Cardiff IAPAirport open 09:00-18:00 & PPR ..runway in use 30
Visitors
Landing at 11:47 from Oxford is "GJADJ" PA-28-181 Archer III G-JADJ ..parking on the Cambrian apron with Global Trek ..departed at 12:00 back to Oxford
Cardiff IAPAirport open 09:00-18:00 & PPR ..runway in use 30
Training Flights & Flybys
Training today were:
"2WOOD" Cessna 550 Citation Bravo 2-WOOD ..go-rounds from Gloucester 11:22, 11:28, 11:36, 11:43, 11:51 ..landed 12:00 parking on the GA apron ..departed at 12:58 to LPFR/Faro
The Vickers VC10 is a mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance routes from the shorter runways of the era and commanded excellent hot and high performance for operations from African airports. The performance of the VC10 was such that it achieved the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a subsonic jet airliner of 5 hours and 1 minute, a record that was held for 41 years, until February 2020 when a British Airways Boeing 747 broke the record at 4 hours 56 minutes due to Storm Ciara. Only the supersonic Concorde was faster.
All servicing of the RAF fleet of VC10s was undertaken at RAF Brize Norton in a purpose-built hangar. Known as "Base Hangar", when built in 1969 it was the largest cantilever-roofed structure in Europe; a quarter of a mile in length with no internal supports. Up to six VC10s could be positioned inside with adequate room remaining for working space around each aircraft. During the late 1980s, plans to move major servicing to RAF Abingdon near to RAF Brize Norton were considered. Abingdon was closed and a new facility was built at RAF St Athan, in South Wales – "1 Air Maintenance Sqn" (1 AMS); the first aircraft to undergo major servicing at the facility entered in January 1993.
After the closure of the British Aerospace factories at Brooklands/Weybridge and Hatfield, responsibility of design and all commercial activity transferred to British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) Manchester, Woodford and Chadderton sites. In the mid-1990s, when the design of detailed components was subcontracted, the design team transferred from Woodford to Chadderton. In 2003, responsibility for the commercial procurement of all spares items was undertaken by BAE Systems, at BAE Systems Samlesbury. The Chadderton site maintained responsibility for the MoD contracts for project managing modifications; major repairs and major maintenance being carried out at RAF St Athan.
After 47 years of RAF service, the VC10 took to the skies for its final air-to-air refuelling operational sortie. The VC10 aircraft accomplished its final aviation milestone on Friday, 20 September 2013, and was retired from service on 25 September 2013.
To me the VC10 has a special place in my heart, having worked on the type for a number of years. When I was 7 years old, I flew back to the UK from RAF Changi, Singapore in a VC10 to RAF Brize Norton, UK. The flight took 18hrs with only one stop at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. This beat our outward journey time of 24 hours in a Bristol Britannia in 1967, which had to stop twice on it's journey at Cyprus and Bombay, India. The seating was typical RAF Transport Command in that the seat faced rearwards. So we flew backwards!
Below is a picture of a VC10 at RAF Changi, crossing the road, sometime in the 1960's, you can spy a 'Britannia' in the background.
Cardiff IAPAirport open 09:00-18:00 & PPR ..runway in use 30
Visitors
Parked on the Cambrian apron with Global Trek is Beech B350 King Air 360 N360KA .airborne 14:39 on a local flight to the Southwest ..landed 15:16 and back to the Cambrian apron ..departed at 16:39 to Hawarden
Covid: British Airways' last Boeing 747 leaves Cardiff Airport 11 December 2020
British Airways' last remaining Boeing 747 took to the sky for a final time on Friday 11 December 2020 .
The passenger plane flew from Cardiff Airport to eCube Solutions at Bro Tathan business park in St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan to be preserved.
In July the airline said the "devastating impact" of Covid-19 meant all 31 of its remaining 747s had flown their last commercial services.
Its final passenger flight was from San Francisco to Heathrow on 4 April.
Since entering BA's fleet on 20 January 1999, the aircraft - registration G-BYGC - has flown 45m miles over 11,049 flights for a total of 91,023 hours.
The aircraft will fly around the coastal area before landing at the commercial airfield to begin its retirement.
'Iconic'
Sean Doyle, British Airways' CEO, said: "This final 747 journey is a bittersweet moment for the many thousands of British Airways customers and crew who have flown the world on these Queens of the Sky over the last five decades.
"But while we will certainly miss their majestic presence in the skies above, knowing our last 747 will be preserved for future generations to enjoy at a new home in Wales gives us a great sense of pride and is a fitting end to this chapter of British Airways' history."
Former BA pilot Catherine Burton told BBC Radio Wales: "I've been watching the 17 or so 747s that were stored at Cardiff leave and, to be honest, every time one leaves I get a tear in my eye.
"It was my office for some 30 years... it's just such an iconic aeroplane and a delightful aeroplane to fly from a pilot's point of view."
She said it had "democratised aviation" by making transatlantic flights affordable to more people.
Landing at 12:59 from Exeter "GBNNT" PA-28-151 Warrior G-BNNT ..parking on the GA apron ..departed at 14:59 on a local flight ..landed 15:42 parking back on the GA apron
Landing at 16:00 from LEST/Santiago is FLJ53X "Flexjet 53X" Embraer EMB-505 Legacy 500 G-FXFX ..parking on the Cambrian apron with Global Trek ..departed at 17:04 to LEPA/Palma with the same c/s
"Coastguard 187" AW189 G-MCGX ..go-round 09:58 and departed back to St Athan
"Coastguard 187" AW189 G-MCGX ..go-rounds 16:15, 16:41 and departed to the West
IT was a tight but thrilling game. Wales had beaten England at Twickenham for the first time since 1933 and now eyed their first Triple Crown since 1911. Ireland had won the Triple Crown the previous year and the last time the two teams had met in Belfast, Ireland had won to secure the Grand Slam in 1948.
