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| 1944 Grumman G-21A Goose, c/n B-101, CF-VFU, FIFT dockside near the government wharf, Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada in summer 1968. |
1944 Grumman G-21A Goose, c/n B-101, CF-VFU, FIFT (Forest Industries Flying Tankers Ltd.), Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada, based at Sproat Lake, near Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, B.C.
- powered by two 450-hp Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-6 Wasp Junior supercharged nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial piston engines with constant-speed two-blade Hamilton Standard propellers
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Dockside near the government wharf, Cowichan Bay in summer 1968. Uwe and his forestry crew planted seedlings on the steep slopes of Knight Inlet, part of TFL (Tree Farm Licence) 17. The men in the photograph are unidentified. My father can not remember their names.
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The following year, refitted with new engines, three-blade propellers, and retractable wingtip floats. Dockside somewhere up Knight Inlet, B.C., Canada in spring 1969.
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1944 Grumman G-21A Goose, c/n B-101, CF-VFU, FIFT (Forest Industries Flying Tankers Ltd.), Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada, based at Sproat Lake, near Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, B.C.
- gloss white and gloss red finish; in FIFT colour scheme (1960s)
- powered by two 450-hp Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-14B Wasp Junior supercharged nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial piston engines with constant-speed, full-feathering reversible-pitch, three-blade Hartzell propellers and propeller spinners
- pilot, seven passengers, amphibian flying boat utility transport
- high-wing cantilever monoplane; retractable wingtip float, outboard aileron, and inboard split-type trailing-edge flap on each wing; cruciform tail
- bow hatch, aft passenger door with upward-swinging upper section & forward-swinging lower section on port side, aft emergency exit on starboard side, forward baggage compartment in bow, aft baggage compartment
- twin-step amphibious flying boat hull, retractable conventional landing gear with steerable tailwheel
History:
- built by The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Bethpage, Long Island, New York, USA at Plant 2, Grumman Bethpage Airfield, Bethpage, Long Island, New York (F)
- built as JRF-5 Goose (Model G-38), powered by two 450-hp Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-6 Wasp Junior supercharged nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial piston engines with constant-speed two-blade Hamilton Standard propellers
- delivered as BuNo 84806 to US Navy in November 1944
- pilot, six passengers, amphibian flying boat military utility transport
- aft passenger door with upward-swinging upper section & forward-swinging lower section and removable ladder on port side
- fixed wing floats
- US Navy surplus in 1945
- N62899, H.F. Keeler, Seattle, Washington, USA on June 5, 1952 and cancelled on March 9, 1967
- converted to G-21A Goose
- sold to FIFT (a consortium of five British Columbia forest companies formed by MacMillan Bloedel Limited, British Columbia Forest Products Limited, Pacific Logging Co. Ltd., Tahsis Company, and Western Forest Industries)
- imported in 1967
- CF-VFU, FIFT (Forest Industries Flying Tankers Ltd.), Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada on April 7, 1967 and cancelled on September 28, 2001
- based at Sproat Lake, near Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, B.C.
- gloss white and gloss red finish; in FIFT colour scheme (1960s)
- based at Sproat Lake Seaplane Base (CAA9/CBT9)
- powered by two 450-hp Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-14B Wasp Junior supercharged nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial piston engines with constant-speed, full-feathering reversible-pitch, three-blade Hartzell propellers and propeller spinners
- gloss white and gloss red finish with aluminum propeller spinners; in FIFT colour scheme (1960s)
- retractable wingtip floats
- used to transport timber companies’ personnel
- my father Uwe Kündrunar Scharnberg was a forestry crew foreman with BCFP (British Columbia Forest Products Limited); he and his treeplanting crew flew with CF-VFU up the central British Columbia coast in the late 1960s and early 1970s from Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island to Knight Inlet on the southern British Columbia Coast
- re-registered as C-FVFU in 1977
- FIFT (red conifer tree) logo on forward fuselage
- also used for forest patrols, support, and spotter, lead-in aircraft for FIFT’s two water bombers (1945 Martin JRM-3 Mars, c/n 9264, BuNo 76820, C-FLYK, Philippine Mars and 1946 Martin JRM-3 Mars, c/n 9267, BuNo 76823, C-FLYL, Hawaii Mars) from 1980 to 1988
- titled small FLYING TANKERS on centre fuselage; overall gloss yellow finish with gloss red & gloss white trim and aluminum propeller spinners; in FIFT colour scheme (circa 1984 ?)
