Quote:
Originally Posted by Bewolf
In regards to your question.....yes, I definitely would. I mean you are right, safety comes first here, everything else would be plain stupid, both in regards to the pilot and the aircraft itself.
But let's just say active aircraft require maintance and that also includes the replacement of parts on a regular basis. Now sure, you can fetishize those original parts, but imho, that just results in a machine that is comparable to a stuffed pet animal. A rather sad and undignified sight.
But that is purely on a principle basis, those guys at the FHC did a great job getting the D13 in the state she is now in the first place. Better then nothing at all.
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I'm sorry man, but Americans are good at
painting aircrafts well, and a fresh paintjob doesn't mean that what's under it is not bogus.
There isn't much work done on the D13, and when they did the unveiling with engine startup it took them FOREVER to crank it up. Considering how rare that engine is, and how the components are hard to get hold of/remake, I wouldn't trust that engine to be flown as it is. Let's not forget that the D13 was a very late plane, and the scarcity of quality material could have jeopardised the quality of the plane itself.
I have seen 4 T-6s imported from the States so far, and they ALL had the same corrosion problems: machines that are sturdy by their very design, which look mint (because of a fresh paintjob), but when you get in the fuselage to get a glimpse of how things are inside... mamma mia...
The T-6 itself had a safety issue some years ago with the L joints that attach the wings to the wingroot: in all the planes that I've seen so far imported from the US there was this issue.
Because of the broad net of the experimental category, many things are underestimated unfortunately.
I love the plane, but the conditions for a safe flying would mean compromising its originality. If you said "let's make a replica faithful to the original and using the original as a model" then I'd totally agree, but risking to fly this machine at the current status is unthinkable.