End of life , uninsurable
Oh well. Not a lot can be done. Just a shame
How they going to get it out without cutting its wings off? CAA wonât let that even do a short one off hop to a new permanent home with itâs wheels down soâŚ
The airframe has surpassed its flying life and more.
The original plan was to build an aircraft museum at the airport but the funding target wasnât reached.
The only way itâs leaving is in bits on a trailer.
Very expensive and it will never be the same again.
Luckily itâs got a stay of execution until the airport fiasco plays out
Great picture and interesting to know.
Iâve got a few pictures similar to that but slightly lower down of course
Itâs way over any other aircraft of its type that was in service. Yes we know the wings wonât drop off and it will probably get there with two engines on idle but you know the CAA are like.
Yes it was fun while it lasted but nothing lasts forever
Agreed. I live a 5 min walk from the airport and frequently saw the crew working on her and ensuring she was in great order.
But the risk I guess is too great and more importantly there is no financial gain for any big business, just a charity and the public so itâs unsurprising that it was going to come to an end.
Iâll dig out the footage I have somewhere as we were lucky and got to see her fly most weekends when active.
I watched grown men look to the sky and weep when she used to do her turn at airshows and howl for their entertainment.
I was one of them. I have no shame in saying that.
Nothing better than that Howl.
Used to love hearing them engines start to idle on a weekend, knowing that soon enough we would be treated to a display.
I was too young to appreciate them up close and personal, Tornado had replaced them. They donât scream as much.
Got to agree, living local and hearing the howl was great.
My mate was a firefighter at the airport and used to give me the heads up when anything other than the normal pax aircraft was due to arrive or leave.
I saw the 1st flight of XH558 after the initial refurb and her last ever landing.
That was good but when the Antinov AN-225 came in that was something else !
Such a shame that neither will ever fly again
Iâm that close I could hear the engines on the Vulcan as they start up.
Iâd often use flight radar 24 to see expected arrivals and another site that I cannot recall the name of.
Seeing antanov arrive and depart was awesome and how surprisingly quiet it was compared to the Vulcan too.
My brother in law worked security at the airport and eventually joined the fire team so equally we had some inside info.
We saw every flight pretty much of XH558 too.
Itâs got a special place in this village as you can probably imagine
FR24 & FREEDAR are both good apps, there was also the DSAF forum which was helpful
I never joined that due to the odd linking of accounts to Facebook thing.
I donât have Facebook and have no plans in opening an account just to get on a forum
I wasnât aware you had to link to facebook, i thought you could just sign up using an email address
it might be something new or another forum?!
But having looked this morning it requires a facebook account for verification purposes.
Looks like they may have changed it, im currently logged out and forgot my login details
Yeah, I wouldnât have minded joining tbh but as I came off Faceache years ago its a no from me.
Thefe may yet be a second AN-225. Antonov have a second airframe which was never completed
Apparently they have 30% of the components needed to make it fly
that would be great