Victor XL231 And Nimrod XV250 Work Diary

[ianf]

she will start don't worry on that, The museum will hear a proper roar at last great news hopefully common sense has broken out at the mus

[Blue_2]

I'll be there

Come say hello then! She'll start, don't you worry

[richw_82]

Excellent news! I will be paying a visit up to you on Sunday then.

[Peter]

WHOOOOOOOOO! Hopefully someone gets video.?? please please please!

[j_jza80]

Hopefully someone gets video.?? please please please!

[Blue_2]

I believe Ianf is going to be videoing the engine run. I'll be a little busy to do much videoing or taking photos however...!

[benyboy]

Be rude not to I suppose :-D

[aeropark]

Fantastic News

[richw_82]

Just back from a pleasant if rather cold day at Elvington. Thanks to the Victor and Nimrod crews for the hospitality and friendliness, and thanks for the noise! My ears are still ringing.

[baldrik]

Right then, here we go....

The day started in the normal fashion for the Nimrod team, with some dead pig between 2 halves of a bread roll, and the hot brown liquid, (not quite as good as the cold brown liquid consumed in york the previous day) Then, once our plan was formulated it was off to the jet to don the green overalls and Hi Viz vests. Newly badged ground crew member, Avril, was taken though applying ground power while myself and Nimchick carried out a servicing, making sure that the jet was safe to run.
Once all the blanks were removed and placed out of the way, we retired to the NAFFI for lunch.

Quite refreshed at this point, we finished getting "Kim" ready for her runs. Nimchick started her tuition for engine ground running, under my watchful eye, by carrying out pre start external checks, and the pre start switch checks on the flight deck. Avril was on a spare headset outside, be trained up on the external headset by Nimrod Mate.

Zero hour rapidly approached and at 1300 and a few minutes, the APU was fired up, followed by the 4 engines, myself in the pilot seat, mal on the engineers panel, Nimchick stood in the door way as an observer and a Victor crew member in the right hand pilot seat. Flying control checks were carried out and the other hydraulic systems were functioned to check they operated correctly. This allowed the engines to warm up, or more correctly termed "heat soak" to get all the oil circulating round the engines, and lubricating sufficiently. Cabin air conditioning was the next test on the agenda, and much to our delight, this requires the engines to be throttled up. Some museum exhibits are in the jet blast area, so only the inboard engines can be advanced above idle, and then only as much as nessessary.

Genny checks followed and the engines were then shut down. All in all, a very successful day from the Nimrod point of view. Only major snag is the port conditioning will not initiate, and some intercomm issues caused by damp.

Hopefully IanF got some photos of the day. I must say, I was very privileged to be allowed onboard the Victor for her runs. Thanks to Ollie and the rest of the Victor crew for the experience.

[benyboy]

An top day out at Elvington today. Both teams did an excellent job, wich was much appreciated by the crowd. Lets hope it continues
I did take some video on my phone but it could not handle the noise Hopefully Ian will be along soon.

Ben

[Peter]

Good to hear the nimrod runs went well. now for the victor............

[j_jza80]

An top day out at Elvington today. Both teams did an excellent job, wich was much appreciated by the crowd. Lets hope it continues
I did take some video on my phone but it could not handle the noise Hopefully Ian will be along soon.

Ben

Were you the chap wielding both a camera phone and a camera simultaneously?

Thanks for a great show today chaps, it breathes a bit of life into the old place. I noticed the Hangar is quite crowded

I would have come and said hello Blue, but there were loads of volunteers kicking around and my dad was cold

[Blue_2]

20/11/2011 Update
A great day yesterday, it was good to catch up with Benyboy, Rich and his dad, Tim, and various other visitors.
j_jza80, hope you enjoyed, yes the hangar is packed with all the puddle jumpers for over-wintering
We were in nice and early (before the Nimrod types!) also fortifying ourselves with dead pig in bread and coffee. It was, weather-wise, a thoroughly miserable day but that wasn't going to stop us. Out to the jet, we cracked on with de-blanking and uncovering the aircraft. We opened the engine doors to check the vital fluids, and decided to leave them open to keep an eye on the engines, a prudent move we thought given the prolonged inactivity of the jet. We got the houchin running, and put ground power on the jet. Our plan was to dry and wet run the engines before lunch, and if all went well we'd light up after the Nimrod. Here we stumbled on our first problem, the damp had got to the external comms plug. Obviously we need someone on external comms when running, and we overcame this problem with some ingenuity which involved plugging the long lead into one of the internal stations, then me crawling through the nose radome and hitting my head on the H2S scanner, before passing the lead out of the nose port!
Once comms was established, we commenced dry and wet running. All engines were a little sluggish to turn, but given the cold and their long dormancy this was only to be expected. Satisfied, we adjourned for lunch.
After feed and briefings, it was time to run. The Nimrod went first, Ian has plenty of shots but here's one to give you an idea of the weather conditions.

