Vulcan XH558

The 146 (along with the Boeing 757, A319 and Embraer 145) seems to be particularly prone to contamination of cabin air. Cabin air is usually drawn from the engine intake compressor, cooled and mixed with previously circulated air. The filters don't manage to remove fumes and vapours introduced due to fuel and oil leaks in the engines.

The Dreamliner doesn't draw it's cabin ait from the compressor, so shouldn't suffer this type of problem

I remember the Comet and the Viscount.

As I recall the Viscount actually had quite a good safety record (not perfect, but still good).

The Comet was horrible; insufficient cabin ventilation.

For sea journeys (Newcastle to Stavanger) it was Fred Olsen's 'Vomiting Venus'!

'The Vomit Comet', as it was known

Throughout this thread the Vulcan gets referred to a great deal as 'she'.

I find this a bit odd, and I wonder what people think about it. I see that it is a dramatic looking machine and represents historical interest but ultimately it is a machine; and specifically one designed for war. War as in dropping bombs on people, to kill them.

Personally I find the romanticisation of machines of war an odd thing. Calling it 'she' seems to be part of that process, suggesting some form of personal connection which I must confess I just don't feel.

I know I'm out of kilter with the rest of this thread but I'd be interested to know what others think.

Bruce

This angle really does show off the graceful lines of the VC10 at their best.  Also the BOAC livery worked so well with the VC10 - much better than the BA livery did!

I had my first VC10 flight as a boy with one that was still in BOAC livery. Sadly my last VC10 flight was in a very down-at-heel BA liveried example that had obviously been well-used and been dredged up from somewhere in a mad scramble to get back to the UK before a major BA strike took place.  That one had an airframe and wings that vibrated like no other plane I'd experienced. Also quite a few of the seats were broken and the galley was faulty with fridges that ran warm.  The flight crew didn't realise about the latter until a noxious smell filled the cabin mid-atlantic.  Upon investigation the cause was discovered; because of the impeding strike lots of the passengers were coming back to the UK early.  Among us were some who hadn't yet had their trophy Conch shells properly cleaned up and so they had been placed in one of the fridges.  After an hour or two they had warmed up very nicely...

I think it's just a (British) convention, originally from talking about boats, extended probably a century ago to aeroplanes. Not a convention I've generally adopted myself, but i assumed that was the reason.

personally my 'affection' is of the engineering, and awe at both the visual gracefulness in flight and the evident power it has. But absolutely balanced with a revulsion of what it was built for, and everything that made/makes it, and predecessors and successors, an apparent necessity. 

Greed/lust for power, and religeon, it seems, or maybe they're actually the same thing in this context are guilty in making machines of defence a necessity for mankind, whether stones and a sling, or bombs and a tool for depositing them.

We can still debate the sensibility of such a policy and vote for the appropriate political party even today, as we decide upon Trident.

UK TV Channel 4 7:30pm Sunday 29 November

"Guy Martin: Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber" 

I assume he wasn't flying it, though if he had been it might explain the alleged illegal barrel roll...!

Rumour has it he takes control for a few minutes - #@%   !!!!!   

Maybe it accidentally did a barrel roll as control was handed over.....

With the hydraulic restrictors on the controls in use, she's dead easy to fly.  Turn them off and it's a whole different ball game.

A bit like a motorbike at up to nearly 200 mph on twisting country lanes when you come across something unexpected  - normal day at the office for Guy then!

..........  is that easier to fly than to understand Guy Martin  

 bye 'ek ahh kid.

 ..........  like riding a bike over a white line & coming too in a green field