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In the UK, are any certifications or particular checks legally required for a retired aircraft to perform fast taxi runs (only)?

Would it still be possible to do them if the main wing spars have been cut and shut, for transportation purposes (no ferry flight)?

fooot
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  • Which region or jurisdiction are you asking about, e.g. FAA, EASA or some other regulator? – Pondlife Aug 18 '15 at 23:34
  • Uk in particular –  Aug 18 '15 at 23:36
  • I don't know the answer, but here's an anecdote. Vulcan in the early 80s with a captain in training tasked to conduct a fast taxi test. Down the runway at about 100 kts. Stopped at the other end. Turned around, waited a couple of minutes and repeated the test coming the other way. He wished he'd waited more than a couple of minutes when fires broke out in the undercarriage as the Vulcan left the end of the runway and buried itself up to the axles in soft ground beyond the runoff. He didn't make captain. – Simon Aug 19 '15 at 07:46
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    @Simon Not least because "captain" isn't a rank in the Royal Air Force. – David Richerby Aug 19 '15 at 08:28
  • And then, there's this: https://youtu.be/TGjPu6DPzWU – Jörg W Mittag Aug 19 '15 at 11:42
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    @DavidRicherby Nope, but it is a title. The commander is (or at least was on the V fleet) known as the "captain". This guy happened to be a Flight Lieutenant. The captain might have been a Flt Lt, Sqn Ldr or Wing Commander, even in some cases I know of, a Group Captain or Air Vice Marshall. It was even possible for the captain to be outranked by the co-pilot, which was often the case when ferrying "their airships" around for various functions. I served on Vulcans. Did you? ;) – Simon Aug 19 '15 at 20:09
  • @JörgWMittag I've often wondered how accidental that really was but, I've always assumed it was as it clearly caught him by surprise as he got blown over the grass by that cross wind. But.....the elevators look like he had some back pressure on the yoke :) – Simon Aug 19 '15 at 20:19
  • Scary. Actually Bruntingthorpe is very close to me. But I know it's done for Vulcan XM665, so they must have developed some local procedures (haven't been in person and haven't found anything online). I'm sure testing the braking systems, temperatures and limiting ground speed << v1 are essential. –  Aug 19 '15 at 20:24
  • @DavidRicherby By the way, if you would like to know how close I was to the anecdote, I watched it happening. – Simon Aug 19 '15 at 20:50
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    @Simon I see. It's a fairly well-known story so your original retelling didn't hint that you had special knowledge of the situation. :-) Thanks for the clarification. – David Richerby Aug 19 '15 at 20:58
  • It was another Olympus engined aircraft I was thinking of if that helps, notwithstanding the considerable logistical challenges. –  Aug 19 '15 at 21:20
  • @Simon: the "excuse" is that the co-pilot wasn't actually a pilot, just some guy that had been told "if I say 'go' you push those levers up to about here, and when I say 'stop' you pull back" … except he didn't. We can't look into the pilot's head, but it should at least be a verifiable fact who the other person in the cockpit was. Anyway, I'm not a pilot nor do I play one on TV, I just stumbled upon this site in the "Hot Questions" tab a while ago, and being a geek in all things technical, engineering, and science, got caught. But it really doesn't look like he expected to get airborne. – Jörg W Mittag Aug 19 '15 at 22:20
  • Back on topic, it sounds like there are no particular requirements. Please close the question, thanks all. –  Aug 21 '15 at 06:03
  • Related http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/426/what-is-the-maximum-taxi-speed-and-who-defines-it/432 – 60levelchange Jul 05 '16 at 15:14

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Regulation wise, no, there are no regulations which have to be met to conduct a high speed taxi test. All that's needed is an aircraft with the capability to accelerate to speed and stop as well as a runway long enough to do it on. If at a towered field, you'll have to get a clearance to do this.

It used to be mechanics would take aircraft freshly out of maintenance out for high speed taxi tests to verify the work was done right. One such high speed taxi test went ary for a USAF mechanic named George Johnson in 1956 and earned him his first - and successful - solo at night in an F-86!

Romeo_4808N
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