StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I'm sure you're asking - where are the pictures? Well, here's the deal:

Between work and flight training I'm busy. Very busy. Today I took a few decent photos out at the airfield, and if ya'll are interested I'll show them off. Thing is, I haven't got a handy place to slap them up on the web, and at this point my brain is full and I don't want to wrestle with learning new software, even simple stuff.

So.... if someone will step forward with available space, I will e-mail them (pm me with your e-address) the photos for them to host, then do a little thread here with captions so ya'll can get a look at some of the things I've been talking about in the "Airport Stories" threads over in Off-Topic.

If not - let the thread sink like a stone and I'll go on to something else.

I will mention in advance that there are no pictures of me in this collection - when I'm flying I'm not snapping pictures, and neither is the guy I'm paying to teach me. (You want to see me flying? Look at my avatar, that's me flying.) There is, however, a nice 3-plane formation of V-tail Bonanzas in the mix, a guy with a powered parasail, some pretty airplanes, and a couple of airplane cockpit shots.

http://www.photobucket.com/

and

http://imageshack.us/

provide free and easy online hosting (and I mean really easy). If even that is too much trouble, then I can do it for ya.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

I've also got an imagestation and photobucket account so I can do it for you as well. I already have done it for you for the pic in Girl Talk I'd love to help

OK, I'll think about it - Mrs Kendall, very high probability I'll take you up on your offer. Could you send me your e-mail address again? I probably won't do anything about it until tomorrow - I'm sort of beat right now. Long day, lots of physical and mental activity, played very hard, must eat, wash off all the sweaty icky bits, and get some sleep.

>sigh< Back to reality tomorrow. >sigh<

OK, let's start the party... (assuming I'm doing this right)


This is a shot of a Stearman biplane coming in to land. The only bad thing, from my viewpoint, is that I am on the ground taking the picture rather than flying in it.

On the good side, it means my flight instructor will probably be on time this morning, as he is one of the two fellows on board.

Ummm.... I'm doing these small. Being rather new to the whole photobucket thing, I'm not sure if you can click on this and get a bigger view, or if I'd have to post the full size one. But for now, let's go with small. If folks want a full size we can do that later.


This is a shot of the same plane on the ground, with people for a size comparision.

The gentleman in the middle of the trio is my current instructor. He's oddly camera shy - I got this one through a telephoto lens. I'm still not sure what he looks like, despite spending many hours with him in the past two months. Sort of like that neighbor on Home Improvement that was always behind a fence or something - you know he's there, you know what he sounds like, but you never really get a good look at him.

OK, this one has to be full-size or you won't see anything:


Meet Citabria 8503 - this is the interior of the cockpit of the airplane I've been flying lately. It may not look simple, but it is I've flown things with easily twice or three times as many dials in front of me.

Fellow pilots will note a distinct lack of gyroscopic instruments. No artificial horizon. This is strictly a VFR airplane.

Every time I see one of these I can't help but think the guy who invented it watched too many Saturday morning cartoons. I mean, c'mon, this is a guy with a giant fan strapped onto his back. You're kidding, right?

Um... actually, no he's not, this actually does fly:


Had about 8 of these drop in, all different colors and such. Mostly they came for breakfast, but one of them also had a lesson in the Citabria later in the day. He's learning tailwheels, too.

I wanted to get a shot of the parasail taking off, but I missed it. Oh well. Pretty neat, although the tippy-toe run they do just before liftoff looks nearly as silly as the giant fan on their backs.

Broomstick wrote:Fellow pilots will note a distinct lack of gyroscopic instruments. No artificial horizon. This is strictly a VFR airplane.

What's the glideslope doing there then? Does some sadistic CFI like doing partial panels or something?

There's various types of flight training at this airport. Here we have three V-tail Bonanzas practicing their formation flying:



No, they're not actually flying sideways - I was standing almost directly beneath them when I took the picture.




Formation flights can also take off and, as you see here, land while still in formation.

This was all happening with three to five other airplanes in the immediate vicinity of the airport conducting flight training. Obviously, I was not getting the aerial view as I was, once again, on the ground flying the camera.

Wicked Pilot wrote:

Broomstick wrote:Fellow pilots will note a distinct lack of gyroscopic instruments. No artificial horizon. This is strictly a VFR airplane.

