Originally Posted by
hoodie
Is there any update (or at least, fresh rumour!) about the fate of the Vigilants?
Are they going to be scrapped or sold on, and if sold on why the apparent delay? I hope the engines at least are properly inhibited, wherever they are now (Little Riss, is it?).
The powers to be do not want the Vigilants to rise again in their current form, and the VW based Grob motor will have to be replaced by a Rotax, and possibly a new panel.
The cost of this with associate replumb, and firewall forward items will also require a new certification from Grob.
An alternative route of return to flight with the LAA involved was far to easy and would have seen many machines back in the air and available for ongoing use.
Of course this would also have no doubt raised the question of why they were pulled from service, Many of the engines were on extensions of hours and Grob are no longer in the 'engine ' business (Actually the engine is based on the VW type 4 motor) but under the LAA the engine could have easily been OH with new parts and continued.
The former Ventures (VW Engine) are still flying so the process was quite viable.