edcayton Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Heard on the news earlier, but unfortunately confirmed on BBC site; the pilot of a DH 53 was killed in an accident at Old Warden (Shuttleworth Collection) today. Condolences to all concerned and a thank you to these guys who keep the old planes flying for us. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately it'll be another incident to convince the powers that be to ground these old planes permanently... I hope not and can't see that happening, the AAIB report can only say how the accident occured and the Shuttleworth Collection is responsible and knowledgable enough to restrict the operation of it's vintage aircraft to when conditions allow (and I'm told this aircraft would never have flown further than the Old Warden circuit), certainly more so than a more vague approach that'd have to be written by the CAA or PFA to cover all eventualities. If a mission to improve safety was the order of the day, then It's be better focused on calling for mandatory strobes, transponders, and radios for all light aircraft being operated in controlled airspace. But one thing that does bother me slightly (without speculating too much on this particular accident), is to fly an aircraft such as this means being in the same mindset as the designers and pilots from that era, which means a completely different set of skills and acknowledgement of your own level of safety than today's standards and acceptances call for. My Brother and his first Wife both flew and instructed on a wide variety of aircraft from small light aircraft to twin turboprops, yet he acknowledged his flying work meant he soon lost the edge to fly the older vintage biplanes that she excelled at (and now has a Rapide named after her). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Lambton58 Posted July 3, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 3, 2012 As terrible day for the Shuttleworth Collection and thoughts obviously go out to the pilot's family and staff & volunteers at Old Warden. We arrived about 45mins after it happened and the marshalls were turning people away at the park entrance. They were very courteous, but obviously numbed and in a state of shock. Shuttleworth do however seem to be trying to get back to normal operations as soon as possible (rightly imho) as we've been sent vouchers for use at a future airshow. Ralph Lambton58 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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