18 April 2005
The future of the UK’s sole remaining airworthy B-17 Flying Fortress G-BEDF Sally B is seriously threatened because of new EU third party liability insurance requirements effective from 1st May 2005.
EU Regulation 785/2004 imposes new minimum third party liability insurance requirements for aircraft operators, with bands according to maximum take-off weight. Other privately operated vintage aircraft come under Band 5, but Sally B, as the only B-17, comes under Band 6, the same as a commercial Boeing 737, requiring a staggering £65 million in third party liability insurance cover (at the moment she carries a prudent £25 million).
For B-17 Operator Elly Sallingboe, this means having to find an additional £25,000 per year. That’s an astonishing £1,000 extra per flying hour, on top of the aircraft’s already extensive insurance premium
‘We are not giving up, but actively lobbying the Government to grant us an exemption. I’m not saying the rules are wrong, but there should be scope for exemptions for aircraft such as ours’.
Elly says she has great faith in the British public coming to Sally B’s aid, even if the Government doesn’t, in the form of sponsorship and those much-needed charitable donations to The B-17 Charitable Trust.
www.sallyb.org.uk
