Accidental take-off

[Ascot 1960]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=TGjPu6DPzWU

[Shamrock145]

I always liked the look of the Victor, it seemed the most "Thunderbird-ish" of the V-Force bombers.

As for being party to an "accidential take off" ..... 

...145

[Irish251]

Shamrock145

They would want to be reckless in the extreme to intentionally risk lifting off in a complex high-performance aircraft that had not flown for over 15 years, was not the subject of maintenance to flight condition and was being handled by someone long retired from flying.  There would be no guarantee that the aircraft was free of serious defects and would be capable of even flying a circuit back to land, again in the hands of a single pilot rather than a co-ordinated crew as it was designed to be flown.  The pilot, Bob Prothero, gives a clear enough account here of what happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGjPu6DPzWU

[Shamrock145]

SF

You'll get no argument out of me on that.


However, accelerating down a runway, with what looks like some level of flaps extended, not checking the trim, or double checking the Vr calculations and keeping well below it isn’t, to put it mildly, big or cleaver. What did they expect to happen?

Wasn’t/isn’t there a guy in the UK who did/does runway runs in an EA Lightning without getting airbourne?

…145