Lockhead Model 12 electra jr crash in Chino

I'm just restating what the Dan Gryder said. I'm not sure how you 'feel' the squishiness of the brakes while in the air, especially since the pedals are connected with the control surfaces.

If you can't check, then we're back to the issue of the unforgiving airport.

Also, if hydraulic fluid sprayed on the brake, it would have a similar result and there would be no way to know before touchdown.

 

Exactly. A small leak from a slightly loose fitting did not cause a loss of one of the brakes. What he is describing is a bind in a flex line that resulted in a twisting force when the gear was cycled. Not exactly rocket science to understand those dynamics sitting on the ground.

 

Glenn is an interesting fellow. I know him through the internet (he owns a website where I am a regular contributor and moderator), and I have always thought his maintenance practices were... interesting. Not that he neglected anything-- quite the opposite, really-- but that he insisted on doing everything himself or with his guys, none of whom had any experience with the airplanes they were working on. And then he consistently had issues-- go figure.

 

In his defense, not many people have experience with 1930s Lockheed twins. Unfortunately, it's an expensive learning curve.

Since he's rebuilding the cockpit anyway, maybe he should get the Chino wreck and make two of each...

 

That is true, but there are people who have experience with his other airplanes, and there are people who have experience with 1930s technology in general.

 

Based solely on my limited observations I do not think that is particularly uncommon on vintage aircraft. The more complex the more maintenance intensive the less quality work they seem to get. Some are fastidious to the extreme but those are the ones that have vintage aircraft within their budgets.

I cannot help but go back to the B17 the Collings Foundation had. After reading the final report on the crash the maintenance level on that airplane was criminal. Its destruction was a matter of when. To make it worse the pilot could not possibly have been ignorant of its condition. I think too many rely too heavily on the reputation these planes had for durability and reliability.

 

I may have posted this before but the maintenance condition of the B-17 from the Talichet operation that somehow made it to the B-17 50th Anniversary was terrible and we took it down to the Boeing shop where they spent most of a day on it, working on all of the mags, the brakes and lots of stuff all over. When I was at Langley there was never a day that we weren't working on something. Also, there was a thing called accountability.

 

I'm not an expert on older airplanes but I started messing with them in the 30's as an airport bumb. I flew with a lot of old guys who rebuilt their own airplanes and engines . It was their life and they were sort of outcasts. or aerial gypsies then. I mentioned it before but they took me flying in planes that are worth fortunes now. Some of the old hands never made it through the war when they enlisted or flew in the Ferry Command. Then after the war when I had learned to fly, I piloted many of the old treasures that were being pulled out of barns and garages where they were hidden during the war. The G.I. Bill allowed guys like me to benefit from being instructed by some crusty but excellent surviving pilots/instructors of the Air Force and Navy.
Not a day goes by that I don't think about those good days and good people.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login I just got back from romping all over the UK in an Extra 300, which has controllability in reserve so is quite different from the Electra, I’m sure. But over there most fun places to visit are tiny fields…like 35 feet wide by 1700-2000 feet in length and sometimes grass. These conditions were REALLY new for me. I three-point nearly all the time as I don’t like stressing the mains, with occasional wheel landings when there’s a stiff crosswind, but with my three-points, once I’m down and lose about 5 knots I gently fly the tail back up to level and firmly but briefly test my brakes while still cooking along, because in that plane I can Cobb the throttle and be airborne again in a second flat if something isn’t right. My huge rudder helps with safety as well of course.

 

When I had the C180 on wheels, I learned to do 'tail-low' wheel landings. Almost a 3-pt but just keeping the tail wheel aloft. Sort of the best of both worlds in that you were slower than a typical wheel landing and didn't need to stick it on, but still afforded elevator authority and the ability to get on the brakes in a controlled manner. This seemed somewhat common with other Cessna tail wheel pilots on un-improved strips.

 

Can’t really do that in the Extra due to the symmetrical airfoil. Any speed above the three-point near-stall you’d have to fly it and stick it on and if you ease back at all to pitch up its flying again. Did that a lot in the Cub.