Bushies DC-3 Question

[Fris B. Fairing]

Can anyone recall DC-3 VH-PWN being damaged by fire in CNS in November 1980? It is reported that the aeroplane was out of service at the time but it was repaired and returned to service.
Cheers

[Open Wemac]

Apparently no such event occurred.

[tinpis]

Ask John Williamson why he wrote a song about it.

[sixtiesrelic]

It seems that it DID happen.
The aircraft has been in limbo since the end of Feb trying to get an Aussie C of A which has been held up in the halls of doom because of the present data plate which is a replacement for the original which was damaged by fire in the hangar at Cairns.
The aircraft is waiting to get the bloody silly paperwork so it can start operating out of Perth as VH-CWS. It was operating as ZK-AMS till Feb 28th.
Hi Tinny!

[tinpis]

Hope you get going over the Nullabore before you get TOO much older sixtiesrelic:p

[Old 'Un]

Ah, yes. ZK-AMS. Had the honour of spending an extremely nostalgic hour or so in the right-hand seat of the elegant lady a couple of years back. The left-seater on that particular flight wasn't even born when she was built. I must say he treated her in a befitting manner, IMHO.

She handled well then and I have no reason to expect that she has changed in any way. The folk responsible for her operation in Christchurch were very proud of her and told the world so at every opportunity.

Surprised to learn of her "accident" and trust that the powers that be see fit to restore her right to venture into the realm for which she was built. May it be sooner rather than later.

Now THAT is seat-of-the-pants flying...

[Continental-520]

If, theoretically, I had to do a DC-3 endorsement, and I didn't have a tailwheel nor an initial multi endorsement, could I accomplish both simultaneously in a DC-3??

What's its MTOW??

Just curious.



520. :bored:

(Edited for punctuation)

[sixtiesrelic]

I'd say yes, Continental... IF you have LOTS of money and could find a DC-3 operator GAME to let you.
I think game operators might be the sticking point.
26,200 pounds... I'm too lazy to convert it into those kilogram thingies.

Me too tinny, it's takin' a bloody long time ... one of the others is the bloke I was with when we had those drinks last year the other is his son... I'll call them SIR, over the null.

There has been a bit of debate over the original question and the agreement is, there wasn't a fire... no mention in the logbooks
Someone probably has a dataplate in his private collection and someone else made up a story to cover the acquisition.

[TinKicker]

Hi Continental,
when I did my endorsement in the late 1980's I only had an ME endorsement. I completed the endorsement and the endorsing pilot filled out the paperwork and gave me the DC-3 endorsement and tailwheel endorsement.
When I submitted the paper work to the CAA (you did not have to pay in those days.....) the clerk behind the counter wanted the endorsement form for the tailwheel aircraft as she thought that I had lost it. I told her that the twin she was putting on my licence was a tailwheel and if I was endorsed on that, it should cover me for the tailwheel. She did not believe me and had to call up stairs and speak with an Ops Inspector to confirm that the DC-3 was a tailwheel....The Ops inspector apparently told her it was the largest tailwheel currently operating in Australia.....
She obviously believed him because the licence was appropriately endorsed.
In answer to your question it is possible, but may take some time if you do not have an ME endorsement. As another poster has suggested....finding someone to allow you to do it is another question......
Fun old Bird.....I ended up with a couple of hundred hours on the aircraft......still miss those days.....cost me quite a few uniform shirts however.......lots of oil stains on them.......
Tinkicker.....

[Continental-520]

Thanks for your views.

I think finding an operator of one at all could prove tiresome enough, yes.

Certainly an endorsement not to be turned down, if such an opportunity ever presented itself, that's for sure!

Just for fun, though.


520.

[Taildragger]

From former Bushies GM, Ron Entsch. It is reported that if he didn't know
about it, then it didn't happen. Barry Hockings was also with BPA at the time and he can't recall it either.

>>
> Hi Barry
> I have already told xxx that I have no recollection of PWN being
> damaged by fire. It is another "war" story.
> Cheers
> Ron
>
>

[Fifthleg]

Not totally sure about PWN being damaged by fire, but I suspect not. Last time I saw it, the machine was languishing next to the aviation museum at BK. From what I understand, quite a lot of money had been spent on getting it to its current state. Great plane to fly, but a definite drinker of cash....& the black stuff that invariably ended up dotted over the white shirt....

[Fris B. Fairing]

Fifthleg
I now believe that the fire story is a total furphy.
The DC-3 VH-PWN now at the Aust Aviation Museum at Bankstown is actually VH-PWN #2. When VH-PWN #1 (the Bushies aeroplane) went to NZ as ZK-AMS, someone in their infinite wisdom allowed the registration to be reallocated to another DC-3. No doubt the seeds for this confusion were sown when the registration PWN was popularised in song.