Spitfire PT462 joins the 'belly landing' club 27/02/19

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20 years

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Posted by ARC on FB

''It is with a heavy heart we announce that one of our T.9 Spitfires 'Indy' made a gear up landing today whilst on an ARCo flight to Denham Aerodrome.

Both the pilot and co-pilot were unharmed in the incident however, the aircraft has sustained damage, the severity of which we will only be able to identify upon it's arrival back to our Duxford based facility.

We have begun the process of recovering the aircraft back home to the ARCo hangars from Denham Aerodrome. From here we will do everything we can to have Indy back in the skies, dancing with the clouds again, as soon as possible! ''

Thankfully no injuries, and ARC have an amazing record of putting these things straight again in short order. Well done for an 'up front' report, avoiding long-winded and erroneous online chatter.

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Profile picture for user DH82EH

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11 years 2 months

Posts: 580

Always sorry to hear of such misfortunes. It really is a drag.
More importantly, I'm always glad to hear that no one was seriously hurt.
That truly is the most important thing.

Here's wishing for a speedy recovery.

Andy

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20 years

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Photo Ed Hurley ([ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"53067878_404010917070494_4436607238588596224_n.jpg","data-attachmentid":3853458}[/ATTACH]facebook)

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Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,183

Late on the round-out again, Hoskins?

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7 years 2 months

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ARCO and Denham don't mix do they, remember the Blenheim crash whilst performing a touch and go there in the 1980s.
Pleased to hear the crew are OK

Member for

8 years 7 months

Posts: 427

Well that sucks! Probably be flying again in a month or so seen as the two seaters take president over the single seaters that have incidents

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20 years

Posts: 3,902

They don't hang around. G-ILDA flew again after the Goodwood incident in July within about 2 months, and NH 341 (Sywell June 2017) in a similar timescale.

A warbird pilot was telling me recently that aviation insurers are starting to include Pilot Error exclusions in cover, ie land gear-up through oversight ( non-mechanical) and you will NOT be covered for engine/prop/or radiator damage, which represents a big ££££ hit !

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6 years 1 month

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Yes, propstrike, but with quite a nice profit made for each pax flight, and seemingly no shortage of punters, it’s only money.

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11 years 2 months

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Hi All,
Shame about the spit but I have every confidence that the ARCO team will have her back and buzzing around the skies in no time funding permitted..;)

As for the new Toyota 8ugger well that's a cute name......:D

Geoff.

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20 years

Posts: 1,587

What is it about the T9s that increases their propensity to belly land?
Are there design differences in the gear or retraction components compared to single seaters?
...or perhaps the pilot gets distracted by having a student on board?
or is it simply they fly more sorties so the statistics are against them?

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6 years 8 months

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I think its probably just because the twin seaters fly much more regularly than the single seaters. MJ627 for example seems to fly every other day from February to October, whereas the single seaters don't get flown as much.

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7 years 3 months

Posts: 216

It is life, it happens to any aircraft. We just happen to jump up and down about it because it is a spitfire or Mustang that has had an incident. At least they have they money and skills to get the aircraft airworthy again. Just like they did in the war.

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17 years 10 months

Posts: 3,778

We are lucky to have such great skilled craftspersons and companies like Airframe Assemblies who undoubtedly will be beavering at great haste along with ArCo boys and girls doing 'Their Bit' to get this spit back up in the skies.
As said above, no more common on the Spit just we hear about it, I am surprised not to see this 'Hawker Spitfire' all over the press "1st world war 100 year old airplain" " are they to old to fly"

Spitfires flying down this way are a very common sight now but I still rush outside as with any warbird I never take it for granted it always stirs the mind so thank you to all you owner operators and the crews who fly maintain and fettle these special birds.

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15 years 9 months

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Until this news I didn't realise this aircraft was named Indy. What's the story there?

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5 years 2 months

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Until this news I didn't realise this aircraft was named Indy. What's the story there?

It’s because of its registration. G-CTIX. Gets its name from the I.

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20 years

Posts: 3,902


Spitfires flying down this way are a very common sight now but I still rush outside as with any warbird I never take it for granted it always stirs the mind so thank you to all you owner operators and the crews who fly maintain and fettle these special birds.

What is the second most numerous combat aircraft type flying in the UK in 2019 ( after the Typhoon ) ? Well, the Spitfire actually. Funny old world...........

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12 years 4 months

Posts: 189

Propstrike, 23 DFCs in Afghanistan alone would tell me the second most numerous combat type in the UK is the Chinook (unless we have 60 flyable Spitfires now?)…..also the highest individual gallantry medal awarded since WW2 (CGC) and a DFC** holder. Sorry to hear about the Spitfire, and more than a little worried to hear about the "pilot error" clause from the insurance companies (not that for a moment I'm concluding this is pilot error). Even the best pilots are prone to error or oversight, especially if distracted. Such clauses will make it even harder for many would-be Spitfire pilots to get the call asking them to do it. Perhaps some form of UPI (undercarriage position indicator) that transmits a sidetone with the gear down could be considered at "regular" Spitfire venues to help ease the problem - we had it on the Tucano for the same reason. Either that or an erk with a very pistol on short finals….

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Never thought of the Chinook, but good call. What a brave bunch of people.

We do not yet have 60 airworthy Spits in the UK, somewhere nearer to 32 (ish ) .

Technical issues have certainly been behind quite a number of these Spitfire incidents ( perhaps this latest one also ) .

The Grace Spitfire was briefy tripped up when - '' further inspection revealed that the landing gear had failed to lock down because the landing gear actuator ram chevron seals had failed and pieces liberated from the seals had migrated between the actuator ram and the seal support plate, jamming the actuator ram before it reached its full extension''.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/593ff799ed915d20f8000221/Spitfire_IXT_G-LFIX_07-17.pdf

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20 years

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Photo from Spitfire survivors page on FB (No credit on image posted )

Looks as though gear has been selected down at some stage, prop tip substantially intact

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