^^^ Wow. WHen they restore something like that, do they use the original control linkage configuration, or do they upgrade it with more modern (safer) stuff?

7/1/2009 6:29:49 PM

Based on the attention to detail that I've seen on other warbirds I'd be really surprised if they tried to retrofit any modern stuff into it.; older doesn't mean substantially unsafer. Aside from fuel injection and new avionics, don't a number of modern designs use similar technology?

7/1/2009 7:30:47 PM

^^ i suspect that they keep it very much like it was in WWII, which is actually generally perfectly fine.

I flew my friend's RV-6 a few days ago...did an aileron roll over the Neuse River in New Bern.

Brought (as a navigator/copilot) a Prowler back from Pax River, MD today. Did a basic training flight of some aerobatics and other hard maneuvering on the way.

7/1/2009 9:03:08 PM

Just read up on 40's engine design. Apparently the development of the Jumo 222 hyper-engine pushed back german aircraft development for 2 years while everyone waited for it to come online. German high command blocked other designs and insisted that everyone plan on using the 222. By the time that they realized that it wouldn't pan out they'd already shot themselves in the foot.

BTW, the engine is an over-engineered beast:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Jumo_222

7/2/2009 4:23:25 PM

Shot ILS and GPS approaches all afternoon with a hangover.

7/3/2009 9:44:51 PM

^^ interesting.

^ . . .

7/4/2009 9:42:31 AM

I got to say, stalking drug running planes in the Caribbean/Central America is my new favorite hobby.

7/4/2009 1:57:00 PM

Quote :

"Shot ILS and GPS approaches all afternoon with a hangover."

Well that makes you a lot more cool than everyone else.....

7/5/2009 8:38:44 AM

Excellent. That post paid off then.

7/5/2009 1:42:04 PM

We had a Pilatus PC-12 go down near where I'm vactioning this weekend.

http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/plane_crash_fatal/42511/

7/6/2009 8:22:16 AM

I know that area well actually. A piper cub was flying over VMI back in 2000 when a wing simply snapped off and it corkscrewed into the ground.

According to the NTSB, the aircraft was flying from Newark, NJ to Boca Raton, Fla . . . there was speculation as to what exactly it was doing. Supposedly it was overdue a maintenance check, but I don't see flying it from NJ to Fla for an overdue maintenance check. Then again, I'm not a private pilot so I don't know.

7/6/2009 4:16:16 PM

Got to fly the CH-47 simulator today. Kind of nice holding 100KIAS, 90% torque, and climbing at nearly 4000 fpm. I realize nobody here cares, but I had fun

7/9/2009 11:59:37 PM

How does flying twin rotor compare to single?

7/10/2009 12:28:03 AM

The system is much more stable overall. You figure out your predicted hover torque, pull the trust lever in till you get that setting and the aircraft pretty much picks itself up to about 30' then settles down into a 15' hover. I was also having to fight the tendency to put in corresponding pedal inputs when I raised or lowered the trust lever since they're completely unnecessary.

It's also weird in the sense that in a single rotor helicopter you're suspended from the main rotor and flight inputs cause the aircraft to act like a pendulum underneath the rotor system. Not the case with the 47.

7/10/2009 7:56:00 AM

Any recommendations as far as headsets? I'm leaning towards David Clark, but haven't settled on a specific model yet.

7/10/2009 3:18:53 PM

I hate David Clarks. I have had more problem with David Clarks than anything else. I think there are many better options out there. How much are you willing to spend? The Lightspeed Zulu is considered the best right now. some like the Bose as much.

On a side note, both those headsets can be applied to the rule of diminishing returns. I have a generic ANR headset made by AVShop Design. I bought it 5 years ago. Super quiet. Not too tight on the ears. Great performance. One of my pilot buddies and I went up. He had the new Lightspeed. Very light, next to no pressure on the ears. To me, my headset cancelled more noise. Where his was better was the stereo sound for music and the bluetooth phone connectivity. He was pretty dissapointed that his headset was not dramatically better than mine, considering he paid nearly 4 times as much. He didnt say that, but he said "I wonder if my batteries are getting low." I just nodded as I didnt want him to feel bad.

This is the headset I have:
http://www.avshop.com/product/ITEM5931/329



[Edited on July 10, 2009 at 4:34 PM. Reason : .]

7/10/2009 4:28:45 PM

might be a bit off topic....

what would it take to get some of yall to let me know when yall are going to be flying so i could tag along and get a few jumps in?

7/12/2009 4:49:29 PM

^

Where do you jump?

I flew in an RV7 Saturday. As I expected 90degree banks and rolls are fun.

7/13/2009 9:00:09 AM

^^Last guys to jump out of the Old Winnibago got caught in the prop wash and asked to never do it again.

1st and only P-3C Seal Insertion.

