As a civilian you have to decide under what conditions would you abandon the aircraft. For me I brief passengers that “If we have an uncontrollable fire, a loss of the control system of the aircraft or an engine failure over mountains or other very rough terrain, then we will abandon the aircraft. Otherwise we fly her down.”

There is ONE bolt that keeps the gear leg on the Sea Fury from folding under a side load. It’s about 1″, and due to it’s being critical to keeping the airplane on her gear, is subject to yearly magnaflux inspection. This bolt would not stand up to a 5 ton airplane slipping at 110 knots with a decent sink rate. Catch a wing tip? Well, anything’s possible, but you usually only catch a wingtip in a stall or ground loop situation, and that’s not what I would envision for this scenario. Fly her down and slam her on. New prop, overhaul the engine, some sheet metal…go flying again.

I’ve meet John Beattie, and he’s as good as they come. Unfortunately he’s been involved in two Sea Fury accidents that resulted from a total hydraulic failure and a massive engine failure. In both cases John (and his passenger) walked away with minor injuries. My hat’s off to him.

The pilot was ordered to bail out. The RNHF is an active service squadron in the Royal Navy. All RNHF pilots are on active duty with the FAA, and as such follow SOP concerning aircraft operations. In this case the pilot did not have a choice after the emergency checklist was completed and the problem was not resolved. Most importantly, the pilot completed a safe bailout and was recovered uninjured.

To answer your real question though, no, I would not have bailed out of this aircraft. Sea Fury landing gear is very strong, but not to side loads. It would have been possible, in my opinion, to side slip in and take out the gear leg.

Question,..

Perhaps “Jacks” incident was caused by torque-roll ?
Just an uneducated guess.

How vicious is the Centaurus on the Sea Fury ?

TNZ

I don’t think so…this looks like a classic stall to me. Notice in the last shot, showing the Sea Fury coming over the stern of the ship, you can see the starboard wing is stalled, and it appears the port wing aileron is up, indicating that the pilot has full left stick in to try and pick up the stalled right wing. While we cannot see the tail it is almost certain that he had significant up elevator, given the angle of attack. This is what is known as being “behind the power curve”. At this point the pilot probably applied full power, which with his slow airspeed and full flaps was insufficient to fly him out of this corner.

The Sea Fury has excellent directional control, with a very effective rudder. A go-around is not difficult to execute, as the large vertical stab and rudder are very effective even at slow speed, and the plane does not have a tendency to drop a wing or torque roll with the addition of full power, provided the pilot is not behind the aircraft.

SRP

Well, the last time a group like this had a disaggrement with Parliament we ended up with another new holiday, the 4th of July. Everyone here is coordially invited to join in the festivities next year. Just think of it as Guy Fawkes Day, but with Red Coats instead of Catholics.

Sorry I wasn’t there Geoff, but Mrs. P was still recovering from my last visit (the one without her).

Sorry I didn’t get to your museum. I did make it to Kent, but we only had time to visit Faversham. Funny thing, did you know that they brew beer in Faversham? In fact, Spitfire is brewed there. Amazing what you can stumble across on these little visits. Just thought you’d like to know.

Best wishes,

Steve