---------------------------------------------------------- Engines-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Wed 09/20/06: 2 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 12:46 PM - T-3 FIREFLY (Martin Sobel) 2. 11:07 PM - Reminds one of Meigs Field destruction (Speedy11@aol.com) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 12:46:32 PM PST US Subject: Engines-List: T-3 FIREFLY From: Martin Sobel --> Engines-List message posted by: Martin Sobel Slingsby did extensive tests on the Firefly fuel system, both standard and modified. They could not duplicate any problem. My feeling is that at least two of the accidents were due to pilot error. The Firefly is used the world over for initial flight training. No one else has complained about the airplane. The USAF did not mothball the airplanes. They were left to sit out in the open with absolutely no protection from the elements. I had hoped to get a few of these aircraft into A&P Training schools, but the USAF destroyed them without any notification whatsoever. Martin Sobel ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 11:07:01 PM PST US From: Speedy11@aol.com Subject: Engines-List: Reminds one of Meigs Field destruction One Week From Deadline, T-3A Fleet Nearly Gone When They Said "Scrapped," They Meant "Trashed" It was assumed that while the airframes would be destroyed, the Air Force would certainly salvage valuable component parts of the plane that had nothing to do with the controversy. After all, that's what they do with just about every military aircraft that has ever been sent to the boneyard. Well, assume nothing when it comes to liability issues, embarrassment, and the military. Besides the airplanes, TOTALL Metal Recycling Company in Hondo, TX has also been scrapping avionics, radios... even torching holes into brand-new engines, still strapped on their pallets. All of the spare parts inventory -- including tires, wheels and all of the tools used to work on the aircraft -- are also being destroyed. Not one of the radios, propellers, or other aviation-related (and therefore expensive) parts are being recovered. Any piece of equipment, evidently, that was even remotely associated with the T-3A is being systematically eliminated from the aviation universe. None of these parts share serial numbers with the doomed airplanes, so no liability exposure for the Air Force would seem possible... leaving many in the aero-community to question the "slash and burn" approach the USAF is taking. According to the San Antonio Express-News, it takes approximately 30 minutes to reduce the aircraft to a mass of unrecoverable fiberglass and other non-recyclable materials. One of the dismantlers told the paper he thought the holed engines might bring about $100 in scrap value. One person who witnessed the scrapping being perpetrated told the EAA, "It seems quite apparent that the Air Force is embarrassed by this awful action. Guards are in place around the clock to keep everyone away, especially the press. The destruction contractor has been told to put up a vision-proof barricade so that the actual mangling cannot be observed." Do not archive