Efter sex års renovering och drygt ett års flygutprovning var Stratoliner'n "Clipper Flying Cloud" nästan klar att levereras till ägaren, National Air and Space Museum i Washington, DC. Bara några sista test och litet besättningsträning återstod. Provflygningarna, liksom iståndsättandet, genomfördes av frivilliga Boeinganställda och -pensionärer.


Den 28 mars 2002 klockan 12.30 lokal tid startade kapten Richard "Buzz" Nelson (60) med ytterligare tre besättningsmedlemmar från Boeing Field i Seattle, med avsikt att göra några studs-och-gå på Paine Field i Everett, för att sedan återvända. Klockan 13.05 tog flygningen slut med ett magplask i Puget Sound. Motorerna hade stannat på icke glidflygtsavstånd till alternativa flygplatser. Nelson valde nödlandning på vattnet, för att i möjligaste mån få ned flygplanet i ett stycke. Det lyckades utan större strukturella skador.

Planet bärgades utan dröjsmål och renoveringsgänget kallades samman igen. Sommaren 2003 hade "Clipper Flying Cloud" för andra gången återuppstått till ett skinande, luftvärdigt utställningsföremål, vilket får betraktas som ett nästan lika stort mirakel som att man lyckades få tillverkaren att sponsra den första renoveringen. Den försenade leveransflygningen påbörjades i juli 2003 och mellanlandade bland annat på EAA's fly-in i Oshkosh.

Bland allt som sagts och tyckts om den olyckliga besättningen på ödesdagen är nedanstående, saxat från Peter Okicich's websajt, typiskt. Av större betydelse för flyghistorien är att projektet kunde svälja förtreten och komma igen. Detta gör det säkert lättare för "Buzz" Nelson & compani, som så när dränkt förhoppningarna i saltvatten, att leva med skulden. Haverikommissionen lyckades inte fastställa någon annan haveriorsak än bränslebrist.

"
........ The story is that these highly trained Boeing test pilots decided they'd take this airplane out for a flight, to do some circuits. They were paying for it themselves, out of their own pockets, so elected to only put *300 gallons* of gas in it when they were on the ground at Boeing Field. They were hoping to avoid Galvin Flying's extra $0.04/gallon by putting more in when they got to Paine Field (where gas was cheaper) to do circuits.

Somewhere enroute to Paine Field, the fuel situation was driven from their mind, probably because they were having so much fun flying.....so they did circuits at Paine until the #3 engine coughed, then died. They feathered the prop, and decided they should probably land to investigate.

They selected gear down, to find that the gear leg under the #3 engine wouldn't lower, because the hydraulic pump needed to do that was powered by the #3 engine (now feathered). So they lowered the gear leg manually, but decided (get this) to fly *back to Boeing Field* to park the plane, rather than land at Paine Field. Shortly after making that bright decision, the other engines started failing. No engines were running by the time it ditched, and three of the four props weren't feathered.

The kicker here: The Stratoliner's maintenance base is apparently *at Paine Field*. Any maintenance to be done would require that it be brought back to Paine Field anyway (or a bunch of equipment moved to Boeing Field). When asked why they wanted to bring it back to Boeing Field, the response was "Well, our cars were at Boeing Field". Someone should have asked where their *boats* were.

A detail that may be useful, if you're keeping track in your head: these engines, at 30" manifold and 2000 rpm, would burn about 50 gal/hr each in cruise, and would average more like 70-80 gal/hr each if you were doing circuits. Some things that weren't reported in the article below: When they peeled back the interior linings, they found that "it's all twisted at the bulkhead where the spar attaches to the fuselage". Both main gear legs were ripped off by the ditching, and were found floating next! to the aircraft... The official explanation to date is that the engines failed due to "air in the fuel lines". I guess that's one way of putting it. My take is that the dipsticks were in the cockpit, and not in the fuel tanks..."

/HA