Staggerwing CF-BJD First Flight in 60 Years!

[AirFrame]

Photos by Mike Leudy of Yellow Drum Productions.

Full Album: http://yellowdrumproductions.com/p951661720

[7ECA]

She's a beautiful aircraft, back when they really had style and character.

Looks like it was a nice day in Langley for it, as well.

[YYZSaabGuy]

She's a beautiful aircraft, back when they really had style and character.

Looks like it was a nice day in Langley for it, as well.

+1 - I've always liked the Staggerwing. Anybody on here ever flown one and in a position to comment on handling, performance, etc.?

[AirFrame]

Looks like it was a nice day in Langley for it, as well.

The lighting doesn't get a lot better for photography than on that day. Thin high overcast, with blue poking through here and there. Warm enough to be standing around without jackets, too (sorry to anyone east of BC... The best thing about winter in Canada really is watching it on TV from Vancouver...).

[Old Dog Flying]

Here is another taken at YNJ..but it is in 1:48 scale

Barney

[AirFrame]

Nice, Barney! Were those the original colours for the airplane?

[Old Dog Flying]

The trim lines were too small for me to replicate so I used the trim decals from the kit

Barney

[AirFrame]

Hey, there aren't any bullets/stabilizers in the flying wires...

[Old Dog Flying]

Let's see you build one Rob. Always the smart ass. That thing has an 8" wing span.

Barney

[timel]

What a nice piece of art!
Beautiful!
Curious to see that fly.

[AirFrame]

Let's see you build one Rob. Always the smart ass. That thing has an 8" wing span.

Sorry, that wasn't a dig on your model building... It was a dig on the kit manufacturer for not being as accurate... At least, i'm assuming you didn't build that from scratch...

The real nit-picker would point out that the gear doors on the real airplane don't match because they haven't been adjusted yet, but on your model they're perfectly aligned...

[AirFrame]

Sorry to report that Staggerwing BJD was the victim of mechanical failure today... The landing gear mechanism bound solid in the retracted position, and all attempts to extend with normal and emergency methods were unsuccessful.

After flying around for another half hour or more to burn fuel off, they did some low passes to have tower controllers and ground staff confirm that the gear was indeed still fully retracted. Then, with Emergency vehicles standing by (and even a medevac helicopter flying chase), a successful belly landing was carried out on the grass runway adjacent 01/19 at Abbotsford. No injuries to occupants, and the aircraft remained upright.

Engine was stopped once they had made the field, but unfortunately the prop was still windmilling slowly at touchdown. Otherwise damage is about what you'd expect from sliding that aircraft to a stop on the grass.

[7ECA]

Just saw this on the news tonight...

What a shame, but good to hear that everyone was alright. Hope she gets back into the air soon.

[AirFrame]

Video from Abby news:

http://www.abbynews.com/news/295849711.html

At the end there's some closeup of the airplane on the ground. It doesn't look very bad at all, apart from the prop and flaps.

Let's hope they're given enough time to disassemble it properly before it's moved.