7/13/2009 9:19:49 PM

I've exited a plane at 230kts several times... itsnot that bad. Though the first timemy words were... the exit speed made meits bitch. If you hit your track just right you can generate enough lift to float above the plane. Its quite surreal.

7/13/2009 9:26:49 PM

ATTN JCASHFAN:

I was making an approach on 32 at RDU and spent the entire time trying to spot an ANG helicopter that was less than 1/4 mile from me approaching above the trees so that I could maintain distance.

You assholes need to stop painting your helicopters green. It makes them really difficult to spot.

7/14/2009 6:06:17 PM

Hey man, I've been flying the little orange and white ones and they can be hard enough to spot on their own. RDU is full of 64 guys anyway. I bear no responsibility for their shenanigans.

7/14/2009 6:23:55 PM

Fair enough.

This wasn't a 64. Looked like a Kiowa but the tail was too big. I was under the hood doing a GPS approach and the G1000 showed us as being right on top of the guy. The guy in the left seat couldn't spot him, so after much aggravation I pulled the hood off to find him.

7/14/2009 6:34:29 PM

UH-72 maybe?




I was in the back over Richmond about a year ago and we had the worst time finding a TV news 206 about one mile away. It is amazing how hard it can be to find a relatively small aircraft, even when you know where it is supposed to be.

7/14/2009 7:23:46 PM

That looks about right. The tail threw me off.

The guy in the right seat was telling me to descend while the proximity warning was going off and indicating that the guy was just a few hundred feet directly below us. I almost flipped out on him but managed to crab out and give us a bit more separation.

7/14/2009 9:27:15 PM

Yeah, they're replacing the OH-58 A/C models in the National Guard and in a very few active duty units. I know the MEDEVAC unit here at Rucker is finally giving up their UH-1s for these things. Supposedly they're good for the job, clamshell doors and whatnot.

7/15/2009 12:14:17 PM

R-44 Crash up near DC

http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=227489&format=html

Quote :

"A helicopter that crashed on Interstate 70 at South Mountain on Thursday night after taking off from Hagerstown Regional Airport was carrying three employees of a flight instruction company, officials said Friday morning. Four people aboard the helicopter died in the crash, Kevin Lewis, director of Washington County Emergency Services, said Friday. "

7/24/2009 12:07:21 PM

Quote :

"High-tension wires were down at the scene"

They don't call them helicopter catchers for nothing.

7/28/2009 12:57:55 PM

Thought people might be interested in this. Took me forever to find the thread again. I searched flying or plane or pilot.

Free 1 year of Flying Magazine. No credit card necessary and they won't bill you. Go-go-go!

http://www.valuemags.com/freeoffer/freeoffer.asp?offer=Flying-RDC.asp

8/8/2009 6:29:41 AM

^ good stuff, thanks.


Another crash in the Hudson:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/08/hudson.helicopter.crash/index.html

Quote :

"The search for nine people aboard a small plane and a helicopter that collided Saturday over the Hudson River has become a recovery mission, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Authorities are searching for the wreckage of an American Eurocopter AS350 similar to this one. Two bodies have been recovered, but it was unclear whether the second was from the crash, which authorities "do not feel was survivable." Two passengers, including a child, and a pilot were believed to have been aboard the single-engine Piper PA-32 when it collided with the copter around noon between New York and Hoboken, New Jersey, Bloomberg said. Five Italian tourists and a pilot were believed to be aboard the helicopter, an American Eurocopter AS350 operated by Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours, Bloomberg said. iReport.com: See witness photos"

8/8/2009 6:42:45 PM

Does anyone know where I can rent a 150/152 in NC State area? I am almost ready to get my license, but I need some practice to get withing practical testing standards. WCFC is too expensive because of the $200 application fee and the $60/month dues, not to mention the minimum $300 deposit.

8/12/2009 5:15:24 PM

try empire aviation in durham

8/12/2009 6:58:19 PM

Flying Saturday morning for the first time since May














on a commercial flight to San Francisco October needs to hurry up and get here.

9/3/2009 10:01:20 PM

Here's my new ride 'til I get furloughed in a couple of months ().

9/5/2009 3:29:15 AM

So, apparently a friend of mine had a flight lined up for me in a tandem seat P-51 this Saturday at the Enterprise, AL Air Expo. Unfortunately, the mayor put his 21 year old niece in charge of organization and she goat-fucked the whole goddamned thing so much that this guy pulled out.


Needless to say, I'm pissed.

9/23/2009 6:26:35 PM

I would probably kill her if I were in your shoes.

I just got back from a section low-level across the desert in arizona (tac-form). did a bunch of tac-turns and ripping around through the mountains and canyons with two jets flying fighter wing.

9/23/2009 8:38:57 PM

Well, I might still have a shot if I drive down to PC Beach sometime, so we'll see. But still.

