Borders Gliding Club

As I’m sure most are aware the Pawnee is down at Bagby for the annual check.
We knew when we bought the aircraft that it wasn’t the best example and sure enough the engineers at Bagby have found a few issues as they strip the aircraft down. A couple of examples are that the seatbelt inertia system is missing as is the cable cutter safety system( for in the event of mistakenly flying under electricity wires) the right hand park brake system is also missing.
As well as rectifying these problems - along with others, the TOST retractable system recovered from our old Pawnee FR is to be installed, 2 new legs fitted and the 2 bladed prop re fitted( these were some of the spares package we bought from South Downs GC)

The result ( as well as a hefty bill!) is that the job will take longer than expected. I had hoped to see the aircraft back by the end of March but Realistically it’s unlikely to be back before the end of April.

As they are still taking the aircraft apart I don’t yet have an actual date from the engineers, we will know more once the strip down is complete.

I’ll update here when I have more info
Regards
Martin

Hi Martin,

As ever, it is always the maintenance costs on aircraft under the CAA regime, not the fuel usage. I well remember these issues at Breighton in the 1990's!! Sutton Bank have just got their motor glider back from it's annual at Bagby, with a bill of £18,000!

I could never understand why that to preserve affordable gliding operations nationally, why the BGA have never lobbied the CAA for an exemption and put all BGA registered tugs under the LAA regime, given that they rarely fly out of the home airfield zone. The prime opportunity arose to do this when we came out of EASA.

Trevor D.