Some help
Hi.
One of the customers who comes into the store I work at on a regular basis is part of the crew for the Lanc. I remeber asking him what had happened as everyone at my job was very interested. Two of my bsses also used to work at the airport so they got a buch of info too.
The Incident
Basically most of the CWHM pilots are commercial pilots who know what they are doing. From what I have been told (I mean no disrespect to the ground crew) the ground crew people tended in the past to be rather lax on control movements of the taxing aircraft. This led to a situation whereby the pilots having much more experience tended to park the aircraft by themselves. (ie, judeging distances ect.) From reports in the news and from what I was told, the two pilots were arguing about somthing in the cockpit and were not paying attention to the aircraft movement. Unfourtunately by the time it was realized the plane didn't have enough room itwas too late to do anything. These things don't stop or turn on a dime. The plane continued slowly moving toward the Dakota until the right outboard engine/prop on the Lanc (still spinning) made contact with the left wing of the parked Dakota. The Lanc prop procceded to chew up about 2-3 meters of the wing before grinding to a halt.
The Damage
The Dakota suffered the most external damage but luckily spare parts arn't a problem to locate and are very cheap compared to other aircraft of the same age.
The Lanc had very little damge to it externally. Basically it had a prop destroyed and a bent cowling. However, it suffered some heavy damage to the engine which was literaly forced to stop in a few seconds. From what I was told by one of th guys who works on the Lanc, it had (I don't know the tech name) a few interanl gears striped of all teeth. And I think a bent crank shaft.
The Result.
The Lanc was given a rushed job to get it back flying and I believe it was up again within a few weeks. They were trying to get it ready for the Queens visit. I know it has been flying for a few months now because I have seen it go by. I don't know about the Dakota otherthan when I last saw it both wings were removed waiting for a replacement. The pilot were in a lt of trouble not only for damaging two aircraft but for ignoring the ground crew movement orders. Both were put on probation pending an investigation. I beleive that one of them was not allowed to fly for the museum again.
I dont know much more than this and I hope I ahve everything correct. Most of this information came from people who actually work on the planes up there so I believe what they told me. l also want to say that I have given mis-information I am sorry.
Jordan Baker
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