Dougs wrote:the current operators are very good at getting the engineering organised
Do you think so?
I'm not so sure. The engineers themselves are fantastic, and the volunteer band are absolutely amazing but I would still disagree that the current operators are good at organising the engineering. A good example of my point is the devastating permit-gate for Waddington last year- which was completely down to the engineering not being organised - goodness knows how much goodwill and money that mistake cost us. In this edition of the Club Magazine, even Barry Masefield himself describes the situation as:
"We arrived at Waddington under the glare of the media with great expectations of a successful display weekend at what is really the spiritual home of the vulcan and most certainly that of 558. How our hopes were dashed when we aircrew were told the following day, Saturday, that our permit to fly had elapsed on the Friday and that a new permit wouldn't be issued until certain engineering complexities had been resolved. someone had taken their eye off the ball and allowed this situation to happen and despite frantic telephone calls between the relevant agencies involed our renewal of the permit to fly was denied............ Anyway, the weekend was a PR disaster and we on the frontline were bitterly disappointed and felt let down by those responsible."
In this case, we have some of the best aviation engineers you could find (and sadly lost some of them
) doing a grand job. We have a country full of supporters turning out in any weather to watch any slight movement '558 makes and donating or pledging their hard-earned money in the tightest economic climate we've seen in decades.... for my opinion, it is just a pity that on many occasions (some big, some small, some HUGE) the current operators have been unable to fulfill their promises to their staff and their supporters.As Bubbles said on page 2 of this thread:
"By doing what's best for the aeroplane doesn't mean carrying on raising funds for the current organisation, it is now simply throwing peoples hard earned money down the drain just to stave off what is the inevitable, better to end it now whilst there is still goodwill among people, there is noway we will survive another appeal like this. No doubt someone will come along with saying how things are changed etc, but if Gully is correct and the club has no say etc then wheres the change? what and who is different in the set up? I have seen nothing to suggest that this time next year we won't be in this mess again. I am not calling for heads to roll but i believe that any faith or trust in the current set up has gone and when that goes you've had it."
...and I completely agree with him. How do we know there is no-one with better skills to run this thing? Has someone 'phoned every commercial aircraft operator recently and asked them if they would be interested in running it should the opportunity ever arise? Or if they would like to collaborate with the Club, who would then handle the fundraising side of the operation (as they pretty much are now)? How can anyone possibly say that there's no-one out there who could do it, if they haven't asked...? Nothing is impossible and as my favourite public speaker (talking about Autism) says; "never isn't a word that applies to my condition".
CG x
......(or will the odds be far too short 
)
