Vulcan XH558

Footage from yesterdays charity event at Coventry airport in aid of "Help for Heroes". Quite ironic that 2 very deserving causes were at the forefront of the event.
HfH has so far raised in excess of £60m to improve rehabilitation facilities for our glorious troops -- something which we could argue should be covered by those who send them into battle.
And then we have the 50yr old icon who again needs massive public support to keep her in the skies, which in the current economic climate is a real challenge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUAK3aHcxWY

 

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/133/82/Last-flying-Vulcan-runs-out-of-time-on-Thursday-28th.html
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/how-to-help/current-funding.html
Please help by phoning 0845 5046 558, or texting VULCAN to 82055, otherwise it will be lost forever.

 

60% of the money needed has been raised but previous few days left to raise the remainder.
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/donate.html or phone 0845 5046 558 or text VULCAN to 82055, otherwise it will be lost forever.

 

67% of the money needed. Trust are meeting tonight. News sometime tomorrow evening.

 

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/138/82/Last-laps-of-a-successful-Appeal.html

 

Out of interest have the paid members of the staff that look after the Vulcan offered to take a pay cut? I seem to remember seeing in the Vulcan budget that the wage bill ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds per year. I understand that you need expert paid staff to look after the old girl but do the Pilots and crew really need to paid to fly her?
I have donated what I can as it is a joy to watch her fly but as there is relatively few hours left on her airframe I cant see any long term sponsor appearing anytime soon.

 

I was told recently that the maintenance staff work for considerably less than they could earn elsewhere. If this is true, then they've already taken the pay cut to work on the Vulcan. As for the aircrew, I've no idea if they are paid or not. Elsewhere there is considerable debate regarding the remuneration
paid to the Chief Exectutive.

 

Also saw a brand new 10 reg Land Rover with Vulcan to the Sky branding at the previously mentioned Coventry event. Is this just a supporter with the branding on his/her car, or has the trust wasted more "desparately needed" money on things they don't need?

 

Or a local sponsorship deal with a Land Rover dealer?

 

If that is true then all credit to the ground crew. There was a funding pie chart on the Vulcan website and I am sure the Pilot and crew wages were there. How much of our hard earned cash is the Chief Exec creaming off then?

Did a bit of a google and came up with 2009 accounts and makes interesting reading

Total wage bill for the year was chalked up at £747,774 of which £74,954 were associated with exhibition and display, wow. The cheif exec was paid £72,000, mmmmmmm

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ScannedAccounts/Ends48\0001101948_ac_20091031_e_c.pdf

 

Oh yeah sorry I didn't think about that. Who is the Chief Exec?

 

The Chief Executive is Dr Robert Pleming FRAeS.
Read para 2 of section 2 on page 4, and para 1 under "The activities of the board" for who gets paid.

 

I think for me the underlying problem is the fact that £750,000 pounds of donations is spent on wages every year and that is over 1/3rd of the total running costs.

 

I'm not involved with the trust but to significantly reduce the wage bill you would need to find enough volunteers, with the required knowledge, to do the same work. This includes the lengthy negotiations and lobbying (which I assume the Chief Exec does) to arrange sponsorship deals, keep up good relationships with the MoD, aviation industry etc. The underlying problem may therefore be finding enough volunteers with the required expertise and credibility, and available to work full-time for nothing.

 

You make a good point. I'm sure there are potential volunteers out there with the technical knowledge to do the job of keeping her flying but would there be enough available to support XH558 throughout a display season? Then there's the small matter of what the CAA would think of a complex ex military jet being supported by part time volunteers rather than a dedicated team of full time engineers.

 

You do indeed make a good point about those actively working on the airframe. I suppose this is a different world to other Heritage sectors and Voluntary sectors like the Scout Association that I am actively involve with.

Why is it that only one of the 7 Directors needs to be paid a substantial sum with additional expenses yet the other 6 board members receive no remuneration? JUst looking from the outside it appears to me the the Vulcan to the Sky is a bit of a cash cow for the few that are paid. Why the crew need to take a wage is beyond me, it must be just as much a privilege to actually fly her as it is to watch her from the ground. Lets be honest Pilots aren't the lowest paid people in the world are they.

 

there was just a mention on the 3pm news on radio 4, will have to listen again to catch it, I heard something about a group of enthusiasts trying to raise £300,000 to keep it in the air and stop it being sold abroad, I'm in the next room at my PC, so it's been given some national advertising care of the BBC, hope it attracts the attention of some money.

 

http://www.vulcantothesky.org/news/139/82/Thank-you.html

 

That's good news - but I hope they won't need such desperate fund-raising every year.

I noticed from the annual report that their wage-bill more than doubled in a year. Maybe they needed more professional involvement once it got airborne. If their wage bill is going to stay at that level, they will need to think of some other income to cover it, if this years events didn't break even.

Richard

 

I am afraid that without a large corporate sponsor, these big annual appeals will most likely continue up to the end of the 2012 display season.

After that, it wont be a problem as the airframe will have used up its fatigue life and will thus be not permitted to fly by the CAA.

The engines will also most probably have used up their life cycles as well.