Seafire SX336 – Belly landed in France – crew unhurt

With that – a post from the operator no less, the thread has served its purpose.

The truth will out with the AAIB report in due course.

Bruce

SX336

First the important facts.
Anna is fine.
336 has been secured and will be returned to North Weald for investigation and repair. It will fly again (but not this Legends). An initial survey shows it could have been a lot worse.
Thanks to Bruce, Mark 12, Rocketeer, Redvanner, Beach & the like for trying to keep a sensible approach to this thread. Also, a heartfelt thanks to those posting genuine well wishes – these are warmly recieved by both Anna & Kennet.
On any occasion such as this, it is human nature to wonder what happened and we are all fascinated by the whys. Its the Headlong rush into speculation that is not just unhelpful, but counter productive and even damaging to what needs to be an objective investigation. Within a few posts, the undercarriage had already been diagnosed as faulty, the claxon listened to and then removed, Annas flying questioned and even the facilities of the airfield called into question. Not bad for 8 or so 1/100second snapshots from a whole weekend in another country! I could have saved myself the trip.
Amused by the aircraft managing to be put down on a smooth grass surface clear of obstructions with people kept away (psst – its called a runway!!)

I have posted the comment before that facts are not always neccessary when it comes to posting opinions on forums and this is highlighted once again.

Safe landings to all

When the forum starts talking about the forum, you know that a thread has run its course. :rolleyes:

Hi Brian, my reading is that you have been caught in the crossfire slightly, there have been some ridiculous posts on this thread, but yours certainly aren’t amongst them.
I think Tony and Bruce are just trying to nip some of the silliness in the bud.

Tony is spot on – we will all have our own ideas; especially with such a detailed set of pictures of the progression of the accident.

However, we are not qualified to determine what happened, and certainly not from a few pictures.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and already I find myself analysing what I can see; yet without all the facts, I cannot know what happened in the cockpit on that day. Best to keep quiet!!

The best picture is the one of Anna climbing out of the cockpit. Nothing is more important than that.

Bruce

Right you are!!!

Michael

Tony is spot on – we will all have our own ideas; especially with such a detailed set of pictures of the progression of the accident.

However, we are not qualified to determine what happened, and certainly not from a few pictures.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and already I find myself analysing what I can see; yet without all the facts, I cannot know what happened in the cockpit on that day. Best to keep quiet!!

The best picture is the one of Anna climbing out of the cockpit. Nothing is more important than that.

Bruce

BMS44 – opinions are fine but not speculation….if you have seen my previous threads/posts on any subject you will see that I am not into or a member of any cliques at all. I post as I see it and am the word’s biggest expert on my own opinion!! I do not wish to censor anyone, nor do I poo poo people’s opinions unless they tread over a line.
I am fully aware that there are many experts on here in various fields and that this forum CAN be a great resource.
Treading over a line means coming up with/speculating about reasons for/what went wrong in an accident. At the moment, facts count, idle speculation does not. It is not only the investigation that can be harmed, but a person’s or organisation’s credibility which will look like it is being questioned, does it not?
Put it this way; if you were a brain surgeon and your patient died after an operation would you want it speculated about on the world wide web? Someone would speculate it was your fault whilst others might say it was a pre-existing condition and then others (like me!) might say…hey! Wait until the results are out.
Not sure why you have a beef with me over this…? Educate me please?!

Short answer is Yes. Seafire SX336 was to have been one of (if not THE) star attraction at this years airshow held at Bondues, Lille

Source: http://www.worldwarbirdnews.com/2011/07/03/anna-walker-belly-lands-seafire-in-france/ and http://www.39-45.org/viewto
pic.php?f=65&t=28501&start=0

thank you. im sure it would have been the star attraction. even in the unfortunate state that its in now it still looks a beautiful aircraft.
hopefully it will be back in the air before the end of the season??

Speculation will not achieve a thing. So it is best not to speculate at all. I am glad the damage to SX336 is at a minimum regarding circumstances. I am happy and relieved Anna Walker is unhurt and uninjured. And it was a very well executed bellylanding, none better could be expected imho.

Michael

Seafire SX336

is there a reason why the Seafire was landing there. was it being operated from there for an airshow in the area?

Short answer is Yes. Seafire SX336 was to have been one of (if not THE) star attraction at this years airshow held at Bondues, Lille

Source: http://www.worldwarbirdnews.com/2011/07/03/anna-walker-belly-lands-seafire-in-france/ and http://www.39-45.org/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=28501&start=0

A remarkable piece of airman/airwoman? ship. 😎

Very unfortunate.

There is of course the hackneyed old saw “Any landing is a good landing if you can walk away from it”

You sound like my company,guilty until proven innocent.

Standard legal practice in France:rolleyes:
The warning horn wouldn’t have been making a sound, since it was deleted in December 1945.
Edgar

not aimed at anyone in particular old chap!
It is a stunningly beautiful aircraft….

Please don’t speculate guys….it is unhelpful, does not serve any purpose only to upset people and make armchair enthusiasts feel they have a rightful opinion, which in this case, they do not. That is why we have investigators.
I have been involved in aviation all my working life and such speculation is worthless.

Tony – I’m not speculating ( and made that clear ) but having spent all my working life in aviation, including assisting in several AAIB investigations, I ( like most engineers ) do find the ‘why’ a fascinating subject 😉

The main thing is this was a non fatal

I think the landing attitude says it all about how to pull these off.

As others have said it looks like a deliberate and very well executed emergency landing with the best outcome possible ie a pilot who walked away and minimum damage to the aircraft. Bearing in mind the outcome of other emergency landings over the past week or so this one has had a comparatively happy outcome.
I hadn’t seen SX336 fly yet so look forward to the day when it is repaired and back in the air.
Sad to hear about the Shuttleworth Jungmann as well but again an undamaged pilot and a repairable aeroplane so all is comparatively well and we should count ourselves lucky that we have pilots with the skills to cope with the occassional failure that is likely to befall anything vintage and mechanical regardless of how well it is maintained.

Richard – I thought exactly the same thing about those photos!

Has anyone checked the leading edge of wing for cricket stump dents?

Richard

would that be Croquet hoop stump dents?. do the French play cricket? lol.

Has anyone checked the leading edge of wing for cricket stump dents?

Richard