WIX Archives
Re: TF956
Posted by david J burke on Sun Nov 04, 2001 04:20:34 PM
In reply top Re: TF956 posted by Joe Scheil on Sun Nov 04, 2001 02:52:34 PM
Joe - the Sea fury was regarded as a 'high performance' aircraft when in operation with the RN and the are a number of photographs which show the results of landing incidents on carriers. Most of this promoted the use of the 'bone dome' . As a note of interest this was before the removal of seat armour to give the Sea Fury the ability to have a 'jump seat' . Regards the recent incidents of Sea Fury fatalities I can say that hurrying to reach an intersection didn't play any part in the U.K incident.
Regards your other notes bailing out is always going to be the safer option than landing a Sea Fury on one leg.
LCDR Beattie didn't take the decision lightly and you can forget any notion that he was ordered to bail out . That just doesn't happen - he was the captain of the machine and he made the decision. The wasn't a 'they' who made the wrong decision. Sadly the Fury was lost but we still have John Beattie - would you rather it be the other way round?
In the ideal world when an undercarriage leg doesn't come down or an engine quits on an aircraft the crew will put the machine down but I am not going to be in a position of
critizing pilots for deciding that they would rather take to the silk. We can create and replicate aircraft but sadly we cannot with people - human life is more important