.
Correct James it should have read Dunsfold, it don't take too much to confuse me these days.
Great half page photo of the Vulcan in today's UK Sunday Times - Review section page 7, over the white cliffs of Dover.
Richard
Final Flight Confirmed
Following the positive negotiations with the airport that we announced on Friday, a final flight has been confirmed but with substantial restrictions. To absolutely guarantee that there is no disruption to their operations from the crowds that are expected, their primary requirement is that the flight takes place at very short notice.
We have agreed to this with regret because we believe it is important to have a symbolic end to flying, which is professionally recorded and made available to you as video and stills, but understanding the disappointment that it will rightly bring to all those who have generously supported XH558 and would like to see the final touch-down.
As discussed previously, any delays to commercial flights due to congestion around the airport will be extremely expensive for them and they will have no choice but to pass those costs on to the Trust, which would have a dramatic impact on the future of XH558. It is for this reason that our original plans for an event around the final flight had to be cancelled with apologies to all those who deserve to be there. Thank you again for understanding this difficult position.
We have used almost all the available flying hours taking her to you, across the UK this year, flying more than 50% longer than in any previous year, with many thanks to Marshall Aerospace, the Civil Aviation Authority, and K M Dastur, our aviation insurance brokers, for agreeing this extension.
After such a fabulous year, we have only a handful of minutes left, so the final flight will be around 15 minutes with no display, simply saying Farewell to the Skies.
We are still negotiating exactly how much notice can be provided, requesting a reasonable relaxation of the original very strict requirement. Do please keep a close eye on our social media – Facebook Vulcan XH558 and Twitter @XH558 (repeated on our website) – for updates and for details of how to see the flight live, online.