BMW injunction against Vimy

The "Vimy Project" site is now posting only a phone # for inquiries. Yesterday the site apparently announced that the Vimy was being held in Arizona under a court order that had been sought by BMW. The German firm is quite concerned over their liability as re their V-12 engine utilization in the ship. The installations mods include the incorporation of a 5:1 reduction assembly. These units gave trouble last year and were the basis for a stipulation then, by BMW, that the Vimy was not to be flown in the U.S. where the extant legal philosophy puts so much responsibility on all manufacturers even when a non original part is involved.
Mark Rebholz is a throwback- a marvelous personage, surrounded by a great support team and with the backing of a supportive wife: we'll hear much more from him- and the Vimy. I was thinking an alternative might be Allison V-12s? They started with Chevrolet 454s- I wanted to ask him why the change from the GMs but never had the opportunity...I know you all join with me in wishing a great future for this marvelous group and their marvelous to behold aircraft. Regards, etc...Lee
injunction and a court oredr

[Richard_Schrader]

Lee;
The Vimy was to be at Topeka, Kansas tomorrow. As that is only 20 miles from where I live, I was looking forwards to seeing it. Now, that's all scraped!
Richard

[Barrett]

Hoo-boy, now you've got me started.
Rant Mode ON:
Lawyers!
A good friend of mine--one of the most decent people ever--built sport aircraft years ago. One of his purchasers climbed in said airplane and proceeded to fly it into a cumulogranite cloud with predictable results. The bereaved (?) family sued the manufacturer and my friend lost. Had to close up shop and fire a bunch of folks for something that was in no way his fault.
It's happened A LOT.
Things are so freaking bad in this freaking country that aircraft manufacturers now insert redlined cautionary notes in owners' manuals:
Put fuel in the tank before you try to fly!
I am NOT kidding.
Shakespeare had it right.
Rant Mode to STANDBY..

[Ira_Silverman]

Geez - just leave it to the lawyers!

Q: What's the difference between a dead lawyer and a dead skunk, both in the middle of the road?

A: There are skid marks ahead of the skunk!

This is unbelievable. What a glorious thing it was to watch that bird fly, and now that opportunity and future plans are in serious doubt.

I guess the Chevy 454's remain an option, but I believe there was a serious concern concerning their reliability. On the England to Australia flight, one of them fried a piston, and the plane had to put down in a rice paddy (Thailand, if I recall). A spare engine was flown in, natives were enlisted to clear a runway ahead of the plane, and the flight was continued after 6 days of intense repair activity. Fear of a recurrence over the Atlantic likely had something to do with their replacement.

I wonder if Jaguar/Ford might be interested in supplying engines, British heritage and all. Size and power output would be about right.

VBR,

Ira

HAPPY DAYS ! The judge has reversed his own decision. The Vimy is on her why to Oskosh.
Cher'o,
Lt. Dwight Rudder, RFC

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Barrett:
A few years back I was on a business trip to Cessna, and I asked why they were not making 150 etc,? They said they could not afford to, too many law suits.
In Japan, they have 1 lawyer for every 20 engineers! In the US we have 20 lawyers for every engineer! I have a solution for this over abundence of lawyers. Every lawyer who looses his case is summarily executed the following Sunday at 1.00 o'clock pm. Same solution for judges who looses an appeal decision on a bad call., Mike Baraum excluded.
Blue skies,
Dan-San Abbott

[Vigilant]

I can understand all the stick for lawyers but (head well above parapet) lawyers do not make the law. The problem in this case was US product liability law. This has nothing to do with lawyers. It has everything to do with legislators and especially with judges, who I suspect, as in England, are responsible for developing the law of negligence. If a lawyer comes to Court with a case that the majority of right-minded citizens would think is ridiculous the judge should throw the case out. Otherwise the law inevitably becomes an ass as the saying has it (donkey not butt for transatlantic forumites). A hundred years ago the law of negligence hardly existed in England. The only reason it has developed is that judges have developed it through caselaw. Not a single statute has been passed by Parliament to bring about this massive change in civil liability.

Right, I'll get my head back under the parapet now to avoid the hail of incoming ordance aimed at my head.

Vigilant

The Vimy is in OSH. (Oshkosh by its three letter
identifier). I saw it land this evening on Rwy 27
at about 7pm. About a 200 foot landing roll.
Very impressive! Winds were at about 240 at 5-10kts. I saw it last year at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, the quietness of the engines at idle is impressive; as is the roar at take-off!

Ryan