First turbulence experience

[APenNameAndThatA]

On 10/10/2021 at 3:18 PM, jackc said:

Got one of them from Dan at Wings Out West, just need to fit my Clark headset to it 🙂

 

 

That's just what I was looking for, but did not find one when I was looking for one a few years ago. I ended up getting an MSA/Gallet at much greater cost. The MSA/Gallet was really, really uncomfortable for the first 10 hours. The tinted visor is really, really good quality, but. 

[Old Koreelah]

15 hours ago, Thruster88 said:

The strut to spar attach plate manufacturer bulletin was in 2004 details on RAAus. They should all be correct now. Always check if purchasing.

Years ago I started to unzip the wing skin to check that SS plate as part of my preflight, but the impatient young instructor said “forget all that bullsh1t and just get in!”

 

What’s really frightening is how far up he’s been promoted since. 

[facthunter]

WRONG example. SAFETY is never BULL$#!T. Wing off = Game over.. Frighten me. How far has HE gone since? Surprising what you find on pre flights.. One (which I've mentioned B4)...

  Noticing saw dust on the ground, I unzipped the wing above and found rats had chewed the spar 1/2 through.   Nev

[Flightrite]

Was taxiing out one day in a PA42 when the tower said I need to return to the Co apron. Seems a mech just realised he couldn’t find his lock wire pliers....shut down he took the cowl off and there they where sitting atop the PT6.......it was a nervous flight after that!

[F10]

7 hours ago, APenNameAndThatA said:

Recovery from a spiral dive is power down, elevator slightly forward, roll wings level, then pitch (ref: Airplane Flying Handbook, FAA). You need to move the elevator slightly forward so you don't over stress the aircraft even levelling wings. Of course, in a stall or spin, rolling the wings level first will cause problems. My guess is that in an UA, the first thing to do is unload the elevator/AOA as you are checking your airspeed. Disclaimer: I have 150 hours. 

Yeah, fair point. you should certainly unload the aircraft before rolling, if high g is being experienced. Rolling g limit being a consideration, (when you roll, you will be increasing the loading on the “up” going wing, possibly over-stressing it). I guess the only criteria here is avoiding any forward check that may worsen or delay recovery. Yes, aileron at the stall, or trying to roll the aircraft out the spin, with aileron is not a good idea. The Mirage III had an interesting spin recovery, by rolling into the spin….this was using the pitching moment of inertia of the heavy fuselage, (compared to the light wings, yes, disregarding any pylon weapons) in the spin. Unusual, because it used the moments of inertia, rather than the aircrafts aerodynamic stability for recovery. I can try explain this, it’s quite interesting, but how much time have you got…..!

[F10]

Another Warrie….! Years back flying the MB326 Machii the SAAF called it the Impala. Great little jet, and pretty quick, she would run up to 400Kts Full power straight and level, if clean. I was flying a tail base with Zandy Greef. Coming out of a loop, I was gaining on him, so throttled back to idle and lowered my nose, to let him gain some angles on me. As we bottomed out, lowering the nose caused me to hit his slipstream. I felt the aircraft roll and yaw, sensed rather than heard the “whump” I corrected and all was good. He was now getting away, so I increased power, only, the %RPM needle went backwards, instead of increasing….a glance at the JPT showed the needle unwinding below 400 degrees. In that instant I realised hitting the slipstream at idle, had caused the Viper to flame out. This was instantly followed by that horrible slide feeling in the gut! Now in the Machii, the re-light (ignitor) button, is ontop of the throttle, just above the transmit button. No prizes for guessing which button I immediately pushed….Zandy said afterwards, he was surprised to hear heavy breathing noises suddenly in his helmet earphones, he thought it was like someone making a dirty phone call! I realised my error and quickly hit the re-light button. With relief, saw the JPT needle kick and the RPM start winding up on throttle advance. The good old Viper 540 was always a good re-lighter! Feeling a bit of a tool…we continued the fun sortie, having a bit of a laugh in the de-brief.

Edited October 12, 2021 by F10

[Methusala]

Speaking of Macchis...We had a young RAAF visitor to Holbrook one day. He was speaking to Mick Parer telling the tale of punching out at Sale. As Mick questioned him he stated that he followed the procedure, waiting for the rudder pedals to become slack before pulling the exit handle. (The rationale behind this, apparently, was that a fire in the tail tube would burn its way out, then melt the rudder cables. Directional control being lost, any attempt to steer away from impacting people/structures on the ground became no longer possible.)

I won't forget the bemused expression on Mick's face as he said, "Be stuffed if I'd wait that long!"

This is as I recall it. Don't shoot me - I'm only the messenger, Don.

[F10]

In my SAAF career, I knew of two Impalas that had in flight fires. Both caused by a faulty gasket in a fuel control unit (the BFCU), causing a severe fuel leak. Fuel pools below the engine, then she barks like a dog…whoof! The trouble is the elevators and rudder of the Machii, are controlled by aluminium torque tubes or push rods, that run through to the tail under the engine, right where the fire is. One pilot landed seconds away from the rods melting, the other said shortly after a night flying take off, he saw the fire and overheat warning lights come on, then shortly after, he felt the stick “go dead in his hands” and he ejected. 

[turboplanner]

8 hours ago, F10 said:

In my SAAF career, I knew of two Impalas that had in flight fires. Both caused by a faulty gasket in a fuel control unit (the BFCU), causing a severe fuel leak. Fuel pools below the engine, then she barks like a dog…whoof! The trouble is the elevators and rudder of the Machii, are controlled by aluminium torque tubes or push rods, that run through to the tail under the engine, right where the fire is. One pilot landed seconds away from the rods melting, the other said shortly after a night flying take off, he saw the fire and overheat warning lights come on, then shortly after, he felt the stick “go dead in his hands” and he ejected. 

Seems a few designers made elementary mistakes in the early jet engine days.

At one stage there was an influx of MIG-15s into the Australian Warbirds which quickly cooled off after two people were killed after an airshow in Canberra. https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1993/aair/aair199300484/

 

In The Australian War Memorial there is a static display of a MIG-15 where you can get right up and poke your head inside the aircraft. Remembering the crash I had a look inside the rear fuselage section and two things stood out.

 

1. Just how basic the fuselage design was in that area around the rear of the engine.

 

2. Amost touching the heat-discoloured turbine/tailpipe they had installed the fuel boost pump where a loose flare nut spraying fuel virtually had to hit the hot engine.