Cool thread.
Every time I see the mains on that Ryan trainer... I wonder how the H... did they come up with that? It could not POSSIBLY be more complicated, it looks like.
That is a good and strong system, exactly like the P-26. Treadle type of landing gear that imposes no load on the wing and at the same time is a solid post for the flying wires and the oleo struts. i have had some fun flights in the PT-22 but I have never been comfortable with the Kinner...it sounds like it's only running on five cylinders and not cranked up enough. That thing is like a PBY-5, take off at 100, climb at 100, cruise at 100, and land at 100. I flew with a guy, Gene Van de Putt, who could wrack his Ryan around with skill and I have some good 8mm movies of doing some loops and hammerheads while I was focusing on Mt. Rainier and the sequence can almost make you nauseous. A very tough and good trainer that taught the vices of a fighter of the line. Mistakes in flight were dealt with violent reactions sometimes. A pilot's airplane.
Have you flown (often) in PBYs Bob? Any good Catalina stories to share? Great description of their "flight envelope". I've learned enough from crashing my little RC PBY that it's not especially forgiving of ham-thumbed pilots... Even though I am improving at spin recovery it's better not to need to slam on opposite rudder, feed in throttle and hopefully pull out before you run out of airspace! Now on the hunt for an RC PT-22, love the looks of that plane!
I was generous in the speed of the Catalina. It was more like 95MPH from what I was told. I never flew in one but when we were searching for a bombardier and navigator who bailed out without orders over the Chesapeake Bay after their B-17 was stuck by lightning, we watched ALL NIGHT when a PBY -5 cruised back and forth over the confluence of the York River and the bay in a violent thunderstorm dropping flares that lit up the clouds with a sillouhett (spl) of the airplane as it was flying in the storm. Incredible display of Navy flying.
Wow... how slow would it be if the floats didn't retract? Always thought that was cool. Built a model when I was a kid (Revell or Monogram?) and the floats folded on it, gear operated...
This is actually my theory in the C172, much to my instructors distain Nothing quite like it is there. I have been fortunate to have been to more cities and countries than I care to remember, and nothing seems to compare to what I call home now, from the air (although I was in an airliner in all the other cases) . I don't know if its just the immense sea of humanity sprawled below, or the contrast of the city with the blackness of the ocean on one side and the desert on the other. Only other place I can think of with that contrast was Abu Dhabi, but that place is tiny... Of course LA during the day is not much more than Detroit with palm trees Best view during the day.....possibly Hong Kong
Nothing quite like the beautiful light show of hundreds of small arms shooting at you at 400' AGL, 570 kts, on a clear desert night. Even prettier than all the 57 mm going off below you and the 85 mm and 100 mm going off above you after we quit flying TFR. Free fireworks show. Sorry, no photos.
Lou- I seem to remember being somewhat busy at the time. We carried two GBU-24 LLLGBs and 2 dumb Mk84s with us on many medium altitude sorties. If the weather was good, which it nearly always was, we dropped the LGBs. If it was bad we dropped the Mk84s on radar and brought the $250K each GBU-24s home. Since we nearly always used the LGBs, we would overfly an airfield on the way home and drop the Mk84s using the Pave Tack IR/laser pod. At 15,000', the 57 mm would be going off below us at 12-13,000'. The hot gun barrels made excellent IR targets, so the 57 mm guns took quite a few hits. A Mk84 with a short fuze setting would get your attention, especially a pair of them.
Jim- No smart phones in 1991. In fact no digital cell phones. We felt fortunate when we could get an HF radio patch to the States for a phone call. HF goes a long ways at night.
All of this makes me long to slip the bonds of Earth once again. Had a baby girl 5 years ago and have been Earth bound since. Time to take to the skies once again!
Jim- No, I got it. Was not sure about everybody else. Just because I am an old fart does not mean everybody remembers the olden days when you flew with ex-F-100 and B-58 pilots and refueled with KB-50s.
No one was shooting at me....but...... I used to watch people doing short approaches and think they where crazy.... always told myself I would only ever do a 3 mile straight in final....but then I tried it, thought it was nuts.....but now I love it now.. For sure it doesn't compare to you pro's but for a student its a thrill Of course being Van Nuys the shooting could start at anytime LOL Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
A pilot's perspective of Queenstown, New Zealand. [VIDEO] Dropping through the clouds in New Zealand.
Queenstown landing is a cool one.. earlier this year on a trip there we landed the other direction which involved same approach except fly past and with mountains looming a nice big low turn to line it up the other direction.. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Holy crap... that's one of the best videos Ive ever seen....not sure I want to study for IFR now though...
Another pretty amazing approach - St Barths, as seen from a P-40, FG-1D, and P-51 [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcmE7QI1WZY]Saint Barths Airshow 2011 - Cockpit Cameras - Texas Flying Legends Museum - YouTube[/ame]
