Flypast Beagle B206

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Member for

16 years 10 months

Posts: 313

The Flypast Beagle B206 G-FLYP landed at Shoreham yesterday afternoon with several fire appliances in attendance , having evidently had an engine problem when inbound from Le Havre.

What's the story?

Hopefully it will not be too expensive to get it back into the air again.

Wicked Willip :diablo:

Original post

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

Hopefully it will not be too expensive to get it back into the air again.

Wicked Willip :diablo:

Glad to hear it is flying again! Hope it will not be down too long as it has just had a long hibernation hasn't it!:D

Member for

15 years 8 months

Posts: 16

G-FLYPs extended hibernation was due to her engines being overhauled, both of
which took a long time due to the difficulty in obtaining parts for the
Continental GTSIO 520-C engines. She had her CofA renewed in October 2007,
then the props were due for overhaul in December, these being completed by
the end of March. :)

On the way back from Le Havre on Monday, the right engine
coughed and started to run rough so was shut down as a precaution. :eek: The
aircraft diverted to Shoreham where an uneventful single engine landing was
carried out. :) Subsequent examination of the right engine showed that it had
thrown a con-rod. :eek::eek::eek:

The cause of the failure wont be determined until the engine is stripped
down but if anyone knows of any spare engines anywhere please get in touch
as Key are keen to keep her flying and they're hard to come by!

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

Are there no comparable engines which could be fitted in their place that have a better spares availability?

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

Thankyou Seymour for the detailed explanation and welcome to the Forum! It is a pity someone could not have supplied the explanation months ago when the question was asked.

Mike. Thielfert?:diablo:

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Are there no comparable engines which could be fitted in their place that have a better spares availability?

The 206 is a notoriously difficult and expensive aircraft to operate and all credit to Key for keeping this one alive.

If it were to be fitted with alternative engines, not being a permit aircraft, the mountain of paperwork and associated costs would exceed the aircraft's operational ceiling and it would also no longer be an authentic preserved aircraft.

Educated guesses only.

Moggy

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,606

Who owns the TC?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 9,780

It would be easier to buy another Beagle 206S and use her for spares. The cost of an engine overhaul I should imagine exceeds the value of the aircraft

Member for

15 years 8 months

Posts: 16

Unfortunately G-FLYP is the only Series 2 in Europe although there do seem to be at least three active in the US and possibly two more in Florida.

Re-engineing is an interesting idea, although the costs involved in Engineering and Certification of this would probably be prohibitive! Quite a few piston engined aircraft have been refitted with turboprops, DH Dove, Islander, DH Beaver, DC-3 to mention a few, so a Turbo Bassett is a (theoretical!) possibility!!

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

The cause of the failure wont be determined until the engine is stripped
down but if anyone knows of any spare engines anywhere please get in touch
as Key are keen to keep her flying and they're hard to come by!

This was the only supplier that I could find of whom I am sure you probably aware of!

http://www.tcmlink.com/fiDDefault.aspx

Member for

16 years 7 months

Posts: 204

Turbo powered B206

The 206 is a notoriously difficult and expensive aircraft to operate and all credit to Key for keeping this one alive.

If it were to be fitted with alternative engines, not being a permit aircraft, the mountain of paperwork and associated costs would exceed the aircraft's operational ceiling and it would also no longer be an authentic preserved aircraft.

Educated guesses only.

Moggy

As a very junior member of the drawing office I remember a rumour about the Beagle B208 which was a turbo powered 206. Can anyone from the Design office confirm this?+

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

Unfortunately G-FLYP is the only Series 2 in Europe although there do seem to be at least three active in the US and possibly two more in Florida.

Correct. All the remaining 206's are in the U.S. Odd that G-FLYP is not on that list see list link below? Is Boscombe Down's XS743 a Series 2?

A B.208 may have been planned, but when production of the Pup commenced, this stopped the line of 206's, permanently.

http://www.airport-data.com/manuf/Beagle.html

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 9,780

All RAF Bassets were series 1's . I believe there might be a machine in Australia with potential for flight.

Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 9,821

Can it legally use a U.S. made Continental or does it have to be a Rolls-made engine?

Pity more aren't around. I've always liked them in both Basset and civil versions.

I have in front of me a Flying magazine pilot report from 1969, they liked the plane and said that Miami Aircraft Corp (then a big time dealer and FBO) would be selling them in the U.S. At that time, there were already about six in the U.S. including one firm that bought a pair.
I hear several (many?) were bought or stloen by drug trafficers in the 80s and disappeared or were lost in that trade.

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 1,216

Cannot help you with a replacement engine unfortunately but I do recall how a company in America was doing an engine upgrades to 206,s some years ago. What they fitted was appreciably more powerful so the available throttle travel was limited to the original value as that was what the airframe was certified to. The owners could either keep to the reduced level and expect the engine to last along time or take advantage of the greater power, illegally though.

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

The 206 is a notoriously difficult and expensive aircraft to operate and all credit to Key for keeping this one alive.

If it were to be fitted with alternative engines, not being a permit aircraft, the mountain of paperwork and associated costs would exceed the aircraft's operational ceiling and it would also no longer be an authentic preserved aircraft.

Educated guesses only.

Moggy

Of course you are quite right Moggy. That is something I had not thought about. The costs would probably be way in excess of the machine's resale value.
To the looney who suggested Thielert-I was talking real aero engines not those oily, smelly diesel things.:p
As Moggy said fair play to Key for keeping her flying as long as they have. I fear the end of the road may be near though unless a supply of replacement engines can be sourced.

Member for

15 years 8 months

Posts: 16

The engine should've been removed last week and sent away for inspection and repair. I don't have any idea of timescales yet.

Not being an engineer I don't know the answer to the questions about alternative engine models.

I do know that the only other Beagle 206's in Europe are Series 1s - the Boscombe Down Bassett, the two ex RAF Bassetts that were at Cranfield and are now at Boscombe as spares for their flying one, the US registered Bassett at Biggin Hill, the prototype which is in the museum at Shoreham, and the Midland Air Museum's one which according to their website is on loan.

A trawl around tinternet a while ago produced a photo of a Spanish Series 2 dumped at Madrid Barajas Airport. This was still just about in existance last year, but looking very sorry for itself and devoid of engines!

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

A trawl around tinternet a while ago produced a photo of a Spanish Series 2 dumped at Madrid Barajas Airport. This was still just about in existance last year, but looking very sorry for itself and devoid of engines!

.

Fingers crossed for the estimate!

There are or were three at Madrid, EC-BFR, EC-BJF and EC-BES, all wfu.

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

I hope you gave yourself permission to publish that photo Ollie!:D