High over the Sahara

[vololiberista]

High over the Sahara en route to Lagos from Heathrow. Flying into the night at FL470 and Mach 0.92.

The ATC was pretty infrequent which mirrors real life where most a/c prefer to talk to each other rathar than rely on African ATC!!!   Especially Nigeria!!
Vololiberista

[N724WZ]

Great shot...
Which plane is that? (as in who makes it)

[vololiberista]

Great shot...
Which plane is that? (as in who makes it)

The a/c is the Vickers VC10 certified in 1964 and still flying with the RAF. The only passenger jet ever to have an aerobatic licence! Those of us still young enough to have flown in it remember it with awe. The only passenger jet to have flown faster than the Vc10 was Concorde!
You can get it here
http://www.vc10.com/VC10/
Worth every penny!
Vololiberista

[born_2_fly]

FL470?! Did the VC-10 really cruise that high?!

|Alex|

[Ecko]

Hi vololiberista, please visit this thread:

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1155786366

[vololiberista]

FL470?! Did the VC-10 really cruise that high?!
|Alex|

The "operational" celing was FL430 but it frequently flew above that. I once flew back from Teheran at FL460 in order to avoid strong clear air turbulence above Istanbul! They frequently flew between FL420 and 450. I used to have a photo (lost now) of a view looking from above the Balkans right across Northern Italy as far as Corsica!!!!!
The airframe is immensely strong  as the panels and frames were milled out of solid metal!!!!

In 1966 there was a tragic accident involving a BOAC 707 which broke up in clear air turbulence over Mount Fuji. The VC10 would have survived this!!

[cheesegrater]

How does the payware VC-10 compare to the freeware one?

[vololiberista]

How does the payware VC-10 compare to the freeware one?

Is there a freeware one?
The payware one has a fully functioning cockpit both 2D and 3D. The AP has 2 modes FS9 and original which allowed me to install an INS gauge which I use instead of GPS.

The performance matches very closely the real a/c. For example taxi onto rwy13 at Kai Tak, turn and touch the brakes to stop. Apply full throttle and you will be airborne before the numbers! (this in a fully laden a/c!!)

The only criticism for me is that on take off in spot view the engines don't have that loud crackle that I remember!!!
Vololiberista

[cheesegrater]

Is there a freeware one?
The payware one has a fully functioning cockpit both 2D and 3D. The AP has 2 modes FS9 and original which allowed me to install an INS gauge which I use instead of GPS.

The performance matches very closely the real a/c. For example taxi onto rwy13 at Kai Tak, turn and touch the brakes to stop. Apply full throttle and you will be airborne before the numbers! (this in a fully laden a/c!!)

The only criticism for me is that on take off in spot view the engines don't have that loud crackle that I remember!!!
Vololiberista

There is a freeware one. It is one of the better freeware add-ons for FS9.

http://www.dmflightsim.co.uk/vickers_vc10.htm

[vololiberista]

There is a freeware one. It is one of the better freeware add-ons for FS9.

http://www.dmflightsim.co.uk/vickers_vc10.htm

It's based on the David Maltby model the sound is "second hand" ie a recording of a recording. It has a texture converter for low spec systems but overall the Abacus model is superior in my opinion.
Vololiberista

[ashaman]

Volo, not to burst your bubble, but google about the Convair 880M and 990 before saying that the VC10 was the sole faster plane beside Concorde.

Sure the VC10 was fast, but was hardly alone in being so, and sold even less than the unlucky above mentioned Convairs.

PS
Keep in mind too that the first liner to have become supersonic was a DC8-30 too. Yes, it was in a shallow dive, but it sure didn't start the descent at Mach .70.

[cheesegrater]

The VC-10 has a MMO of 0.886, and Convair 990 has an MMO of 0.912.

The VC-10 has a MNE of 0.94, but on how many passenger flights do they exceed MMO?

I don't know the MNE for the Convair. I found a FAA Certification page (or something) for it and they list the MMO and MNE as the same value.

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_an ... ication%22

Also, Cessna Citation X is very fast. It has a MMO of 0.92 and can fly at 51,000 feet.

Although it was a death trap, the Tu-144 was faster than the Concorde.

[vololiberista]

The Vc10 could also be flown at mach 0.92 in level flight at high altitude  MMo of .89 was frequently exceeded!!!! It's VNE was .94 nowadays the RAF never take it to the limit as the airframes are so old.
Vololiberista