FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0374.PDF
FUCHT International, 13 February 1964 231 part of the French atomic test area; when this is active air traffic follows a more easterly route leading to Kano. It was a strange sensation to be looking down upon the vast wilderness of the Sahara only a few hours after waking up in suburban London; the smooth silence of the VC10 cabin made it easy to relive tales of Legionaires and Tuaregs. But that was thirsty work and 'VF had a well stocked bar and it was doubly pleasant to be brought back to reality by the soft voice of the BO AC stewardess asking "Can I get you something to drink, sir?" After exploring all the cabin amenities and peering through the periscope in the rear vestibule at the engine intakes and the huge tailplane atop the fin like some faithful albatross, I was next able to visit the flight deck at the invitation of Capt Rendall who was justifiably proud of his new office. The VC10 cockpit is undoubtedly without parallel in size and arrangement; the BO AC layout is for operation by three pilots and a flight engineer, with a position for a navigator. Access to the pilots' seats is around their outside edge next to the deep windows; the space between the seats is occupied by a consol containing radio and autopilot controls. A prominent feature of the centre panel were the controls for the Marconi Doppler and its associated map display—made possible by a Decca computer—mounted above the windscreen. Everyone on board seemed well pleased with the accuracy and reliability of this new piece of equipment; Capt Rendall said that on an earlier flight to Lagos the total distance error without any "up-dating" had been only five miles—less than 0.2 per cent—a remarkable achievement that may be even further improved with better heading accuracy. In addition to the total distance record, a separate counter can be re-set over each beacon to give a continuous record over the sector of the distance travelled and the amount to go to the next beacon. The undistorted map display should be particularly useful in terminal areas. As the West African coast was approached the crystal clear visibility over the desert gave way to dense haze—a warning of the intense humidity awaiting us at Lagos. We followed the VOR let- down procedure from overhead the field and landed on 19 runway. A short burst of reverse thrust was enough gently to decelerate the aircraft within the 7,600ft available. It was some consolation to the visitors from winter-gripped Europe to find even the local inhabitants taking it easy and sweating a bit in the process. 'VF was down just long enough to be refuelled, serviced, and for the passengers to buy sticks of bananas, pine- apples, and other trophies before clambering back on board to recuperate with an ice-cold compress thoughtfully distributed by the BOAC cabin staff. The take-off from Lagos, with an outside temperature in the nineties, was no trouble to our VC10 at 230,0001b for the lhr lOmin stage to Kano. In commercial service it could have been even higher. At this weight V, was 113kt; VR, 128kt: and V2 144kt. Cruising height for the stage was 33,OOOft and the approach to Kano proved to be another indication of Doppler's capabilities. Although it is not an approved procedure—the visibility was good Even in the back row of seats the VCIO cabin is impressively quiet Across the Sahara in the style of the sixties. This view of the VCIO's flight deck shows the two centrally mounted Doppler computers and the associated map display just above the windscreen and the terrain pretty flat—the let down was begun while following the en route VOR radial from the field, which happened almost to coincide with the runway QDM, and on a Doppler distance figure from Lagos some 500 miles behind. The positioning could have been worse without the need to overshoot. Touchdown occurred at the structural limited gross weight, yet with only moderate braking it was possible to turn off after covering only just over 6,200ft of the 8,610ft runway. At 1,500ft elevation, Kano was cooler and drier than lower Nigeria, and the remaining few hours before sunset were like the kind of beautiful summer evening occasionally experienced in England. 'VF shared the tarmac with a Ghana Airways 11-18 operating the regular service to Accra, and a BOAC/Nigeria Airways 707-420 from London and Frankfurt. For the non-stop journey to London with the same payload as outbound, the take-off weight was 285,0001b. Although the sun had set and the temperature was falling it was still 23 DC; even so and despite no assistance from wind the take-off weight could have been almost at maximum gross. On board were 119,0001b of fuel (about 81 per cent of the tankage capacity). Just over 80,0001b of the fuel was estimated for the trip plus 20,0001b for diversion to Prestwick; 7,7001b as a contingency allowance; and 3,3001b for 15min holding at about 15,000ft. The take-off speeds chalked on a panel next to both pilots' ASIs were: V,, 129kt; VR, 142kt; V-, 155kt. The initial climb was at a true airspeed of 400kt—32,OOOft was reached in 28min—and Victor Foxtrot settled down at 39,000ft and M0.86 indicated (0.835 corrected) for its second Sahara crossing in the same day. From the instruments on the engineer's panel the Conways were seen to be at 88.5 per cent power and consuming 3,7501b of fuel an hour each. 'VF was the sixth VC10 to come off the Weybridge assembly line and it has had, as part of the perfor- mance improving programme, a 3ft extention to both wing tips, a modified fairing between the engine effluxes, and a rearward exten- sion of the engine pylon chord to reduce its thickness ratio. Following a seemly interval after once more sampling the pleasures of first-class BOAC cuisine I was again able to sit-in on the flight deck, this time for the approach to London. From west of Paris it was a clear night and through the enormous side windows it was possible to identify the lights of towns with the aid of the Doppler map and the weather radar. Under the navigator's table a teletype machine, tuned into London information, thumped out the latest weather. London was clearly visible from the south coast. At one time there were nine people in the cockpit without too much of a crush; the roof is smooth and free of switches and equipment—not much chance of hurting your head getting into any of the seats. All modern aircraft seem to have their bit of stone age equipment; the VCIO's is a piece of string stretched tightly across the coaming to give pilots a sense of the aircraft's horizontal, some- thing apparently BOAC haven't found necessary to fit since flying- boat days. The six-segment dive brakes on the wing top surface seemed effective and caused only a mild nose up pitch and a hardish rumble. A panel of control surface position indicators is mounted in the roof. Lowering of the undercarriage caused the usual nose- down pitching moment accompanied by a roar of air around the open nosewheel bay. London air traffic told us we were cleared into Heathrow on runway 28R; from the point at which we turned on to long-finals over the city, the VASI glide slope indicator lights were clearly visible. At 1245hr—16|hr (12fhr flying time) after leaving— 'VF was back at Heathrow with another successful trip in the bag.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