The score was 3-3 with minutes to go before Wales scored a try in the last moments of the game. The Triple Crown was theirs. The next day as the triumphant Welsh team were led by a band through the Cardiff streets, lined with cheering and joyful people, eighty of the supporters who had cheered them to that win less than 24 hours before would be dead in what was the world's worst air crash. The plane flying back from Ireland had many from Gwent onboard. The Avro Tudor airliner called 'Star Girl' was carrying members of rugby clubs in Abercarn, Risca, Abertillery and Blaenavon. A party from the Greenhouse pub in Llantarnam was also there. The aircraft had been initially booked for 72 passengers, but the plane had been stripped to accommodate another six.
This eerie picture of the passengers was captured moments before the flight took off
Eyewitnesses told how the Avro Tudor was approaching the runway at Llandow in the Vale of Glamorgan at a very low altitude with the undercarriage down. The pilot tried to gain height by increasing the power of the engines and brought the plane up. Star Girl rose steeply but then stalled and plummeted towards the ground with the right wingtip hitting the ground first, followed by the nose and left wing, which broke from the fuselage as it hit the ground. The plane span around and finally came to a rest near in a field near the village of Sigingstone. Only three of the 83 onboard survived. Two of them were sitting in extra seats bolted in at the back of the tail section and walked away unaided, while a third man, who was in the lavatory and knocked unconscious at the time of the crash, survived but was in hospital for four months.
Eight more survivors of the initial impact died later in hospital of their injuries, bringing the final death toll to 80, 75 passengers and all five crew. Nearly half the passengers came from the western and eastern valleys of what was then Monmouthshire. Abercarn RFC lost their captain Don Rowlands, coach Ray Box and centre Doug Burnett who was the brother of Roy the Newport and Wales outside half. They also lost their kit-man Albert Robbins. Brother of the Burnetts, Ivor, had decided not to go on that fateful trip. Don Rowlands had been an air gunner in the RAF during the war.
From the Greenhouse Inn, seven had set out for the Ireland game and only one came back. Mr John Maggs, of Llantarnam, who changed to an alternative flight, survived. The other six, including the licensee of the pub, Bert Butcher, were killed.
The trip from the Greenhouse was arranged by Squadron Leader Bill Irving. He had been shot down in North Africa, survived Dunkirk and fIown Lancaster bombers on 63 missions. At the time he was Commanding Officer of 614 (County of Glamorgan) Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force. The unit was then based at Llandow. Five years after the end of the war, many had served and survived great danger only to die on their way home from a rugby match.
The coroner, Col Harold Rees said: The disaster is unparalleled in recent times in South Wales and is comparable only to the great colliery disasters of the past.
"In times of war one is ready to meet disasters of this kind. Many of those who died in the crash had survived the war."
An enquiry into what was the world's worst air disaster found that the probable cause was the loading of the aircraft, which had moved the centre of gravity considerably aft of where it should have been, making the aircraft less stable.
It was not the first time the type had crashed. The Tudor had a troubled history and despite being designed by Roy Chadwick, the man who created the wartime Lancaster bomber, it had numerous problems. Early models had problems with stalling and controlling on take-off. Chadwick himself was killed when the Tudor he was flying in crashed in Manchester.
Wales won the Grand Slam that year but it was a bitter sweet victory. On 25 March in the final game against France at Cardiff Arms Park, the crowd stood in silence as buglers sounded Last Post in tribute to those who had died coming back from a rugby match.
The aftermath of a plane crash at Llandow Airfield in 1950
Narrative:
Avro Tudor G-AKBY was chartered for a return flight from Llandow, Wales to Dublin (DUB), Ireland. The passengers attended a rugby match between the teams of Ireland and Wales.
While on final approach to Llandow's runway 28 there was a slight tendency to undershoot. When 800 yards from the runway and at a height of 150 feet there was an additional use of power followed by the sudden application of full throttle. The aircraft rose steeply to 300 feet attaining a nose-up attitude of 35 degrees to the vertical. The aircraft then stalled and crashed into a field 2500 feet short of the runway.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The loading conditions of the aircraft which gave a centre of gravity position too far aft and outside the limit in the relevant Certificate of Airworthiness and therefor insufficient elevator control under conditions of low speed and acute instability."
Classification:
Centre of Gravity outside limits
Loss of control
Cardiff IAPAirport open 09:00-18:00 & PPR ..runway in use 12 ..to 30 11:00
Visitors
Landing at 22:03 last night from KPSM/Portsmouth International is CNV4058 "Convoy 4058" C-40A Clipper 168981 ..parking on stand 17 with Global Trek Parked on stand 17 with Global Trek is C-40A Clipper 168981 ..departed at 15:54 to LGSA/Chania as CNV4058 "Convoy 4058"
Parked on the Cambrian apron is Gulfstream G280 N280LS
Landing at 10:48 from Cardiff Heliport is "GCROW" Robinson R44 Raven G-CROW ..parking on the GA apron ..departed at 11:06 to the West along the coast ..landed 16:30 from the Heliport and parking back on the GA apron ..departed at 16:50 back to the Heliport
