Rates Skyrocket Following Vulcan Incident, Shoreham Accident

A flyby by a group of 20 Spitfire owners who had hoped to make a flyby over central London on September 20 in commemoration of the Battle of Britain were stopped in their tracks by astronomical insurance rates.

According to the U.K. newspaper The Express, the spitfire owners would have had to come up with £50,000, or about $77,000, for insurance before they would be allowed to fly their airplanes over the city. The event's main organizer, Paul Beaver, told the U.K. newspaper The Daily Mail that the group planned a route that would have included constant access to emergency landing sites. He also said that each individual pilot already carries £5 million in third party liability on their aircraft ... but that wasn't enough.

Beaver was told by an insurance expert that following the accident at the Shoreham Air Show, as well as an incident in which the last flying Vulcan jet had a landing gear issue and was forced to make a safe emergency landing, the group would need some £250 million of coverage ... and they abandoned their plans because of the cost.

The incident with the Vulcan occurred during a flyby at the Scottish Airshow. The landing gear failed to initially properly deploy, but eventually did so, and the plane landed safely at Prestwick Airport. Fire crews were standing by, but not needed.

The Vulcan had been scheduled for an appearance at Leicestershire on Monday, but that was cancelled. In a statement, Sky Trust, which owns and operates the bomber, said that "[f]ollowing a technical issue with the nose-wheel leg strut on arrival at Prestwick Airport, XH558 will transit directly to her home base at Robin Hood Airport immediately after take-off.

"This is a precautionary flight that will then allow a thorough inspection and subsequent test of the complete system in her hangar.

"The undercarriage is safely locked, and the aircraft is safe for prolonged flight at lower speed in this condition.

"Unfortunately, this now cancels any public display tomorrow, but it is not anticipated to affect the remaining part of XH558’s season."

(Spitfire image from file. Image of Vulcan with partially-extended nose gear from YouTube video of the incident)

FMI: www.vulcantothesky.org