Guest Speedbird Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Hi all! Joined a few minutes ago and felt like getting more in touch with the "South" to find additional info on the Ligthning witch i hope to buy and build hopefully soon. Happy to have found such an nice and interesting site! Blue Skies! Ivan
Deskpilot Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Ivan, nice to have you in the formation. Like you, I'd love a Lightning, so much so that I went down to have a looksee a year or so ago. Dennis is now selling his much advertised plane, $130k I believe, and if I could............ Last picture is one of my old squadron aircraft.
Guest Brett Campany Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Hey Ivan, welcome along mate, would love to see a blog on you building your Lightning when you get it, I'm really keen to check out one of these aircraft! Doug, how long did you have yours? They look pretty sweet, what are they like to fly?
Guest Speedbird Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 Touch Down Thank you guys for the warm welcoming! Really appreciate it. Brett, I just noticed an interesting mass of text in your message, the part of "Get Lost" A close friend of mine (heli pilot vertol) actually gave me a shirt many years ago it said, "Support your local helicopter Get Lost" The Swedish marine have many rescues and are or where part of SAR. Personally I was flying for Swedish Air Ambulance for about ten years almost like your famous RFD´s. Right now I am trying hard to convince the wife to allow me another toy ;) Looking forward to be a flying Lightning member before I bail out. Blue Skies to you all Cheers Ivan
Deskpilot Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 Brett, You didn't see my sarcasm in my post. Never actually owned a Lightning, just wish I could. Worked for 15 years on the REAL thing but.
Guest Brett Campany Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 Brett, You didn't see my sarcasm in my post. Never actually owned a Lightning, just wish I could. Worked for 15 years on the REAL thing but. Please tell me you got to fly one at least once!!
Deskpilot Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 I'm guessing you mean the English Electric one. No, unfortunately. I was ground crew and was pretty high on the list for a flight when, as Sod's law would have it, there was an incident where another mechanic had some difficulty getting out of a crippled aircraft. The end result was that we all had to do an ejection seat coarse before being allowed to fly. That basically put an end to all joy flights due to the extreme time delays and training facilities available. The nearest I got to it, apart from being the 'brake man' when towing planes in and out of the hanger, was to sit in the right hand seat whilst doing full re-heat (after burner) trials. This was done by backing the plane up to a huge pipe the started horizontal and then turned 90 degrees up wards to a height of about 20 feet. The plane was then tied down and chocked very securely before the engines were run. An Engine mech, corporal and above, would then run one engine at a time, slamming it in and out of re-heat. The canopy was open if possible and head set mandatory. The noise level was quite low actually as one couldn't hear the air intake screaming up front and the tail pipes where so close to the de-tuner that most sound was sent sky wards. What set you're nerves atremble was that powerful shuddering and dipping of the nose as the throttle was fully opened. The ground literally rumbled. You know what it's like to ride a powerful motorbike or a big horse, well multiply that feeling of power a few thousand fold. I'll never forget it. If I could afford it, I'd go to Thunder City in South Africa and buy a ride in the only remaining, air worthy Lightnings left. BTW, I didn't get a flight with Dennis either as he was working on a modification to the flaps at the time of my visit.
Deskpilot Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 Forgot to mention. The above all happened late on a spring evening, ie, twas dark. The plane was a T4 dual seat trainer which was faster than the single seat version, believed to be due to the coke bottle shape at the front end. The cockpit is fascinating when all lit up and, the de-tuner, for some reason hadn't been used for a while. Therefore, when re-heat was hit the first time, all birds nests and whatever else had crawled in there, was blasted skywards along with the sound. Quite a show. I had to hang out of the cockpit to see it in action. Fabulous.
Tomo Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 Interesting Story there Doug, Welcome along speedbird...
Guest Speedbird Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 Tomo, Sorry for the late replay but Thanks! At no other forum have i experienced such a nice welcoming! Thanks guys! Looking forward to qontribute in the future... Ivan
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