- tt 14,385 hours on April 21, 1997
- C-FVFU, Flying Tankers Inc. (TimberWest Forest Ltd.), Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada on September 28, 2001 and cancelled on February 6, 2002
- based at Sproat Lake Seaplane Base (CAA9/CBT9)
- extended dorsal fin
- leased to Klaus Dieter Martin, München, Bayern, Deutschland in September 2001
- ferried from Victoria International Airport (YYJ/CYYJ), North Saanich, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada on November 2, 2001; via Reykjavík Airport (RKV/BIRK), Reykjavík, Iceland and Wick Airport (WIC/EGPC), Wick, Caithness, Highland, Scotland on November 7, 2001; and Groningen Airport Eelde (GRQ/EHGG), Eelde, Drenthe, Netherlands to Sonderflughafen Oberpfaffenhofen (OBF/EDMO), Oberbayern, Bayern, Deutschland on November 9, 2001
- over 15,000 airframe hours
- C-FVFU, C-Tec Ltd., Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada on February 6, 2002 and cancelled on July 5, 2005
- leased to European Coastal Airlines (European Coastal Airlines d.o.o.), Zagreb, Croatia
- repainted at Kaposújlak Airport (LHKV), Kaposújlak, near Kaposvár, Somogy, Hungary
- named Aline
- titled www.EC-AIR.com on centre fuselage, EUROPEAN COASTAL AIRLINES on rear fuselage, and Thanks for Flying ECA on both sides of each retractable wingtip float; overall gloss white finish with gloss blue around engine cowlings into short cheat line, wingtip floats undersides, & flying boat hull underside, and aluminum propeller spinners; in ECA colour scheme (2002)
- accident at Flughafen Salzburg (SZG/LOWS), Salzburg, Austria on March 4, 2002 arriving from Kaposújlak Airport (LHKV) when port landing gear collapsed after landing, landing gear and fuselage damaged, no injuries
- repaired and refurbished at Flughafen Salzburg (SZG/LOWS) in March 2002
- ferried from Flughafen Salzburg (SZG/LOWS) to Sonderflughafen Oberpfaffenhofen (OBF/EDMO) on April 9, 2002
- refurbished in 2004
- sold to Croatia on July 8, 2005
- still carried Canadian registration C-FVFU in Croatia, despite registration cancelled and deleted from Transport Canada website on July 8, 2005, therefore registration no longer valid
- should be carrying Croatian registration, prefixed with code 9A-
- stored in Aerokluba Borovo hangar at Vukovar Borovo N Airport (LDOB), Borovo Naselje, Vukovar, Vukovar-Syrmia, Slavonia, Croatia in 2005, a settlement in the northwestern industrial part of Vukovar on the right bank of the river Danube, across from Serbia
- airfield appears to be so small, it does not have fuel services
- European Coastal Airlines, established by the Croatian company Obalna Kapitalna Ulaganja d.o.o., Zagreb, Croatia and ESPS (European SeaPlane Service GmbH), Landsberied, Oberbayern, Bayern, Deutschland in September 2000, several promotional flights with the Goose in 2000, AOC issued in 2001, put on hold after September 11, 2001, re-launched in 2007 when joined by a Croatian investor, then attempted to launch scheduled services in 2008, AOC expired, commercial operation announced three times, failed three times, never in commercial operation in Croatia despite much promotion for over ten years
- plans were for the Goose to fly regular scheduled flights between Zagreb International Airport (ZAG/LDZA), Pleso, Croatia and Mali Lošinj on the island of Lošinj; Zagreb International Airport (ZAG/LDZA) and Rab on the island of Rab; Zagreb International Airport (ZAG/LDZA) and Rijeka on the Kvarner Gulf; Pula on the Istria peninsula and Rijeka (Flight Timetable valid on July 1, 2008 in planning phase and not yet activated)
- European Coastal Airlines expansion plans reported in July 2010
- fleet includes the Goose, two de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters plus another six ordered, and 1979 Lake LA-4-200 Buccaneer, c/n 974, 9A-DLA
