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I saw a photo of the B-17 taken from a chopper. The plane looks to be a total loss. Reports are that the plane crashed when trying to land. I saw that plane this past Summer in the Chicago area. It was an incredible looking plane. Just beautiful. I considered taking a ride in it, but the price was too high.

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1 hour ago, 11bee said:

I’ve had a couple of friends go up on those flights, they said it was amazing.

I did the B-24 a while back, and yes it's beyond words how awesome it was.  It gave me a whole new appreciation for what my Grandfather and all those aircrew went through on missions in those aircraft.  

 

Sad day for all

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"The aircraft was a 74-year-old Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, military serial number 44-83575 (variant B-17G-85-DL) with civilian registration N93012.[1] The aircraft was painted to represent a different B-17G,[2] the 91st Bomb Group's Nine-O-Nine,"

 

The above ^^^ from here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress_crash

 

 

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I have real concerns about allowing those planes to continue flying with passengers. My concern is regarding maintenance of the engines. OEM parts for those engines have not been made in a long, long time. I guess that it is possible to scavenge  older engines for parts, but how safe is it to use old parts to replace old parts?  I do not think that those planes are safe. 

 

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I have real concerns about allowing those planes to continue flying with passengers. My concern is regarding maintenance of the engines. OEM parts for those engines have not been made in a long, long time. I guess that it is possible to scavenge  older engines for parts, but how safe is it to use old parts to replace old parts?  I do not think that those planes are safe. 

 

Johnny, I wil have to say I hear you and I kinda agree with you, but how safe is rock climbing? How safe is paragliding? How safe is surfing? I get it, I do. I want them grounded for a different reason. I don't want anymore of these precious aircraft to be lost. Not just he people. But for preserving the history of it. ONE THE OTHER hand I LOVE Seeing them fly and if I had enough money to go up in one of them I'D JUMP at the opportunity.. Not that I'd fit in them. 

 

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Johnny, I wil have to say I hear you and I kinda agree with you, but how safe is rock climbing? How safe is paragliding? How safe is surfing? I get it, I do. I want them grounded for a different reason. I don't want anymore of these precious aircraft to be lost. Not just he people. But for preserving the history of it. ONE THE OTHER hand I LOVE Seeing them fly and if I had enough money to go up in one of them I'D JUMP at the opportunity.. Not that I'd fit in them. 

 

Excellent point, took the words right out of my mouth. My father flew a B-17 once, in 1944 before he was shipped

out to Guam then Okinawa. He was training in Riverside Ca. I believe, the pilot told him to sit in the co pilot's seat

and instructed him. He only flew it for a short bit, told me he swore the wings were flapping! He was a corporal who

ended up on a bulldozer building air strips for the bombers going to Tokyo. Must of been one helluva ride and one he

never forgot. Let's save the precious few that are left.- jon

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In my opinion, as long as there are non-flyable examples around still (and there are) then why shouldn't they fly the ones that can fly? Save for future generations to what, see them sitting in a building somewhere? Kind of hard to appreciate what they were like in their full glory in the skies when you're seeing only films and examples sitting around collecting dust. Again, just my opinion, but as long as there are people willing and able to keep these birds going and traveling around for all to observe them do what they were designed to do, then I say keep them going. Obviously safety needs to be a concern of course. But if it's possible to fly them....then fly them!

 

Bill

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