Originally Posted by
WHBM
The damage to Papa India in the Ambassador accident looked sufficient to have written the aircraft off in most situations, repairs must have cost much of the value of the aircraft.
Once back in service the tail was wrecked again when it was in the hangar, a Comet on an engine test outside overrode its chocks, lunged forward, and brought the hangar doors down on it. A further major repair.
At the PI accident there was apparently considerable searching of engineering repair documents to see if anything arising from those could have contributed to the stall. A very unlucky aircraft.
Fifty odd years ago many repairs were carried out that would seem ridiculous today. Think of the TWA 707 that had its nose destroyed by a bomb in the cockpit at Damascus. Boeing built a new nose section and shipped it to Syria, where the aircraft was repaired and put back into service.Today, the cost of labour results in a write off even if the damage is technically repairable. This applies to cars as well as aircraft.