Its great to hear plane talk! I'm a total plane freak too, but don't fly the real things yet. For now the only air time I get is with their smaller cousins, which I lovingly spend hours laboring over. Favorite plane is the Spitfire!
Regards,
Tizoc
Hello everyone,
I was a pilot once, a parachute pilot ! I crashed and nearly broke both of my legs. Since then me pilot no more.
Maybe he's a Cirrus driver
...or a Dash-8-400.
dave
Looks like some seats are more desirable than others...
Do those models often have engine failures ?
I subscribe to the "fly it until all the parts stop moving" theory.
Or as one of my aviation heroes put it:
"Fly the airplane as far into the crash as possible."
John - a Saratoga is a nice bird, and I am sure it's a thirsty one, too. What kind of fuel burn do you use to flightplan?
I may need to investigate how I can have an N-registered airplane here in Switzerland ...
I flight plan for 17 US per hour which equates running 29x24 which 60% power and 160kts approx. EGLK to Lausanne (LSGL) to 2 hours 39 mins a flt lvl 100.
Will go faster if i go hgher due to the tubo, but I hate using the oxygen unless I have to.
I have only just trandfered the plane to the US reg and is the paintshop have the new Reg painted on it as we speak.....
John.
Ps In reply to an ealier comment re twins, I can understand the desire for some to have 2 engines, however I an aquaintance a few weeks ago ( 5000+) hours who it would appear lost ang engine just after take off and spun in.
The ironic thing is that she had flown her Rockwell 114 for many years all over Europe with no major problems.
If an engine in a twin goes on the initial climb out the yaw and drag from the prop are going to make things very tricky even for the bst of us in my humble opinion.
I subscribe to the "Lord Flashheart / Blackadder Goes Forth" principle
All this chat makes me wish I'd taken my 20 hours and converted it into the PPL way back when...
Next time you fly Easyjet (or anyone else with a recent 737 or A319), take a look at the cabin walls adjacent to the front fan of the engines - you will find they are not the same as the rest of the sections of the cabin - missing window and thicker cabin section - I would imagine for precisely for the same reasons.
Titanium fan blades rotating at 20000rpm tend to slice open aluminium quite easily and it has happened a few times before.
I make a point of not sitting in that seat row if I can help it!
The cabin section is exactly the same and the fuselage is not reinforced. In case of an uncontained failure, if the engine casing has been ruptured an extra layer or two of aluminium isn't going to change anything.
There is one incident I can recall where runaway blades penetrated the cabin and caused loss of life. That would be the NA DC10 (N60NA) incident; itwas related to engine speed in that it screwed up the fan vibratory modes enough to shed most of the fan blades at one time thereby breaking loose the complete fan containment shroud while more blades were being shed. These latter blades then penetrated the cabin skin, somewhat, while at least one whole blade hit the window which then failed next to a passenger. Had there been no vibratory mode and only one blade had failed for any reason, there would have been no significant threat to the cabin.
The remainder of the industry experience (GE, RR & P&W) have shown that only low energy particles have been released from fan blade alone failures. While some of these pieces have hit the fuselage none of them have penetrated inside the pressure vessel itself or fractured windows.
There is the old saying that the spare engine on a light twin is for taking you to the scene of the crash. I experienced an engine failure in an Aztec with a friend who has an ATPL, with 6 on board and half fuel. It was in the cruise at the time. Had we not feathered the prop quickly enough we would have not made the airfield. As it was we did, but only just - the plane would not hold altitude that heavy on one engine. Climb out is clearly the most tricky stage to be down to one engine and there is very little time in which to react correctly.
In some ways you are better off in a single, at least then you have no asymetry and you have no "can I get away with it" decisions to make - you are coming down full stop and can concentrate on the handling and landing.
The issue is not limited to light twins though - I had a friend in the RAF, flying Canberras who lost his life a few years ago due to one engine with misaligned fan blades that suffered a compressor stall on go-around during night single engine circuit practice at RAF Marham. He ejected outside of the envelope (too low and too slow) and did not clear the canopy. So, it can even happen to the professionals.
Just this week gained my Private Pilots licence in Helicopters. Only licenced for single piston engined helis at the moment, but hoping to convert to proper twin engined turbine helis in Switzerland to enjoy the mountain views from the air
Did you see "One Life" last night BBC1. It was stressful just watching it.
dave
Yep - some boys - flying a monster like a Chinook into a zone where there was mortar firing.
Like the way they said they could out run an apache gunship
Mission requirements : "Do wanna get there fast but hard, or less bumpy but slower ?"
(Cue Swiss Toni : "Flying a Chinook is a little bit like making love to a beautiful woman.")
As for the guy looking at online dating...lets just say he has a lot to learn about online fora...
dave
Private Pilot... Although to be fair I have to do my exams first.
Hobby pilot too, currently in the UK. About to start working for a flying federation in Lausanne.
I am getting closer to cracking the JAR (cheap pun, I know).
Got 2 hrs last weekend, going again Friday and Sunday.
Fear the mighty C152.
(bigger number, must be bigger plane than a C130)