The lighter side of Flight International.
Take-off failures
Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) developer Joby Aviation has announced a partnership with Virgin Atlantic that will see the two work together on the launch of air taxi services in the UK, starting with regional connections from Virgin’s hubs at Heathrow and Manchester.
We trust this latest tie-up will prosper better than other initiatives trumpeted by Virgin Atlantic and other Virgin-branded ventures in recent years – and amplified by the media – before being quietly dropped. These include the airline’s relationship with a rival eVTOL pioneer, Vertical Aerospace. Back in 2021 Virgin signed with Vertical for up to 150 VX4 aircraft, but that pact was dissolved in November last year.
Virgin Galactic was also going to be a pacesetter in the return of supersonic travel, announcing in 2016 that it was keen to acquire a fleet of Boom’s Overture jet, but it allowed its option to lapse in 2020.
Of course, that was not Sir Richard Branson’s first dalliance with faster-than-sound transport. When Concorde was withdrawn from service in 2003, he proposed that Virgin Atlantic could take over British Airways’ fleet of seven airliners. The offer was rejected.
A home for Leon’s Lanc?
Ian Wheeler writes to tell us about his late friend Leon Ellison, who spent 10 years “single-handedly building an Avro Lancaster simulator of extraordinary quality”. It comprises a forward fuselage from the cockpit bulkhead to main spar, complete with “beautifully replicated” pilots’, flight engineer’s, navigator’s and radio operator’s stations, all fully equipped.
Ellison has even fitted the simulator with electronics to mimic the functions of the array of instruments and a sound system that reproduces the noise of the four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, which respond to the throttle controls.
Sadly, Leon did not live to carry out the final stage of his project, which was to give the simulator mobility by using electric screw jacks, although his widow, Kate, believes he would have completed the work in a year.
“The simulator needs a new home where Leon’s dream can become a reality,” writes Ian. “He very much hoped that this would be within the UK.”
Our correspondent says that, although expressions of interest have been received from some of the larger museums, he is looking to reach out to the “broader aviation community” regarding the simulator, adding that any organisation keen to make enquiries or a proposal about “Leon’s Lanc” should contact him at ian@cholsey.com
Body talk
The furore earlier this year over the body of a passenger who sadly died on a Qatar Airways flight being placed next to an occupied seat reminded us of an anecdote from many decades ago told by the late, great PR man Mike Savage, former communications guru for CFM, Crossair, and Concorde among others.
Always charming and full of stories – such as the incident of the exploding cigar at the Farnborough air show and how the entire crew of a Saab delegation to the Australian air show were arrested for two days by military police in Indonesia for filing the wrong flightplan – Mike had, typically, started chatting to the cabin crew early on a long-haul flight, so they knew about both his loquacity and industry and military background. So, when a fellow traveller passed away en route, Mike was the obvious candidate to accompany the unfortunate deceased to his destination.
“They asked me to sit there and keep chatting to him as if nothing had happened, so as not to alarm the other passengers,” he recalled.
Copy-Wight
Where did the Chinese get their design inspiration for the TP1000, a large cargo drone developed by Yitong UAV System and which made its debut flight in March?
Some might suggest it bears a uncanny likeness to the Britten-Norman Islander. However, we are sure that any resemblance to the Isle of Wight’s finest export is purely coincidental.
From yuckspeak to tales of yore, send your offcuts to murdo.morrison@flightglobal.com
