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Well, here I am, wide awake a 2 am with nothing better to do, and I've been gone from SD for a couple days, and ... what the hell, time to get more airplane pictures out of the hard drive and on to the web, right?

More photos from the Morris Skyfest back in September. This time, they are of a L-29 Delfin trainer jet from what is now the Czech Republic. This one is sometimes referred to locally as the "cloud camo" jet for reasons that should be obvious.




One neat thing about the Morris Skyfest is just how close you can get to the hardware. As you can see, the tourists get right up next to it, and in fact the groundcrew have to shoo them away in order to move the aircraft. Yes, people are standing around watching to make sure no one and nothing gets damaged, but for this jet in particular people were encouraged to take a good look.

A close in side view:



I didn't realize it when I first looked at this, but the black stripes are there to indicate where to put your feet when climbing in and out of the cockpit. It will become obvious in a bit where and how and I learned that.

Some time ago, there was a thread inquiring about ejection seats in civilian airplanes. The answer was that yes, civilian owned warbirds do have them, and here is a picture of the little warning label required on the outside of said aircraft:



Please note the "EXPERIMENTAL" designation here as well. There are several categories of "experimental" airplanes in the US. The one I'm most personally familar with is the "homebuilt" category, but this one is not in that group being a professionally manufactured military airplane. A quick trip to the FAA database for such things tells me this one is in the "exhibition" group. I'm not entirely conversant with the restrictions and regulations for such, but basically the owner is allowed to fly it to and from airshows and such, but would be barred from using it to transport cargo, transport people, and so on. A lot of warbirds, particularly non-US built ones, fall into this category.

No tour of an airplane is complete without a cockpit shot, is it?



Here's a couple more:



Uh... yeah... those are my feet on the rudder pedals. I did mention that the pilot was letting folks get up close and personal with this airplane, didn't I? (Didn't let me fly it, though...) He was particular about where I put my feet, so it was pretty much the seat cushion and the pedals and that was it. Yes, the black vertical stripes on the fuselage were helpful in getting in and out.

This next bit is a little hard to see, as the confines of the cockpit limited some of the photography options. Also, there was a line of tourists who also wanted to sit in the pretty jet so I couldn't spend a lot of time getting the shot.

Anyhow - in a thread I started about flying a German-made airplane there was mention made about non-English placards and labels. Someone expresed some surprise that non-English labeling was allowed in the US, or that English wasn't mandated, or something along those lines. And no, it's not required. It's a little hard to make out, but most of this cockpit still has its labels in the Cyrillic alphabet. I presume the words are Czech, but since I don't read it maybe it could be something else:



In contrast, a Soviet-made Yak I photographed later in the day at the same airshow had all its interior labeling in English. So some people do make the change, but it's not required.

Wonderful pics.

Do you have a clearer shot of the labels? Because I can't see a thing in that pic Otherwise, awesome pics!

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Unfortunately, I don't think so but I'll take another look.

Broomstick wrote:In contrast, a Soviet-made Yak I photographed later in the day at the same airshow had all its interior labeling in English. So some people do make the change, but it's not required.

Erm... What kind of Yak?

AMX wrote:

Broomstick wrote:In contrast, a Soviet-made Yak I photographed later in the day at the same airshow had all its interior labeling in English. So some people do make the change, but it's not required.

Erm... What kind of Yak?

I believe it's the one made by Yakolev. You know, not the woolly sort that come off the Mongolian steppes?

Elheru Aran wrote:

AMX wrote:Erm... What kind of Yak?

I believe it's the one made by Yakolev. You know, not the woolly sort that come off the Mongolian steppes?

You may want to inform yourself about the sheer variety of Yakovlev aircraft.