| This
walk-round features a Grumman G-78 Turbo Mallard of Chalk's Ocean Airways courtesy
of Bill Jones, the General Manager of Chalk's, based at Fort Lauderdale,
Florida. Following a speculative telephone call from me, Bill made
available this aircraft for me to look over and the whole visit went far beyond what was
expected. I am eternally grateful for the access granted to me and the
hospitality shown by everyone I met on the day. Many, many thanks to you
all. To read about the flight I took in one of these Chalk's aircraft,
click here.
Footnote: It is my
very sad duty to report that on Monday 19th December 2005, the actual
aircraft featured here crashed just after take-off from Miami, killing all
on-board. From video taken by witnesses at the time, it appeared that the
starboard wing broke away during the initial climb-out, from which there
could be no recovery. At the time of writing, Friday 23rd December, the
NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) have stated that they have
found evidence of fatigue cracks deep within the recovered starboard wing
spar...........
My deepest condolences
go out to the families of the crew and passengers and my thoughts are with
the dedicated staff and workforce of Chalks Airlines. In all their history
as the oldest airline in America, this is the first ever accident with
passenger fatalities. The original images here, twice the size on my
hard-drive, have been offered to the NTSB Lead Investigator, Bill English,
in case they can be of any assistance to them during the course of their
investigations.
R.I.P.
|