9/23/2009 10:12:02 PM

I'm flying a night low-level (on NVGs) through the mountains tomorrow night. I say "low-level"...it'll be 1000' agl, but still down in the canyons and stuff, doing 420 kias (our standard low-level airspeed, although during the day, depending on who you're flying with, that sometimes turns into 500+ kias).

the next one will be the same thing, but in section (2-ship formation).

9/24/2009 2:53:07 AM

Quote :

"it'll be 1000' agl"

low level my ass

9/24/2009 5:01:04 PM

http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/travel/video/6017767/

9/24/2009 9:45:09 PM

^^ yeah, not really low, even for us. 500' agl is our typical daytime low-level altitude (for training...we could obviously go a LOT lower, but we're restricted for training. I think that's gay, but I don't write the rules). Hornets and Harriers go down to 200' agl, but they have a HUD and more "g" available.

Even at night, in terrain, I think we could safely do 500' at night most of the time...but it would be tasking at times.


I have done an inverted mountain ridgeline crossing at 500 knots, though...can't say for sure how much we cleared it by, as the RADALT was pointing at the sky, but I would say about 200'. I've also flown down a canyon narrow enough that I was constantly looking out to make sure neither wingtip was going to hit anything.

[Edited on September 25, 2009 at 1:22 AM. Reason : ]

9/25/2009 1:21:03 AM

Dude... P-3s go down to 200 AGL and we're about as maneuverable as a school bus you jet boys need to man up!

PS. 3.9hrs A time this week BOOYAH!

[Edited on September 26, 2009 at 2:20 AM. Reason : .]

9/26/2009 2:18:55 AM

ha, but you don't do it over and through terrain or while moving along at five bills, and sometimes in section.

that said, 1000' is fucking retarded. you won't find any defenders of it in any jet squadron I know of. It's absurd. In fact, it's negative training, in my opinion.

500' is low enough to get some training out of it, but it's still very conservative, even to the point of it still fostering complacency in some regards (bad habit patterns like slow, lazy, undisciplined inside scans, tolerance of the RADALT beeping at you, etc).



^ is 3.9 a lot of flying in one week for you? that's prob about average for me...i figured a p-3 guy would get a lot more.
______________

break, break


So, I need to quit screwing around and go finish my civilian PPL. I've done way more than enough flying--I just need to take the written and get an FAA checkride. The written is the problem--I could pass it, but it would be a very mediocre score (which the examiner sees before your checkride.) For you non-pilots, the exam is stupid--full of grossly outdated and irrelevent material, and lacking on some things that are actually necessary to be a good aviator. However, you won't get your PPL without passing it--it is what it is.

I've used http://www.exams4pilots.org, but it's mind-numbingly boring, and I'm tired of finding questions with incorrect answers, etc. What you have general aviation types used effectively to school yourselves up for those dumbass tests?

[Edited on September 27, 2009 at 2:16 AM. Reason : ]

9/27/2009 2:15:30 AM

Quote :

"The guy in the right seat was telling me to descend while the proximity warning was going off and indicating that the guy was just a few hundred feet directly below us."

What a fucking moron. Who was that dunce, anyway? Please tell me you debriefed him after landing, and hopefully struck him with a blunt object.

9/27/2009 2:19:45 AM

I used the Gleim test prep kit and got a 98 on the test. It was very useful.

9/27/2009 3:15:38 AM

^^Hey didn't you say something about being at Cherry Point these days?

9/27/2009 8:38:36 AM

Quote :

"The written is the problem--I could pass it, but it would be a very mediocre score (which the examiner sees before your checkride.)"

Are you talking about the military comp exam? I don't know if the service is offered there, but the PHPA offers a military comp exam that will allow us to graduate with our commercial helicopter pilots license. I don't know if there is something like that there.

9/27/2009 10:03:09 AM

^^^ that's just a book, right? I tried that, too. Bored the shit out of me...even worse than the website, haha. I need a computer program or some DVDs or something.


^^ yep, I'm at Cherry Point. Well, actually I'm out in Yuma, AZ until November, but I'm stationed at Cherry Point (in between deployments, haha).

^ yeah, there's a military comp exam, but only if you're a pilot. As a navigator, I'm not eligable (also, even though I'm instrument qualified in the Prowler, I'll have to do the full instrument rating syllabus when I get around to that).

9/27/2009 12:21:48 PM

So, how do you end up being a navigator vs pilot? I assume you'd rather be a pilot instead?

I know nothing about the military

9/27/2009 12:27:17 PM

long story starting with one of my eyes being marginally outside the astigmatism limits, getting it fixed with PRK, but the USMC being in a crunch for navigators and pretty much forcing me to be a navigator because I had the scores, even though I had the eyes to be a pilot. (then I did everything I could to end up in F-18s, but the other guy in my class--who I had better grades than--somehow got the F-18 spot).

I've gotten to do a ton of cool stuff, but I don't intend to ever make a career out of being a Prowler navigator. I plan on finishing my time, then either getting a pilot transition or getting out.

9/27/2009 12:54:08 PM