test flight 28/5/12

[Rubberneck]

taxying out for a test flight at 1200

[Hurn]

Test flight aborted. Some sort of engine problem on take-off apparently.

Hope it's nothing too serious but at least the crew are safe.

[karlbutler]

heard from DSA that there was two bright flashes followed by two loud "bangs" and the vulcan turned off the runway apparantly blocking the taxiway ?

Not sure the extent of the failure but by all accounts it sounds fairly significant ?.............can anyone confirm ?

[POL]

Could be anything from a bit of oil getting in to the engine to a double compressor stall to a catastrophic failure of one or two engines...!

[karlbutler]

Lets all hope its nothing too serious - it would be a tragic loss to the years aviation highlights !!!

[Hurn]

Well they've got spare engines; I just hope there's no significant damage to the airframe.

[Vulcan7]

Two loud bangs heard and lots of smoke. Martin reported number 1 failure and number 2 "very hot". Fire trucks attended but nothing sprayed at the request of Martin if there was no fire visible. He asked if the fire crew had an infrared camera but they didn't. Metal found on the runway and closed for about 50 minutes while the sweeper cleared the runway, now back open.

[seven]

Oh quaiffe!

7

[Richard B]

Does not sound to good, could mean a double engine change at the worst case.

[GOOSE]

Fingers crossed...........

[seven]

Fingers crossed...........

Toes, legs, arms, eyes and nuts too!

7

[sinbad]

News here.....http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/352/ ... ilure.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[GOOSE]

I'm sure they won't mind it being replicated here -

Engine Failure Update

XH558 was scheduled to take off at noon on May 28th for a crew currency and display training flight. Just after the start of the take-off roll, she experienced problems with two of her Olympus engines. The crew immediately shut all engines down and everyone is safe. At this stage, we don't have any further information but we will keep supporters informed via Twitter (@XH558), Facebook (Vulcan XH558) and the news section (here) of the charity's website (http://www.vulcantothesky.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).

Unfortunately, this means that she will not be able to fly for at least two weeks, although we will not know exactly how long rectification will take until the problem has been thoroughly investigated.

We will provide further updates when we know more.



Many thanks for supporting Vulcan XH558

[Hurn]

Problems with two engines! Seems a bit strange, but I suppose one failing could damage the other?

Hope Rolls Royce don't get cold feet and pull the plug though.

[TankBuster]

What a blow for the start of 558's season .

I'm glad the crew are ok & from the sounds of it they quickly brought the situation under control, well done guys .
Thank god the wheels were still on the ground when it happened, could have been even worse if 558 was airborne.

Fingers crossed that the flash and bang is not as serious as it sounds ?


TankBuster

[seven]

Problems with two engines! Seems a bit strange, but I suppose one failing could damage the other?

Hope Rolls Royce don't get cold feet and pull the plug though.

That was a common problem with the Vulcan, a catastophic engine failure would usually destroy the paired engine too, as graphically written in the opening chapter of Vulcan 607. This was one of a few problems leading to the loss of a few Vulcan's. Thank god this incident was on the ground is all i can say!

7

[Hurn]

A bit more info from VttS.

The failure occurred in the two port side engines (1 & 2) on the ground as the aircraft was easing towards full power at the start of her take-off roll. She is now back in her hangar where the technical team will investigate the problem. Our initial thought is that the symptoms are very much like those experienced when something is ingested by an engine so we will be investigating all possible sources. We would like to thank Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield (RHADS) for their immediate assistance and professionalism yesterday.

We will provide further updates when we know more.

Many thanks for supporting Vulcan XH558

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/353/ ... pdate.html

Hopefully FOD can be found to be responsible for the engine(s) failure. At least then it would mean there was no underlying problem with the engine itself.

[Mayfly]

My thoughts exactly Hurn....

[Zeb]

Two engines US by silica gel bags - weird?

Wonder how long, if ever (cost), it will fly again?

[Freeman Lowell]

[quote="Zeb"]Two engines US by silica gel bags - weird?

Not so much weird as incompetent. Whatever happened to ISO9001, procedures, remove before flight tags, checklists, signing off completed checklists etc ?

A lot of people will be disappointed that the money they've donated towards keeping XH558 flying will be spent fixing preventable damage.

Thank goodness they're lucky enough to have two spare engines.

Freeman