Issued at 4pm Wednesday 11th September
We have now received a report on the state of the leaking No.5 tank from specialists FPT Industries in Portsmouth.
Given that more than one leak and other signs of deterioration were found, and that the tank is itself over 30 years old, we have concluded that, if repaired, the tank would remain vulnerable to further leaks.
We have therefore decided that repair of the tank would not prove economical and, if reinstalled on the aircraft, could prove to be unreliable.
There is no airworthy spare available; we have accordingly commissioned a new tank to be manufactured immediately.
With an estimated 16 week lead time for manufacture, we are very sorry to announce that it will not be possible to return the aircraft to flight again in 2013.
XH558 has therefore sadly made her last public appearance this year.
We now wish to concentrate on ensuring we are able to secure sufficient funding to return XH558 to the air for another two seasons.
