Sukhoi Down Intact -21 June 2008

[mrhenniger]

I saw a report on an emal group that the Ed Russell Spitifre force landed in a farm field. Apparently the only damage was a "dinged prop". I take this to mean it was a gear down thing. Apparently the cause was the fuel cap became lost in flight during inverted flight as a result thee was fuel loss and starvation. Apparently the pilot was on the way to Oshawa from Niagara Falls for the aviation expo there this weekend.

Can anyone confirm the report?

Mike

Last edited by mrhenniger on Sun Jun 22, 2008 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

[EDowning]

Statement of the Obvious - It's been a bad year for Spitfires.

[Ontario-Warbird]

Mike last I heared it was not Russell's Spitfire but Rick V's Sukhoi. The Gas cap came off on his way to the expo and he ran out of gas and put it into a field near the air port.

Either way this is a real shame for Rick and last I heard he was ok, but his plane did get a little banged up ( prop )

Cheers Dave C

[Bill Greenwood]

It is more likely to be the Sukoi if it was a fuel cap loss leading to fuel exhaustion. The main tank cap of that Spitfire needs a screwdriver to secure it. I guess it is possible for it to come off if someone refueled and put the cap on but did not tighten the screw. The pilot would likely see it missing, and the fuel or most of it would likley stay in the tank. I hope I don't ever have to find out. It also has some extra auxillary fuel tanks in the wings with their own caps, I'm not sure how they work, but they probably did not fuel up the wings.
I'm glad Rick is ok. He loves that Sukoi and speaks very highly of it. It has 360 hp and weighs about ? 1800 ? lbs, so it can go about straight up. It can land very short so if he had to go into a field it may have been ok, not considering the fixed gear.

[retroaviation]

And it's not uncommon for the fuel caps on a Sukhoi come off in flight.

Glad they're okay.

Gary

[AIRIC]

Rick was doing a practice in the Sukhoi over Whitby and the gas cap came off during an inverted manoeuvre on Friday. He lost a lot of gas and decided to put the aircraft down in a farm field near Lake Ontario. On roll out he went into a dip in the ground and dinged the wind milling prop.

Saturday morning he picked up Ed Russell’s Spitfire and flew it to Oshawa. He closed the show with a few flat passes. By this time Rick was supposed to have an aerobatic endorsement on the Spitfire but has yet to get it.

Rick Volker and Patty Wagstaff on the wing of the Spitfire at the Canadian Aviation Expo yesterday.


Rick making a pass to close the show


So, as you can see the Spitfire is alive and well.

As a side note it was nice to see Robert Erdos pop in for a visit in the Vintage Wings of Canada Hawker Hurricane on his way home form Southern Ontario. Last week he was at the Canadian Warplane Heritage and Russell shows and during the week the aircraft was on display at a Biz jet show at YYZ.


Eric

[mrhenniger]

Thanks for the correction. I have changed the title of the thread.

Mike