Rescue Miss Pick Up from Loch Ness

As reported by our friends at The Vintage Aviation Echo, during a recent excursion to Loch Ness in Scotland for filming work, The Catalina Society‘s PBY suffered technical issues whilst on the water, preventing its departure. It has since transpired that the aircraft needs an engine change in this challenging location. The Catalina Society supports the Canso A Catalina Miss Pick Up (G-PBYA) and is essentially her ‘fan club’.

A small team led by the Catalina Society’s Chief Engineer Garry Short is preparing the Catalina for her starboard engine change which, weather and any other operational issues permitting, should take place soon ( tentative for Nov. 4th). The last few days have been spent getting the engine up to Loch Ness from the Society’s Duxford base and preparing Miss Pick Up for the engine swap. Among other things, this has involved erecting scaffolding around the aircraft as the volunteers do not have the luxury of their normal equipment such as stands and ladders to hand.

Despite the high winds over the last day or so, the Miss Pick Up is safe. The team is in great spirits and really buoyed up by the response to the GoFundMe appeal and the support from local people and businesses. But, need we say that the cost of this unexpected exercise continues to rise.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to assist with the costs of this task https://www.gofundme.com/f/misspickup. Help get this airshow stalwart repaired and back to base. Funds raised through the current appeal will go to the Catalina’s operating company which is Plane Sailing Air Displays Ltd.