- launch of expanded services announced for May 2011
- this Goose is an Annex II aircraft under EASA, no commercial operations (JAR Ops 1) allowed, apparently reason why still carrying Canadian registration
- new corporate website of European Coastal Airlines at www.ec-air.eu reported starting scheduled services in summer 2014, announced on March 3, 2014
- ? new partners were AquaProject Group, Berlin, Deutschland; LEHEL Industrie Group, München, Bayern, Deutschland; and RUAG Aviation, Emmen, Luzern (LU), Schweiz
- plans were to fly from small harbour base at Matejuska, Split, Croatia
- destinations were to be: Ancona, Ancona (AN), Marche, Italia; Zagreb International Airport (ZAG/LDZA), Pula, Rab, Zadar, Matejuska in Split, Split Airport (SPU/LDSP) in Kaštela, Jelsa on the island of Hvar, Vis on the island of Vis, Korčula on the island of Korčula, Lastovo on the island of Lastovo, and Dubrovnik, all in Croatia
- more bureaucratic delays then saw service starting on August 1, 2014 from Split Airport (SPU/LDSP) to surrounding islands; also plans to offer flights to Zagreb International Airport (ZAG/LDZA), Pula, and Zadar; and Ancona to Rab and Jelsa with amphibian 1977 de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300, c/n 557, 9A-TOA that arrived at Split Airport (SPU/LDSP) on May 4, 2014 and since ferried to RUAG Aviation, Flughafen Bern (BRN/LSZB/LSMB), Belp, Bern (BE), Schweiz for modifications and maintenance required for Croation commercial operations
- finally launched service, inaugurating four 13-minute daily flights from Split Airport (SPU/LDSP) to Jelsa on August 27, 2014 after receiving permits from the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency following a 13-year-old battle and delays with bureaucracy and red tape, becoming Europe’s first modern scheduled and commercial seaplane service
- flights from Zagreb International Airport (ZAG/LDZA), Pula, Rab, and Zadar were also be added soon
- after over 11 years as hangar queen in Aerokluba Borovo hangar at Vukovar Borovo N Airport (LDOB), pushed out of storage by Pannonia Aircraft Maintenance, Osijek Airport (OSI/LDOS), near Klisa, Osječko-Baranjska, Slavonia, Croatia on ? December 1, 2015 for preparation and maintenance before engines fired up
- Pannonia Aircraft Maintenance (www.air-pannonia.hr) utilizes a mobile line maintenance van
- Mike Ingram (Victoria Air Maintenance Ltd.) there on his first trip
- imported in 2015
- C-FMXW, Victoria Air Maintenance Ltd., Victoria International Airport (YYJ/CYYJ), North Saanich, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada on October 23, 2015
- still located in Croatia, but Victoria Air Maintenance Ltd. became the nominal owner until conformity and airworthiness issues resolved
- still working on formally “conforming” the Goose to meet new EASA requirements for a fresh certificate of airworthiness, as Croatia only recently joined the EU (European Union) and came under EASA jurisdiction
- Mike Ingram was planning a second trip to Croatia to finish up with the issues and the paperwork
- grounded when its AOC temporarily withdrawn by the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency in August 2016, apparently because of safety concerns
- European Coastal Airlines, now headquartered in Split, suspended operations in October 2016, the CEO announced that operations would resume in 2017, the company’s website and Facebook page had not been updated as of February 2017, the Commercial Court in Split initiated a pre-bankruptcy procedure on May 2, 2017 at the request of ECA filled on April 18, 2017, and no flights were resumed by end of July
- apparently C-FMXW is slated to return to Canada
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Dockside somewhere up Knight Inlet, B.C., Canada in spring 1969. Forestry crew are unidentified.