What's the glideslope doing there then? Does some sadistic CFI like doing partial panels or something?

According to the flight school owner, that came along when they bought the airplane. I don't think they bother to check it for accuracy. The needles move but no one has any idea whether or not it's working properly. I'm not even sure where the nav radios are on this thing - we just don't use it for that stuff. 3/4 of the time this plane is being used for tailwheel training, which is 99% take offs and landings in the pattern, and the rest of the time it's daytime fair-weather flying off to have picnics somewhere or something.

Probably quite different than the training environment you're accustomed to - and probably older and more beat-up equipment. Hey, I'd rather they replace worn out tires and keep the engines in good shape than worry about an ILS in an airplane I don't think I'd ever use for that purpose.

I will be able to show you some military equipment in a bit - maybe that will be more famillar?

Broomstick wrote:
Ummm.... I'm doing these small. Being rather new to the whole photobucket thing, I'm not sure if you can click on this and get a bigger view, or if I'd have to post the full size one.

I don't know if Photobucket is similar to Imageshack, but it might generate the code for you to cut and paste a thumbnail into the forum directly. Sorta like this:



Its a screenshot of Imageshack showing the forum cut and past code. I like to use it because I am very bad with BBcode and this lets me cut and paste the thumbnail code right into my post.

Back to the photos: I really like the yellow biplane in the second post. Its a nice shade of yellow. Does the plane you fly look similiar to this one?

Flying seems very complicated.

Gratuitous pretty airplane photo.

Normally, I'm not a big fan of green airplanes - they have this distressing tendency to blend into the landscape when seen from above - but this is the Decathalon they use for aerobatic training. So 2/3 of the time it's upside down or sideways and when viewed from above the white belly stands out nicely against the farm fields. Likewise, the green and black shows up nice against the blue sky when seen from below.

Dangermouse wrote:Back to the photos: I really like the yellow biplane in the second post. Its a nice shade of yellow. Does the plane you fly look similiar to this one?

Not really

This is the airplane I've been flying:

Flying seems very complicated.

It is and it isn't - in flight training they break it down into easily digestible steps so each rung on the ladder isn't that bad. Then, when you solo or get your license or whatever you look back and go "Wow! Did I really learn to do all that?!"

Yo! Military fans - here's something for you:


This is the view from inside a Boeing PT-17 Stearman, looking forward.

Safety tip: do not stand in front of this airplane when it's moving! The cockpit puts you about 7 or 8 feet (about 2.5 meters) above the ground to begin with, and then you have airplane and this big honkin' radial engine in front of you. You can't see what's in front of you.

How do they drive this thing on the ground? You do "S-turns" so you can look over the sides and have some idea where you're going. Once you're in the air the nose drops down and you can see ahead of you, but if the wheels are on the ground you've got an enormous blindspot on this thing.

Now, if you look at the prop blade, then shift your vision to the left you see the fuel guage hanging down, then to the left more - see that round thing? It's a rear view mirror

Guys, this thing can't back up under its own power - why do you need a rearview mirror? If you did want to see what you just ran over all you have to do is turn your head and look - with the way the fuselage slopes you can get a great view to the rear. What you need on this thing is a front view mirror.


This is a view over the side of the cockpit and throught the wingwires.

The round-roof building is the airport restaurant, complete with viewing area so folks can watch us pilots at work and play. The triangular roof building is the main maintenance and repair hangar.

There is one respect in which this biplane and the Citabria are alike - they're both ragwings. That's not metal, fiberglass, or composite covering the wings, it's cloth. It's a lot thinner than most folks want to know, but in fact it works quite well.

Ok so it's gotten screwed up because we tried to do it by me pming her with the photos and her copying the links from the pm, apparently it breaks the links anyway.. I suppose we could just try this again. I can just take what she said about the pictures and post the pictures properly

EDIT: To anyone who is confused she asked me to host the pics for her but she wanted to comment on them. Don't give her grief about how she didn't use the right photo host please.

EDIT#2: Wait I can't do that! What am I thinking I'm tired I swear that's why... I'm sorry for the screw up everyone


Nobody is ever gonna want to let me help them with their pictures again Oh geeze I deserve it

Wait, huh what? Cloth? on the wings? I thought they stopped doing that in the 1940s....that's frightening...what about a rock strike? Or a hailstone? Or, god forbid, a bird strike?! That'd end your lesson pretty quick-like, huh?

