Vulcan XH558 | Nose Wheel Extension Emergency | Prestwick (ATC)

On the 5th of September I went across to Prestwick to watch the Scottish Airshow 2015. Primarily I wanted to see the Vulcan one last time before she's retired in the next month or so. Having arrived at the airport we waited for the Vulcan XH558 with great anticipation.

Once we saw him over Ayr my excitement grew even more. He called up Prestwick tower to do a flyover the airfield , then make a right hand turn to then land on runway 30. However after he made that turn things seemed to go wrong. Rather than report final he then did a second flyover , and started entering orbits to the north of the airfield. 

After it became clear he was having a nosewheel gear issue , a Spitfire of the BBMF called up and asked if there was anyway he could help by giving the vulcan an inspection from underneath the aircraft. 

Once they had determined the Vulcans speed the spitfire confirmed that his nosewheel was not extended fully and that there was nothing blocking it from locking into place. Following this the Vulcan entered into some very aggressive yawing , both left and right in an attempt to free whatever was holding the nosewheel back from extending and locking.

After some time they were successful and initiated a landing. We were all waiting with bated breath, not knowing whether or not it had indeed fully locked into place. Thankfully the landing went well, and as you can hear at the end of the video was great relief that everything had gone so well. 

Praise must also go to the Spitfire pilot for taking the initiative in helping the crew of the Vulcan resolve the issue. 

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/spitfire-comes-rescue-vulcan-bomber-scottish-airshow.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpa&utm_campaign=I+Love+Planes+-%3E+Qwaya&utm_content=2015-09-23+7+%2810%216033195722040%21qwaya%210%29&utm_term=rightcolumn