the sad and sorry tales of Torquair the past and present.
The record goes something like this in the past few years
Tiger moth down on the beach at Torquay, the aircraft dragged to a position close to the cliff and trees, out of public sight and the wings removed hastely to take back to hangar for repair
person takes shovel to CASA inspector when arrived at hangar and operator caught doing unauthorised work on aircraft
operator fined and has licence suspended for dive bombing a former employee at another local airport as he is taking off
Tiger moths collide on runway one landing from each end of runway in unsuitable conditions following Anzac day service. One tiger written off.
Parachute aircraft comes up short and lands in the ocean and finishes upside down on the beach. another write off.
and then yesterday. This needs investigation. The great lakes aircraft was not parked at the end of the strip waiting for a new tyre. It was 200metres east of the main north south runway, the wind sunday was from the south, and it was close to a long line of trees and on a pecular angle with the bottom wings removed and the upper wings damaged and sagging badly. The local press photo today show the wings totally removed.
why were the wings removed if it was just waiting for a new tyre?
indications were that something had taken place that was out of the ordinary for normal operations, but then again it was probably quite normal for Torquair.
it is about time CASA had a really close look at this operation as they continually appear to operate outside normal operational conditions.