This is a better view of the Stearman instrument panel (Stop laughing, Wicked! It was state of the art when it was new! Be nice to the biplane - it's old enough to be your grandfather)



Not only does it lack gyros, it lack radios, too. In fact, I've flown ultralights with more instruments on the panel.

Those two fuzzy stripes? Those are velcro - a nod to the latter half of the 20th Century. When a radio is required you apply matching velco to the back of a handheld transceiver and affix it to the panel on the Stearman's velcro. Yes, we really do that. In a concession to the 21st Century, you can do the same with a hand-held GPS unit.

If it looks like rain you cover your expensive electronics with a ziplock baggie cut to fit and taped around them where necessary since in this baby you're out in the elements. When you're flying the airstream and windshield deflect rain and other precipitation over your head, but on the ground you do get wet. And cold. Or hot. Basically, it's a whole new way to experience the weather.

Um... yes, this is also a strictly VFR airplane. Never intended to fly into instrument requiring weather. In fact, this airplane was designed before anyone had figured out how to fly on instruments.

Citabria's are beautiful. Its what my mother learnt to fly in way back when.

Another one requiring full size for detail. This is the dataplate for the Stearman, and proof of its age and pedigree:


The pertinent information, in case you're having trouble making it out, is

US Army Air Forces - that's the predecessor to the USAF

Type: PT-17 (that's a Stearman)

Date Acceptad: April 24, 1943

You also get a good view of the support structure of the fuselage, which is exposed here. Metal framework - still that attractive army green - and cloth. That light blue between the metal stringers? That's the unpainted side of the airplane's covering, and it's thin enough that light shines through it. And that's how thick that colorful outer covering is all over the airplane. It really is just a skin stretched over a skeleton.

My late step grandfather had a Stearman in mint condition. He co-owned it with a few other fellows, up in Ohio. When he passed away, I suppose that the other men kept it. The funny thing was, we went to the Smithsonian Air & Space last summer, and his Stearman was in better shape than theirs!

Chardok wrote:Wait, huh what? Cloth? on the wings? I thought they stopped doing that in the 1940s....that's frightening...what about a rock strike? Or a hailstone? Or, god forbid, a bird strike?! That'd end your lesson pretty quick-like, huh?

Brace yourself, Chardok - they're still churning out brand new wings with cloth coverings. It's a lightweight means to get an aerodynamic shape.

Besides, how thick do you think metal airplane wings are? I'll tell you - about as thick as a pop can. If that much. A rock, hailstone, or bird will punch through a metal wing just as easily as a cloth one. I've seen it happen.

What happens? You get a hole. But don't forget, airplanes are built with some redundancy. The type of airplanes I fly have been known to land in a controlled manner with occupants unhurt after losing up to 1/3 of the wing area. There are accounts from wars dating back to 1914 of airplanes getting shot full of holes and still landing safely.

And yeah, in many cases they can - and are - patched with tape until permanent repairs can be made.

No one wants that sort of damage done to an airplane, but if you keep your wits about you one hole will not bring you down. The dope-primer-paint tends to limit the ripping, and it usually stops when it hits a rib since the cloth cover is literaly sewn to the framwork beneath. It's serious, but almost never deadly.

Oh, one more thing about Stearmans and how they're not as fragile as you think...

In the hangar that this pretty bird is kept in is a ... well, it looks like a small tree. It's about 15 long (that's 5 meters, folks) and about as thick as a man's arm. It's not a tree. It's the top third of a tree.

Someone goofed while flying this Stearman - yes, this very airplane - and got too low and crashed into one of the trees near the runway (go back and look at picture #1 - yes, in that group of trees) which took off the top of said tree. Airplane landed with tree part entangled in the landing gear struts.

Nobody on board was hurt (just really, really, really suprised and shook up)

Nothing was broke - other than the tree. Just some scratched paint.

Said pilot is still teased from time to time about his "tree trimming service"

This is NOT a fragile airplane. Yep, you can wreck 'em, but it's not as easy as you think.

never.


flying.



again.



Thin as a pop can?! CHRIST ALMIGHTY! that DOES it! It's terra-fucking firma for me FOREVER.