Well, somebody says it’s wrong, which doesn’t necessarily have to mean that it is wrong. The Lancaster theory was conjured by Roy Nesbit in Aeroplane, IIRC? His research always seemed very sound to me. Less so the mix of airframe and “engine” (carburetor?) icing in the linked article…

Some of the Electra’s went to Buffalo Airways, I think?

All other DC-3 operators in Europe managed to continue operations when EASA came around, but Air Atlantique (or whatever they called themselves that week) started throwing their toys out of the pram and HAD to stop…

What an incredible display of pilot skills. Engine failure in any single-engine aircraft at low altitude is serious, but to get a fast and heavy aircraft down in this fashion and to be able to walk away from it is fantastic. Moreover, the “system” worked in the sense that no spectators where injured.

I really can’t be bothered about the aircraft being repairable or not.

That’s it then. Indeed very, very sad.

An aircraft needs atmospheric air and lots of money to fly. If any of these are not available, nothing will happen. Enthusiasm alone doesn’t matter. In the latest issue of “Aeroplane Monthly” there was a journalistically rather pathetic article trying to identify a single reason/blame for fewer and fewer airworthy vintage jets. What it didn’t say, but what is abundantly clear, is that there is simply very little interest in the UK at the moment in such aircraft, and hence very limited funds available. Very sad.

The airfield where the accident happened has (according to Wikipedia) a 900 x 50 m grass runway (10/28) extending fairly close and substantially parallel to a road on the northern side, from which the airfield is accessed. If, as the videos and photos indicate, the spectators were on the northern side of the runway, a close-up on Google Maps suggests that the distance between the runway centerline and the crowd line would be around 60 m.

In September 2010, at a small airshow in Lauf-Lillinghof in South Germany, 1 person was killed, 5 severely injured and 33 people received minor injuries, when a Tiger Moth lost directional control during take-off, and went straight into the spectators. The distance between the runway and the crowd barrier was about the same.

I see no difference between the event having been labelled an informal open day or an airshow; there were apparently many people very close to the runway.

I shudder to think what could have happened.

Fantastic effort, I wish the operators all possible success!

I saw a Whirlwind fly at the 1985 Shuttleworth Military Pageant, painted grey/blue/white in RAF colours. Is this the same aircraft, or is the one I saw the one J Boyle mentions further up, which crashed?

I thought the exhaust ports were on each side of the engine, not below the engine…