Aircraft pics

[earntaz]

Is there really something such as having too much fun?!? Can you imagine the bad guys on the ground and the fear they had when one of these war machines let loose with six .50s while strafing? Excellent video. Years ago I heard Jack Roush talking about his Mustang and during the entire interview I don't think the smile left his face. TAZ

[leach]

Here is the new German car airplane

[SS427]

Pretty neat series of videos with Kermit Weeks check flighting his P51C Mustang.

http://worldwarwings.com/starting-a-p-51...-kermit-mustang

[earntaz]

Cool -- Has the "checklist" memorized ... but we'd get decerted if we did that ...

[SS427]

Interesting on board video of an in flight emergency in a TBM Avenger. Makes you think more about what needs to go thru your mind when an emergency is encountered.

http://worldwarwings.com/pilot-did-the-b...smoking-avenger

[Woj]

Rick,

Good video.

A smoke filled cockpit will get your attention faster than just about anything else (other than an engine failure at V1). He did a good job of heading for Reagan and coordinating with the fire-fighters.

I had a C-130 cockpit fill with smoke at cruise altitude, over Denver one day. You lose track of time, but I think we were on the ground in about 7 minutes. We did have a fire, but it contained itself in a 2'x 2'x 2' electronic box. Burned to a crisp inside.

Phil Woj.

[SS427]

I would MUCH rather have an engine failure (depending on how catastrophic) than and on board fire though as you say, at V1 you are most often screwed! NOT a good thing either way. At least with a failed engine you can in most cases dead stick it in whereas with a fire you are often limited to how fast the fire consumes the aircraft. Glad yours was not major but I am quite sure you were likely entitled to an underwear change. Never encountered a fire or a failed engine. Only issue I ever had was when my pilot was performing a hammerhead stall and we fell straight back on our tail and the plane would not invert. It was not until I yelled at him to take his hands off the stick did the plane nose over with about 1000' left. This was in a Citabria.

[ZAPPER68]

Good one Rick...thanks. To hell with the checklist, get it on the ground ASAP. We carried out a number of 'fire emergencies' in the simulator and it was always 'fly the aircraft and get it on the ground (or water in our case) as soon as possible.

A couple of years ago a colleague was flying a Bell 412EP offshore and picked up a well head tower maintenance crew. They stuffed their tools in the tailboom baggage compartment and then climbed on board for the short ride to the accommodation/production platform. When the tool bag was stuffed in the baggage compartment a battery powered drill was inadvertently turned on, catching some rags in the bag on fire.

The 'Baggage Fire' caution warning light illuminated when the smoke detector did it's job. The incident had a happy ending but the oil company was pissed that the crew chose to land on a production facility instead of the water. That particular production platform pumps +/- 200K barrels of oil a day. The 'Safety Gurus' had a field day with this one...

[earntaz]

You can bet there was a severe puckering of the south end. In Vietnam had the rear engine of an Oscar Deuce get zapped -- the damn thing just barely made it back to Phan Rang ... the front engine was cooked also and after that episode both engines required R&R.

[JRSully]

On a lighter, aviation note. Heard the Blue Angels are finally going to Super Hornets next year, that will be a sight to see!