Fire crew vigilant

Nimrod Mate about his business

And a rogues' gallery of watchers. If you look closely in this picture a Richw_82 and a Benyboy can be seen...

And then it was our turn. We had the pleasure of Baldrick and Mal's company from the Nimrod crew, sitting in for our run. Mal's nether regions didn't enjoy the, er, comfort offered by the 6th seat though, apparently!
I'm pleased to report everything went smoothly, all 4 engines lit nicely. While they were warming up we ran functionals on flaps, airbrakes and control surfaces, then when the engines were good and warm we ran them up in pairs to about 80% power. Apart from our second snag, an intermittent overspeed warning on no.3 engine (which we put down to damp, as it occurred while starting too!) everything went very well.
Something we've waited a long time to see!

I think the Nims were impressed

All in all a successful day, and one I hope can once again become a regular occurrence.
In other news, our errant owl has returned from its travels...

[Peter]

At first I thought the sluggish engines were on lindy! Good to see it was the nimrod instead. Seriously though, great to hear that these two British iconic jets were once more brought out of their slumber!

[Blue_2]

Peter it was Lindy's engines that were a little less than eager when we blew them over in the morning, but that's only to be expected when they've been idle for so long and the outside air temperature read 1 degree C!
They did behave perfectly for the afternoon run though.

[Peter]

Thanks Blue2 tends to figure given the time since she was last run and the temp. other than that is sho ok now?

[Blue_2]

apart from the little snags mentioned earlier, which we attributed to the damp and therefore beyond our control, she's spot on and fully serviceable

[ianf]

As Blue said yesterday saw Lindy run for the first time in an age, the weather was damp and foggy, but did not dampen our spirits.
This is how she was shortly after we arrived early in the morning.


The team set to work removing all the covers and then undid the engine covers to allow us to do some final checks.


We then started the Artouse and did a dry cycle.


We then took an early lunch, so we could do a few more checks prior to the runs. First up was kimberley.With the fire cover in place it was time to begin.


Once the APU was running it was time to start the engines.


The weather did give an interesting effect on the intake.






After a successful run it was our turn, and time to blow some of these off her!


The fire crew repositioned it was time to begin.


Ollie gets ready to start her up.


Lindy then started first time as if she had not had anylay off which was most welcome. The guys going through all the checks and checking the controls.


Then the engines were cycled upto about 80% two engines at a time only whilst the others idled is still an impressive sight and sound!


It was then time to shut her down and the nimchicks gave their vote of approval !


After a quick tea break it was out to Lindy to check everything was as it should. Which it was and we then put her to bed. One last shot of her showing the fog was still as thick as ever.


On the subject of the video, I did take one and it will be posted soon, but a little patience please as I am useless at doing this, so I am handing it onto someone who knows how to post video. One other thing when I finished and I was laying the gear up I realised how wet it was as the gear was wet through and indeed on playback you can see the damp on the lens.
Still a good day for Lindy hopefully it won't be the last.

[Blue_2]

Nicely done Ian! And I was expecting some sort of revenge too...!

[Blue_2]

Until we get Ian's video, here's a couple I found on youtube from Sunday.
Nimrod start:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb_j_...eature=related
More Nimrod-ery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL2Bx...eature=related
Lindy's morning artouste run, and dry and wet spins of the engines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXUeA...eature=feedlik
The main event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOngU...eature=related
Not sure who's videos they are, but thanks!

[andyxh558]

Thanks for posting them, and I am now deaf!!!

[Blue_2]

...Pardon?!

Ps. On the subject of videos, has anyone on here got footage of her fast taxying at Elvington Wings and Wheels 2010, particularly from the Saturday?

[Scott Marlee]

not from wings and wheels but i have a over the fence on the mound next to the puddle jumpers video from one of the thunder days, i cant remember when i took it though, one key point was the grimrod being parked in the way of the runway so i couldnt get a proper shot may give some clue as to the time frame?

[Blue_2]

I think W&W was July, August time. It seems a long long time ago!

[Peter]

Great videos..! From the looks of it you would think Lindy was run recently.. great to see her running again and also good to see the nimrod runups as well.

[Blue_2]

today it is the 18th anniversary of Lindy's arrival at Elvington.

[Peter]

Wow.. time flies

[Nimrod Mate]

And on the subject of taxi runs

My Lords, Ladies, Gentleman and Aircrew of this parish.

I can now officially confirm that the insurance company have come through and that the Nimrod live engine and TAXI runs will take place on Sunday 11th December

You are all welcome to attend and see Kimberley run at full power.

Hopefully the Victor will also partaking The powers that be are negotiating with said insurance company to try and make it happen.

[Scott Marlee]

Think that was October 2010. Remember staying over after the Cold War Thunder event on the Sat to see the run but the Nimrod prevented us seeing part of the run up/back. Heard Lindy though!

sounds about right, il check the video for a date