Post by Andy Wright on Dec 10, 2009 19:06:12 GMT 12
This'll be great to see when she finally gets here. Hope she's restored as one of the 'double sunrise' Cats.
www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/12/09/2766574.htm
A historic Catalina aircraft flying from Spain to Queensland has been grounded in Thailand with engine troubles.
The Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach has purchased the plane for display at its facility.
The Museum's Chairman, Warwick Tainton told ABC's Chrissy Arthur, the plane's now grounded near Bangkok in Thailand, and at least one engine will need to be replaced to get the aircraft flying again.
"The aeroplane so far is costing us around half a million dollars," he said.
"We were very confident that we actually were going to get it through, so it was disappointing, but then we don't look backwards, even though we're historically minded - we're forward thinkers and the jobs got to be done; fix it up, bring it on," said Mr Tainton.
The plane had a lot of work done before it left Spain and was about two-thirds of the way through the trip to Longreach when the break-down occurred.
"We had to stage there [in Thailand] for awhile because there was no aviation gasoline fuel across Indonesia, because of a refinery breakdown in Singapore, so we bought all our crew home."
"When we went back to resume, there was oil running out of the right-hand engine," he explained.
"It's a major problem for any radial engine, so it means an engine change for us which is no mean feat - we're looking at sourcing another engine to take up there."
Mr Tainton said they've found some options for an engine replacement but may also need to replace the second engine as well, before the plane is safe to continue on the journey.
At this stage they believe it will be a couple of months before the Catalina arrives at its new home in Longreach.
"Especially with Christmas intervening and so forth, we'll have to source the engines, transport them and get the engineers up there to reconfigure them for the Catalina," he said.
www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/12/09/2766574.htm
A historic Catalina aircraft flying from Spain to Queensland has been grounded in Thailand with engine troubles.
The Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach has purchased the plane for display at its facility.
The Museum's Chairman, Warwick Tainton told ABC's Chrissy Arthur, the plane's now grounded near Bangkok in Thailand, and at least one engine will need to be replaced to get the aircraft flying again.
"The aeroplane so far is costing us around half a million dollars," he said.
"We were very confident that we actually were going to get it through, so it was disappointing, but then we don't look backwards, even though we're historically minded - we're forward thinkers and the jobs got to be done; fix it up, bring it on," said Mr Tainton.
The plane had a lot of work done before it left Spain and was about two-thirds of the way through the trip to Longreach when the break-down occurred.
"We had to stage there [in Thailand] for awhile because there was no aviation gasoline fuel across Indonesia, because of a refinery breakdown in Singapore, so we bought all our crew home."
"When we went back to resume, there was oil running out of the right-hand engine," he explained.
"It's a major problem for any radial engine, so it means an engine change for us which is no mean feat - we're looking at sourcing another engine to take up there."
Mr Tainton said they've found some options for an engine replacement but may also need to replace the second engine as well, before the plane is safe to continue on the journey.
At this stage they believe it will be a couple of months before the Catalina arrives at its new home in Longreach.
"Especially with Christmas intervening and so forth, we'll have to source the engines, transport them and get the engineers up there to reconfigure them for the Catalina," he said.
