Does anybody know if the sole flying example in the Northern Hemisphere was appearing at an airshow this weekend? I'm sure I saw one flying along the South Coast this lunchtime. My guess would be it had been at Farnborough, but their web site appears to be a collection of press releases, with little real detail.
This'un?
I didn't make it to the show tho ;(
Bunging in the search term Connie Constellation Farnborough 2014 into Google brought some footage of it there for this years show,so your guess would be correct. Enjoyed watching the B17 at a History Festival a couple of miles up the road the other day, and looking foward to seeing the Canadian Lancaster flying alongside the RAF BBMF one next month.
G.Harman
I hate you!!!! The day I *wasn't* there, and two of my favourite aircraft were flying. (Connie and Vulcan) Grrr!!!!!
If there'd been a DC3 flying as well, I'd be *really* annoyed...
It was parked outside a hangar at Farnborough from before 09:00 on the Tuesday morning of show week, and I assumed it was either some sort of non-flying, invitation only exhibit or that it actually lives there.
It seems I was wrong, it lives in Switzerland. :-
Actually these non pressurised piston engined airliners last very well indeed.
That's it. It seemed a slightly odd route home from Farnborough, which is why I wasn't sure. Although at the height it was, probably about
1,000 feet, it must have been flying VFR and may have been trying to avoid controlled airspace.
Enjoyed one of the last passenger-carrying flights in one of those...
My first air crossing of the Channel was in a DC3, operated by Dan Air.
Sadly, you wouldn't get me in one (unless asleep, pissed).
And dodgy weather from what I heard. However, it might also have had a fly past some place on the same day of course. Brian
Yes I was going to ask what it might be that eventually does for these aircraft, as they seem to carry on for ever, is it metal fatigue or corrosion perhaps?
There seem to be quite a few old Rapides still around which are even older.
Obviously cannot see them myself these days, but enjoyed it when I did. Have to confine myself with air band listening now. Brian
Visiting Zimbabwe in 1996 I was thrilled to find out that the plane being used for the Harare-Bulwayo hop was a 707 - I'd never got to fly on one in earlier times.
Rather than being thrilled, I should have asked myself why AirZim were using a four-engine transcontinental jet for a 30 minute hop. The answer, I subsequently found out, was that said plane had failed its airworthiness so couldn't be taken out of the country! But at the time it seemed pretty good for an old plane.
well you can still fly Trislanders (just) to the channel isles although the Short 360s have been retired..
Corrosion is probably the final thing. But even that is rare. Fatigue is not so much an ssue with non-pressurised aircraft.
Indeed. But I think only DC3s are still in service as airliners and they probably are the oldest 'commercial' aircraft still in use as airliners.
From Air Zimbabwe website:
"Any inconviniences are sincerely regreted."
which rather says it all.
Aren't Rapides a wooden frame with fabric covering?
DC-3's are the only aluminium aircraft without a design limit on the number of hours permitted to be flown, as they have no main spar in the wing. The skin is the structural bit, and as it can be easily visually examined for cracks round the rivets that hold the wing onto the fuselage, the airframe life limit is defined by the permitted number and size of cracks round these rivets.
All the others have a laid down life for the main wing spar as it's impossible to check without dismantling the wing, and once that's expired, the aircraft is not legally allowed to fly.
Brilliant, clear weather, although that wouldn't have precluded a thunderstorm somewhere further away. On reflection, I think it could have been picking up a radial from either Goodwood or Midhurst radio beacon to take it across the Channel. That would have put it on a track to pass north of Paris on its way back to Switzerland.
I thought it was plywood, which de Havilland used quite a lot before the Mosquito. Long time since I was in one though - a pleasure flight over Southend in the 1960s.
The certificate of airworthiness will have expired but they can still be flown on a permit to fly, which is how most restored aircraft operate.
LAN Chile used to have a 707 doing the weekly round trip to/from Easter Island(*) to Santiago back in 1990. The runway on Easter Island is one of many specially extended (??) to allow the space shuttle to make an emergency landing. The 707 seemed to spend almost a minute with its nose up in the air waiting for the main wheels to lift off.
At Santiago the pilot almost overshot the runway so just slammed the plane down and compressed everyones back a bit. The cabin staff looked at each other as if to say 'oh god, what is he doing ?'.
(*) Despite being the most remote island in the world, it is an internal flight from Chile, who annexed it 100 years ago (-ish). If you are backpacker, you need to come from Tahiti, because buying tickets in Chile seems to be a bit of a lottery (unless you are on an expensive tourist package sold in Chile).
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.