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Old 21st May 2021, 19:13
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Shackman
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Once a Squirrel Heaven (or hell!), Shropshire UK
Posts: 837
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To add to Rigga's statement - the Air India 'incident'. The aircraft was ZA713, we deployed on the Sunday to Cork, but were not tasked until early the following morning. We didn't actually pick up any bio-hazards; all we found was a cabbage patch doll floating in the water but it was incredibly life like so the winchman went out on the wire to recover it (much to the delight of the BBC and ITV crews also on board). Unfortunately he bought a lot of seawater back in as well, and the aircraft was not decontammed when we got back to Cork. It then went u/s and it was a few days before returning to Odiham. The floorboards were then lifted to clean the salt out, but large quantities of water were left in the underfloor spaces. An Eng O had the great idea of drilling small holes in the frame to let the water out, the floorboards were replaced and the a/c declared 'S' and released back to the line - but no one was told about the 'modification' to the skin.

Some time later, a water landing trial was to be carried out for SF. Guess which aircraft was chosen? Guess what happened? It didn't sink, but was a lot heavier lifting off the lake than expected.
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