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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1390.PDF
fLIGHT International, 7 May 1964 one must mention the various aspects which most impress the pilots under training. First, they greatly appreciate the cockpit layout. It is orderly and neat, and it is easy to operate all the controls—in particular, the autopilot and radio controls—without the necessity of continually reaching up to the roof as has been their lot on some other aircraft. Nor are pieces of equipment pinned to any and every few square inches of available wall or roof space, as appears to have happened on other aircraft we have known. The windows are large; and this in itself is a move towards greater safety in the air, for the all-round visibility is thus greatly improved. One senior executive commented "there seems a lot of wasted space here," but no company director could hope to work efficiently in a cramped or inconvenient office, and the same applies to the "directors" of a large modern aircraft. Taxying is not the hazard many expected when they saw the 66ft which separates nosewheels and mainwheels. However, care is needed on curving taxiways and narrow runways to avoid running the mainwheels over the grass on the inside of the turns. The crux of the manoeuvre is to position oneself on the outer edge of the An engineer officer familiarizes himself with his panels concrete, or even over the grass (since the nosewheels are about 10ft aft of the pilots' seats) when executing sharp turns, but few pilots at first relish seeing the grass passing beneath them when initiating such turns. The VC10 can, in fact, turn on a 150ft-wide runway using 50° of nosewheel steering, and since up to 70° is available (55° being the recommended maximum) turning on such a runway is a comfortable manoeuvre. Nevertheless, on one occasion a wheel did leave the concrete. During a turn through 180° after landing on the short runway at Shannon, a sharp gust caught the tail au moment critique and caused the nosewheels to continue on to the grass. The training captain rightly played for safety and requested that the aircraft be towed 1. back on to the runway, whence it returned to the apron for refuelling ' and to continue on night-flying exercises. (The BBC TV news that evening reported that the aircraft had "overrun the runway on landing," and the following morning a national newspaper reported |- that the VC10 had "crash landed," but that "none of the crew was ' injured." A subsequent cartoon in the BOAC news sheet had one captain commenting to another: "I think the most dangerous thing L about flying is the Daily —.") f The power of the Rolls-Royce Conway Mk 540 engines is allied to the low take-off speed to give an impressively short take-off run. This is the cause of much favourable comment, and one cannot but compare these aspects with those of the other big jets. The VC10 has approximately 20 per cent more power than its most powerful nvals, while the use of leading-edge slats gives a rotation speed some !6kt less than for comparable American aircraft. This means a much greater margin of safety where there is an ample length of concrete, or a better performance where the runway is short. On the approach and landing the speeds are again some 16kt lower than for the American counterparts. This may not sound rouch to the layman, but in terms of braking needed the differencels considerable. Landing distances are correspondingly less, and all these considerations add up to greater safety margins in practice. The admirable stability and ease of handling of the VC10 undera " conditions has made the transition from earlier types like Britan- 769 nias and Comets impressively straightforward. From the point of view of ease of conversion, there has proved to be no apparent advantage in having flown the jet Comet rather than the turboprop Britannia. In fact the VC10 circuit and approach speeds favour the latter, being almost identical. Previous experience of Flight Director systems, other than the Bendix on the BOAC 707, is almost a disadvantage. Adherents to other types of system, on the Comet and Britannia 312, take marginally longer to adapt themselves to the Elliott system (pro- duced basically under licence from Bendix) than does the "Basic ILS, call Zero Heaven" adherent from the Britannia 102. The Elliott system, incidentally, provides for more leisurely commands to the captain than was the case with the Bendix on the 707, and this fact, allied to the lower approach speeds and great stability of the aircraft, seems to leave the pilots with time to spare on the approach —surely another very valuable contribution to safety. The improved stability of the VC10 may stem from several sources. The close grouping of the engines around the tail means that a power change on the approach—which can scarcely be made without some inadvertent asymmetry—will not produce noticeable yaw, and therefore roll, as it does in other big jets. Furthermore, the inherent stability in pitch means that trim-changes to the variable-incidence tailplane need hardly be made at all. VC10 pilots are most impressed with the "soft" undercarriage. Checking the rate of descent to about 300ft/min, coupled with ground-effect, cushions the aircraft on to the ground almost irrespective of whether it be held back to a fully flared attitude or checked only lightly. Naturally, as with any other aircraft, failure adequately to check the rate of descent results in a "loss of face" for the pilot concerned; but we have nevertheless been most impressed with the general standard of arrivals during training. Loss of engines on the VC10 is a minor problem for pilots under training, because the asymmetry associated with engine failure is so small, and the reserves of power so great. Exercises associated with two and three engines are therefore much more a mere formality on a VC10 course than on earlier conversions with which I have been familiar. Training on the Routes Naturally, the training of VC10 crews does not end at Shannon. Further flights under supervision take place down the routes, enabling pilots and engineers to gain experience of the aircraft operating from airfields at higher altitudes and temperatures, as well as to become thoroughly acclimatized and "at home" with both the aircraft and the routes. Our conversion course for ground maintenance engineers and cabin staff are outside my sphere of activity; but both are considerable undertakings. BOAC is scheduled to have two VC10 simulators, with a visual- aid attachment. The first simulator has only been in active use some five weeks, but will obviously have a pronounced effect on our flying training, as much familiarization hitherto carried out in the air will now be carried out in "the box." Savings in aircraft time and expense remain to be seen. Certainly the visual attachment, by which a picture of the approach is projected by closed-circuit TV in front of the pilot, will make this a popular method of training— at least until the "gimmick" value wears off! Finally a word should be said of the reactions of such passengers as we have carried on our overseas training flights. Albeit in old seating (proper VC10 seats are being installed in aircraft for passen- ger services), their reactions have been most favourable. The noise level has been adjudged markedly below that in the 707 and DC-8, while the pressurization has been found to be excellent—a boon to all those who, like myself, hate "popping" of the ears on the climb or descent. Reactions to flight or turbulent conditions have also been good, and I was particularly pleased to note the healthy appetites on one flight immediately following a rather prolonged "hold" in a turbulent thunderstorm near Beirut. I took this to be a tribute to the aircraft, rather than to the stomachs concerned. To summarize the reactions of those pilots who have now com- pleted their training: a thoroughly delightful aircraft to handle in every respect, with extra safety resulting from such factors as the ample power available, the stability, the low take-off and landing speeds, and the advanced simplicity of the flight-deck layout and pilots' instrumentation. Today, when extra safety in the air is being increasingly demanded, we should remember these facts above all others when assessing the comparative merits of the VC10 in commercial use.
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