Marty Tibbits was due to appear at EAA Oshkosh starting Monday . A terrible outcome.

“Oshkosh is known as the place where everything that flies is welcome and is appreciated by attendees, so to bring these rare jets to the AirVenture flightline is among the highlights of our odyssey to save, restore, and fly these magnificent airplanes.” said Marty Tibbits, president of the World Heritage Air Museum of Detroit, Michigan, which is bringing the British jets to Oshkosh in 2018. The museum’s mission is to rescue military jet aircraft from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s.”

https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/eaa-news-and-aviation-news/news/12-14-2017-rare-british-aircraft-coming-to-eaa-airventure-oshkosh-2018

Quite understandable, but pretty optimistic to think you can ‘quarantene’ events these days.

Being on an airfield helps, as it is a contained environment.

It has a lot going for it, BUT….that CGI really drags it down.

It is just too much like a combat flight sim, and makes the whole production look rather lightweight.

A bit of fact massaging here I suspect. When does the high speed run out of the landing morph into taxiing ? Three seconds after touchdown, or when you get to 15mph ? Who can say. You need a lot of energy to bust off or bend the legs, and that would not be expected at conventional taxiing speeds.

The Facebook page probably has ongoing contact with the Spit operators, and may well have been asked to keep a lid on things.

Anyway, frustrating for the operators, vexing for the pilot, expensive for the insurers but not a big deal, as these two-seaters usually seem to jump back on their legs in short order. IF the reported fact are true, then SM520 joins the not very exclusive club of two-seat Spits which have ended up on their bellies, which is virtually all of them !

Given the intensity of operations, the known fragility of the U/C, perhaps a slightly more aft C of G in the twin-seaters, this sort of incident is to be expected once in a while.

I had hoped for a better outcome that that, but better at least than being scrapped. As an aeroplane out the elements, there will be a slow decay into corrosion and dereliction, which is rather sad.

I was very fond of the type, and that aeroplane, and I don’t suppose we will ever see another flyer. I remember the VFWE fly in at Hullavington where the Twin Pin and AN2 had a side-by-side short take off contest, and the Twin Pin won by a mile !

This is the video referred to in the report. The incident is at 10.50 .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M29tkXQOAq8

Lovely photos, a perfect summer trip. It looks as though there was a bit of a crosswind on finals !