Sea Fury crash - Yeovilton

[hidetheelephants]

At least the recovery seems a bit more sympathetic than that poor Avenger being dragged off a Florida beach.

[Condi]

Do they not have - or can you not buy - insurance for such events?

[Eric Mc]

hidetheelephants said:

At least the recovery seems a bit more sympathetic than that poor Avenger being dragged off a Florida beach.

Apparently, they didn't want to do it that way but the local authority wouldn't let them remove it the way they originally intended.

[hidetheelephants]

Eric Mc said:

hidetheelephants said:

At least the recovery seems a bit more sympathetic than that poor Avenger being dragged off a Florida beach.

Apparently, they didn't want to do it that way but the local authority wouldn't let them remove it the way they originally intended.

Floating off and lifting onto a barge would have done a lot less damage; they wanted to float off and tow it into the Intracostal waterway; I'm not surprised the coastguard told them no.

[Eric Mc]

The authorities were worried about oils and fuels being released- which is understandable.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

The authorities were worried about oils and fuels being released- which is understandable.

But they allow thousands of ships there which stand to leak a damn sight more oil and fuel... I can't think one little aeroplane would be significant in the big scheme of things.

[Eric Mc]

Not in an environmentally protected shore line area. The area they wanted to tow the Avenger to was a slightly inland channel in an area that has an environmental protection order on it.

[BrettMRC]

update just posted by the Navy Wings facebook page; has been declared a write off.

[jamieduff1981]

hidetheelephants said:

At least the recovery seems a bit more sympathetic than that poor Avenger being dragged off a Florida beach.

How that Avenger got there has a bit of back story too. Dan Gryder is pretty scathing of the operator here, and seemingly not without reason:

[aeropilot]

BrettMRC said:

update just posted by the Navy Wings facebook page; has been declared a write off.

Sadly not exactly a surprise.

[Maximus_Meridius101]

aeropilot said:

Sadly not exactly a surprise.

Quite, even a bit of skin damage would write it off now.

[aeropilot]

Maximus_Meridius101 said:

aeropilot said:

Sadly not exactly a surprise.

Quite, even a bit of skin damage would write it off now.

To be fair to them, it had that plus the engine rebuild etc after its wheels up landing a few years ago, and they repaired it, and that took 2-3 years.......but this time it's a bit too far gone!!

Sadly, that's now the 4th ex-RHNF or current Navy Wings airframe written off, if you include the original FB.11 having to be abandoned over the sea by John Beatty several decades ago and the fatal loss of the Firefly AS5 at Duxford in the early 2000's.

[Boatbuoy]

The wording on their statement suggests it's only a write off as far as them as a charity is concerned. They themselves can't afford to sort it, but I expect someone somewhere will restore it.

[aeropilot]

Boatbuoy said:

The wording on their statement suggests it's only a write off as far as them as a charity is concerned. They themselves can't afford to sort it, but I expect someone somewhere will restore it.

In years past, there were plenty of stripped hulks of ex-Iraq Furies dotted around the world from the cache that came out of Iraq 40 years ago etc. Not many Fury/Sea-Fury have been built up from new build like a Spitfire or P-51 is has been.
But Unlimited Racing has taken a toll of those 'spare' airframes, so unless you have one lying about, they will now be very complex and expensive things to rebuild.
However, the wreck/remains could well end up back in the USA again, and be rebuilt (probably after Navy Wings have stripped it of every useable part for their FB.11 should they decide to risk flying that)

[BrettMRC]

I think the fact the engine is borked is what has really swung it?

[aeropilot]

BrettMRC said:

I think the fact the engine is borked is what has really swung it?

The airframe is broken into 4 pieces is more of an issue. There are still Centaurus core's around to rebuild, but the cost in manhours etc of building from scratch a new T.20 airframe (or most of it) will be far far more than the engine.

[BrettMRC]

AAIB Report available now:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/628...

[BrettMRC]

Just finished my read through of it...

The final sentence stands out:

"The investigation identified the difficulty maintenance organisations have in accessing
technical information for historic engines, in particular that relating to engine modifications.
The CAA have agreed to meet with the engine manufacturer to discuss whether Modification
Leaflets for the Centaurus XVIII can be made available to maintenance organisations
servicing these engines."

It's a bit of a theme throughout the report: lack of support in terms of access to drawings and specifications?

[aeropilot]

Not surprising they looked carefully at the oil issue yet again........due to lack of supply of the correct type.

The issues with the engine overhaul on this one in regard the civvie company was interesting as well.

[Lost ranger]

BrettMRC said:

Just finished my read through of it...

The final sentence stands out:

"The investigation identified the difficulty maintenance organisations have in accessing
technical information for historic engines, in particular that relating to engine modifications.
The CAA have agreed to meet with the engine manufacturer to discuss whether Modification
Leaflets for the Centaurus XVIII can be made available to maintenance organisations
servicing these engines."

It's a bit of a theme throughout the report: lack of support in terms of access to drawings and specifications?

So the hope is that someone at Rolls Royce can find some paperwork they may have inherited from Bristol Siddeley over 50 years ago?