ABC News Report Questions Safety Of Grumman HU-16E

ABC News is raising questions about the Grumman HU-16E seaplane used to market Red Bull energy drink at major sporting events and air shows. ABC notes the Albatross was decommissioned and disposed of by the Coast Guard in 1976 because of concerns with the structural integrity of the aircraft's wings.

ABC further reports the plane operates under an experimental airworthiness certificate which prohibits anyone other than non-essential crew; and prohibits flight over densely-populated areas, yet is used to fly celebrities at events, and overflies huge crowds at outdoor events.

"It's terribly unsafe because the wing could fall off at any time," said former FAA inspector Bill McNease, who investigated the December 2005 crash of a Chalks Ocean Airways Grumman Mallard near Miami that claimed 20 lives. As ANN reported, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that plane's right wing detached from the fuselage due to previously undiscovered cracks in the wing spar.

McNease notes the Albatross used in the Red Bull events is structurally similar to the Mallard. "The long wing versions of this airplane have a definite, if you want to call it, drop dead time," he espoused on camera during a televised interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" infotainment program. "When they reach a certain amount of flight hours, that's it."

ABC also says when the Coast Guard retired the plane in 1971, it had logged 8,068 hours... yet when the plane's current owners applied for an airworthiness certificate in 2008, total flight time was listed as 7,100 hours.

A Red Bull spokeswoman, Patrice Radden, told ABC "Neither Red Bull nor any of its pilots or flight crews have or would operate an aircraft that is known to be unsafe or in an unsafe manner."

It's not clear whether ABC has its facts straight... or even has the right plane. The report repeatedly refers to the Red Bull Albatross as being built in 1954, and as being 55 years old.

FAA records confirm the statement in Red Bull's promotional materials that N29853 is a 1957 HU-16E.

FMI: Red Bull Albatross Site