Sea Fury Crash - RNAS Culdrose

[badgerade]

Appears that a Sea Fury has crashed on landing at the Culdrose air day - pilot is ok but aircraft looks to be in a bit of a sorry state

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/11380492.Plan...

And this just taken from a FB group:

Edited by badgerade on Thursday 31st July 18:27

[Eric Mc]

Bit of a bugger. I was only watching it perform at Farnborough a few days ago.

Hopefully it's not too badly bent. It actually doesn't look that bad in the picture.

[anonymous-user]

Good to hear the pilots ok!

Did it hit the floor "gear down"? For a deck lander, the undercarriage is usually pretty robust so when you bend it, it makes a right mess of the airframe..........

[ralphrj]

Looks like one of the landing gear didn't "lock" and folded in when the pilot tried to land.

[gazapc]

Damn, saw it flying from the car park and thought it had just ended the display. Pprune saying there was an associated engine failure which led to a forced landing. Presumably lack of hydraulics?

edit: http://forces.tv/95144845 video of crash, glad to hear the pilot walked away and on looking at the video doesn't look too traumatic on the airframe, hopefully no serious damage.

Edited by gazapc on Thursday 31st July 20:00

[Roverload]

I saw it earlier too while delivering in Heston, wondered why there were lots of planes doing laps out at sea.

[lufbramatt]

A mate of mine who is a FAA pilot instructor knows the pilot and he is fine, obviously the most important thing.

such a shame, the guys and girls at the RNHF will be gutted, they are such a friendly and passionate bunch, always time to talk to the public and share the aircraft, I took my dad down to yeovilton for a look round their hanger a couple of yers back and we got to sit in the Swordfish. Hopefully it can be fixed and won't become another static exhibit in the museum

[lufbramatt]

Max_Torque said:

Good to hear the pilots ok!

Did it hit the floor "gear down"? For a deck lander, the undercarriage is usually pretty robust so when you bend it, it makes a right mess of the airframe..........

Maybe, the UC on a Sea fury grows (kind of like a telelever front fork on a BMW motorbike) as it extends so they could fit a longer leg into the stubby Sea Fury wing to absorb shocks from carrier landing. I'd imagine there are plenty of places for it to shear off as it's quite complicated and has lots of joints.

[IanMorewood]

Great that the pilot got out ok. Plane looks salvageable although it will take a while to put back together.

[MartG]

Max_Torque said:

Good to hear the pilots ok!

Did it hit the floor "gear down"? For a deck lander, the undercarriage is usually pretty robust so when you bend it, it makes a right mess of the airframe..........

Smoke from engine prior to landing attempt, so engine trouble could have caused the failure of the landing gear hydraulics

[Simpo Two]

No manual back-up? No time to use it I guess.

[Mutley]

Glad the pilot is ok, thats the main thing.

It looks like it could be reaired in time

[anonymous-user]

Video in the link below, and you can see the smoke trailing from the engine before he lowers the gear.

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2014-07...

[MartG]

Lucky it happened where it did - he was displaying over the sea with nowhere to land at the weekend !

[MartG]

Now on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_sf9OK8P6k

[HoHoHo]

Glad the pilot is ok and I hope the aircraft is salvageable.

At what point do the authorities decide if it's to become a static display or is it simply down to funding?

[anonymous-user]

HoHoHo said:

At what point do the authorities decide if it's to become a static display or is it simply down to funding?

Two letters, three numbers:
XH558

[jonnyb]

I imagine one very relived, but gutted pilot!
Such a shame to see, and a beautiful aircraft. Let's hope they get it airborne again soon.

[Eric Mc]

He did really, really well. Engine and hydraulic trouble on a Sea Fury often means the pilot having to abandon the aircraft - as happened with the original Royal Navy Historic Flight Sea Fury many years ago.

Having seen a Sea Fury crash (with fatal results) at a US air show in 1981, any crash the pilot can walk away from is a bonus.

[dr_gn]

Glad the pilot is OK. It's always a highlight to see him display that aircraft at Duxford. Before starting his display he usually stops near the spectator area at the end of the apron and cycles the folding wings a few times and gives a thumbs up for the crowd.