Originally posted by DIGBY
Ant Harrington you say about the CAA not letting a Sea Fury fly in the UK with an American engine then how come they let a converted Sea Fury fly ie a singl seat to a two seat even if it might have been on the American register?

When Robs Lamplough owned and operated N232J in the UK (1990 – 1993) the CAA had different standards / rules. It was easier to get away with operating ‘modified’ aircraft on a foreign register. They tightened up on american registered warbirds during the mid 90’s hence why a lot of TFC’s and OFMC’s aircraft migrated on to the UK register. N232J was sold on in 93 and again in 94 and never flew in the UK again. The poor old girl has now been abused by the amaricans and has an american radial and is used for thrashing around in circles in the desert.

Move forward to today if you wanted to import / rebuild and fly a modified aircraft like that in the UK (ie where a seat is put where there wasn’t supposed to be one) you would have to go through a number of hoops such as design work and stress calculations to enable you to prove the aircraft is not structurally compromised in any way no matter how many similar types are operating elsewhere in the world with the same configuration.

Originally posted by Willow
Two UK based Mustangs, Janie and Big Beautiful Doll, seem to get plenty of bookings as a pair. What are they doing that TFC are not? Price, maybe?

Willow

It’s because they are the 2 most beautiful aircraft on the circuit owned and operated by some fine gentlemen 😉 That said they give a very good show with formation, tail chase, single aerobatic show and single flat show followed by join up for final pass.

Originally posted by Willow
This P40 has been flying in the UK as ZK-RMH up until now. This is a New Zealand registration. It has been with us for at least 3 seasons now. Is there any reason why it cannot continue to fly as such?
Willow

I imagine that the CAA have decided that as it is registered to a UK based organsation it should be placed on the UK register, they have recently insisted that all these strangely registered YAK’s and the like also have to go on the UK register if they are to continue flying.

Originally posted by Willow

Several other aircraft based in the UK and Europe fly on US ‘plates’ such as the Duxford based T28 ‘N14113’ and the A26 and P51D from Norway which are ‘N167B’ and ‘N167F’. Also, OFMC have a T6 registered as ‘LN-AMY’ (a Norwegian reg). What is the difference between these examples and the P40?

Willow

These aircraft are (or at least were last time I looked) registered to owners in the US (or Norway in the case of the Harvard). There were moves to crack down on this some years ago by the CAA however there are some loopholes to enable owners to get around this, such as having an address or organisation in the US to enable them to be registered there and operated overseas.

In the CAA’s defence they set a high standard that everybody has to reach in order to operate their aircraft in this country. Their standards are higher than anybody else in the world with the aim of maintaining safety in the UK. This can at times be seen as a huge and expensive task to udertake by operators however by and large safety standards are mainained. As has been said earlier, the sooner you involve the CAA in your project and the more you work with them the more likely you are to be able to fly your aircraft in the UK.

Originally posted by Everton_1878
Could you just replace the stuff that doesn’t have the paperwork?

You could, but if its a major component it could be a bit expensive

Originally posted by Ant Harrington
Here we go with those Russian rumours again…!Personally I’d advise anyone who hears anything about an ‘intact aircraft in the former USSR’ to take the news with a pinch of salt.

But an awful lot of stuff has come out of Russia, some in fantastic condition such as the Fw190, La11, P40C etc. There is evidently still some stuff to be had from there if you can get it away from the Russian mafia such as the P63’s recently imported. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of some interesting stuff appearing in the future, however the Russians have now come to realise that these things are worth money therefore leading to over inflated and unrealistic prices being asked.

Snapper, I didn’t realise you had been round to my house to see what I have to put up with 😉

Because an American villan would have to swear a lot and then shoot something, now that just wouldn’t do for Disney :p

Only perhaps Snapper, you don’t know what your missing 😉
I did get the message by the way.