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© Copyright photographs by Uwe Kündrunar Scharnberg, 1968–1969
© Copyright words and photographs by Stephan Alexander Scharnberg, March 2011
Couple of things that you mentioned above about which you (and/or from whomever you got your information) were wrong; the Grumman G-21A Goose was never certified for "crew of two (pilot and co-pilot), [and] eight passengers" but actually for only 8 seats/people TOTAL. That's technically 1 pilot, someone in the "co-pilot's" seat (although an actual co-pilot was never required because the type was certified for less than 12,500 lbs) and only 6 more seats for passengers in the main cabin.
ReplyDeleteYou can check it for yourself - just go the FAA Regulatory & Guidance Library Web site at http://rgl.faa.gov/ and select the Type Certificate Data Sheets section, then look up TC no. 654 (aka ATC-654.) A total of only 8 seats are listed by their relative flight stations - the number of inches forward (negative) or aft (positive) of the reference datum, which in the case of the Grumman model G-21A Goose is the leading edge of the inboard wing section. The first 2 seat positions of the 8 listed there are at -5 inches (5 inches forward of the leading edge of the wing) and that makes them the pilot and co-pilot seats. The other 6 seats are 2 at +24, 2 at +62, and 2 at +102 for a total of only 8.
Also, I find it curious that over the past couple of years I have started to hear about so many Grumman G-21A Gooses that were modified with long-range fuel tanks in their originally “dry” wing center sections. The only "approved data" pertaining to such a mod (at least that is as approved by the FAA in the United States) was McKinnon's STC SA1751WE, but that STC was never approved or valid for use on a Grumman G-21A Goose still nominally certified under ATC-654. STC SA1751WE was approved for and valid for use only on "McKinnon" model G-21C aircraft that were both re-certified under TC 4A24 and also modified with 550 shp PT6A-20 turbine engines per STC SA1320WE. That very specific “limitation” is explicitly spelled out right on the face of the STC itself. (You can also look up that STC in the Supplemental Type Certificates section of the FAA RGL Web site.)
The same engineering drawings (blueprints) that were the basis for that STC modification were also used as an optional feature for all of McKinnon's production model G-21E and G-21G Turbo Gooses - all 3 of them; 1x G-21E (s/n 1211) and only 2x G-21G (s/n 1205 and 1226.)
Even so, I have now heard of at least a half dozen Grumman G-21A Gooses that were similarly modified with the extended center section “wet wing” fuel tanks that converted the original two 110 US gallon inboard wing section tanks into two 168 US gallon fuel tanks (for a total of 336 US gallons) that filled the entire center section spar box structure between the engines, including the portion directly over the heads of the passengers in the main cabin.
The only extended-range auxiliary fuel tanks ever specifically approved for use in a Grumman G-21A Goose still certified under ATC-654 were the 60 US gallon so-called “slipper” tanks that McKinnon developed and got approved by the FAA under STC SA4-683. They were called “slipper” tanks because they were “slipped” inside the spar box structure in the outer wing panels outboard of the engines. Wing ribs had to be removed to make room for them and they had their own “portal frames” (exterior perimeter structural members) that carried all of the structural loads previously carried by the original ribs.
It really makes me wonder what the heck the people who were involved thought they were doing - and whether they were just ignorant of the regulations and requirements applicable to the maintenance and alteration of type-certificated aircraft, or simply ignored them.
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