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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0363.PDF
PLIGHT, 18 March I960 363 at around 220kt; and later, when I was in the circuit at abouti7Okt, I found one-handed control quite easy. The elevators I found rather heavy by comparison, and as trim changes notice-ably with changes of power and speed I seemed to be somewhat busy on the trimmer. The last-named is very effective; and Iexpect that, not being used to the aircraft, I was tending to over-trim. I had been informed that the rudder is heavy buteffective, but I did not have occasion to need very much even when the critical engine (No 4) was feathered. Apart from manualoperation of the rudder trimmer there is also a lever immediately behind which power-drives it, and although only about one divi-sion is required to correct a No 4 failure on take-off I think that most pilots will tend to use the power drive most of the time,because it is handier and faster. Before descending to the circuit I tried the feel on the approachto the stall with undercarriage and full flap. At the weight of the aircraft by that time the stalling speed was down to about 90kt.At 95kt with only a little throttle and on the point of buffet and with the stick shaker going we were losing height only fairlyslowly; on the clean stall the buffeting is much more pronounced. Recovery was quite normal and I was left with the impressionthat if one inadvertently got too close to the stall on approach one could very easily correct the situation. The cruising power we were using was giving 220-230kt whenBill Aston suddenly feathered No 4. The change of trim was so little that but for the alteration of engine note I would not haveknown; manoeuvrability was not impaired and the speed dropped by only 15kt at most. Engine-stopping in flight is most interestingand simple. Once the HP lever is pulled back to the FEATHERposition the appropriate handle on the coaming is operated; if just feathering is required the handle is pushed in, but when the firedrill is carried out the handle is pulled. When the propeller has feathered, the handle is turned to fire the extinguisher bottles; two9hots are available. The action of pulling the feathering handle actually performs three functions, because in addition to featheringit also closes the LP cock and cuts off the hydraulics to the engine concerned. After being away for about If hours we returned to Wisley,where Bill Aston took over for the circuit and landing—from which he came to a stop in a remarkably short run with only moder-ate braking and no reverse thrust. We then changed seats and I was "in charge." My first interest after getting my seat adjustedwas the nosewheel steering; and as the aircraft moved forward with very little extra power above idling I found that the responseto the steering wheel was very good, there being little or no back- lash and tight turns being possible without my having to twistmy arm off in the process. With this good response very little effort is required to keep straight on take-off and once one is above95kt the rudders are sufficient to control any swing. I found the unstick required quite a heave, but once off the climb away wasmost pleasant. The first impression was that not much was hap- pening, this I think being due to the comfortable attitude (neitherspace-ship nor tree-top style); only reference to the instruments showed that plenty of power was available, and in fact we wereat l,OOOft remarkably quickly. The aircraft being so light the power required to hold speed to 180kt while turning down windkept the propellers on the flight fine-pitch stops even when flap was lowered to 20°. A very marked nose-up change of trim occurs The first officer's station, access to which is from outside the seat. Note the nosewheel steering and the circuit-breaker panels with the lowering of the first 20° of flap but by progressive useof the trimmer I was able to prevent any excessive height change. Both undercarriage and flaps are hydraulically operated.Supplied with power from a pump on each engine, the system con- tains a main accumulator and two brake accumulators. The under-carriage selector is behind the first officer's throttles, and in addi- tion to the catch for normal operation, there is a knob on the topwhich can be turned to give override action for retraction on the ground. In the event of the undercarriage failing to come down,a lever in the floor beside the first officer will mechanically release the up lock so that the undercarriage (which is of free-fall design)will drop. Pulling this lever also cuts out the nosewheel steering, which gets its power from the undercarriage DOWN lines. Thereare also visual indicators for the undercarriage DOWN position,though these are not on the flight deck. Of the Fowler type, the flaps have three positions—20°, 30%and 40° (take-off, approach and landing)—and the lever beside the captain's right hand is gated to these settings. Just behind theselector is the emergency flap panel which, brought in by a switch, disconnects the main system so that the movement of theemergency flap lever operates a small electro-hydraulic unit to pump out the flaps. The flaps themselves are in several sections,but to guard against asymmetric operation there is a warning light beside the normal flap selector and a mechanical device which dis-connects and locks the flaps should a difference of approximately 2° occur between any two sections. To return to my efforts around the circuit, I found handlingquite easy for so large a machine and was able to keep the speed reasonably close to the 130kt approach speed. I made an overshootoff the first approach and there seemed to be very little trim-change with the undercarriage coming up and the flap back to 20°. Nexttime round I found the approach attitude similar to that of a Vis- count, but I was not expecting the ground to appear quite so doseon touchdown, with the result that I levelled off a bit too high. Capt Broom with Vickers test pilot Bill Aston in GAPEB r "Flight" photographs ... " However, as we were so light there was a fair amount of float beforethe actual touchdown, after which reverse thrust soon slowed us down and a touch of brake reduced us to taxying speed. I foundthe toe-operated brakes very good; and apart from the pressure gauges for normal and emergency use, there are also pressuregauges for the brake accumulators. Beside each pilot there is a hand brake which will give symmetical application but is princi-pally for parking; and behind the parking brake on the captain's side is the change-over lever to cut out the anti-skid system foremergency braking. Lastly, a subject which is very much in pilots' minds is that ofemergency exits. On the Vanguard's flight deck the sliding window panel beside each pilot is large enough for the biggest man and anescape rope is provided below each. For the rest of the aircraft there are the two main doors, with airstairs; a servicing door oppositeeach main door, with a rope and escape chute; an emergency door at the rear port side, also with rope and chute; and finally twowindows on each side which open onto the wings. What, in brief, are my impressions of the Vanguard after thisshort flight? The answer is "very favourable." I found the air- craft far easier to handle than I had expected (though it was morethan twice as large as anything I had previously flown) and I doubt whether other average pilots will have any handling difficulties. Itis definitely a pilot's aircraft and those who eventually operate it should have a pleasant, if busy, working life.
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