Pilots

[redshift]

After the passing out parade at Cranwell in the film, I thought you might be interested in the 1997 version:

 

[molemot]

Quite a bit of wake turbulence there.....

 

And now for something completely different. Michel Gordillo is flying around the world, for the third time....via the poles....in an RV-8 kit plane he built himself and modified specifically for the trip, with external tanks on bomb shackles and the wettest wings he could manage. His biography is amazing.... This trip started from Madrid and he has just landed at Mario Zucchelli Station in Antarctica after a 2200 mile leg! the blog is well worth a read....SkyTrack to follow the flight and comms as well.

http://www.skypolaris.org/

 

And, just to prove it's not only the Brits who are bonkers.....fitting the wheel spats....

 

Of course, being in Antarctica, he has now fitted skis to the aircraft.....

[redshift]

2 hours ago, molemot said:

Quite a bit of wake turbulence there.....

 

I believe it is now part of the sylabus for 'flight authorisation' ie how not to do it.

Estimates of that 3rd pass were full burner at 72 ft AGL and the local glazier was fully occupied for a week.

[molemot]

Yes....when  I saw it, I knew which one it was going to be; very famous in certain circles.....hats everywhere! All we got on 21 course at Linton was a bunch of JPs in "21" formation...probably that was because our wings were presented by the uncle of one of the course members.....he was the Abandoned Earl, Air Chief Marshal the Earl of Bandon, a well known reprobate, and all round great bloke. 

[C8RKH]

15 hours ago, redshift said:

After the passing out parade at Cranwell in the film, I thought you might be interested in the 1997 version:

 

If I was Putin or a Russian pilot I'd be afraid. very afraid!

 

[Iconic Ride]

Just think how much international good will (and reciprocal cathartic release) could be generated if one's "opposing" nation's air force were enlisted to perform the graduation flybys at each other's respective graduation ceremonies. 

And number placards could be provided for the "brass's" reviewing stand to indicate scoring. Hat dry cleaning bills would be posted to the relevant embassy, the final tab being a measure of national pride.

[ramjet]

On 9/15/2016 at 20:52, Bibs said:

Passengers are advised to PLEASE leave seat belts fastened until the plane has come to a stop at the terminal.

11 hours ago, molemot said:

And now for something completely different. Michel Gordillo is flying around the world, for the third time....via the poles....in an RV-8 kit plane he built himself and modified specifically for the trip, with external tanks on bomb shackles and the wettest wings he could manage. His biography is amazing.... This trip started from Madrid and he has just landed at Mario Zucchelli Station in Antarctica after a 2200 mile leg! the blog is well worth a read....SkyTrack to follow the flight and comms as well.

http://www.skypolaris.org/

Surely that can't be correct? There are lots of videos on YT about the earth being flat, Antarctica is not a continent and the US shoots down anyone that tries to go there.

Maybe Michael is in on the conspiracy as well?

[redshift]

10 hours ago, molemot said:

 All we got on 21 course at Linton was a bunch of JPs in "21" formation..

John, you have probably heard of the legendary "fly past" at 1FTS when Mark Hanna graduated and Daddy turned up in MH434?

[molemot]

OH yes......some day that was, it appears. Daddy had spent his entire first tour in RAF Germany and always reckoned he'd never gone over 100 feet!! I somehow doubt there are characters like that left, these days. It was such a tragedy when Ray had to watch Mark crash......awful. MH 434 is/was owned by Adrian Swire...met him a couple of times, invited him to the Summer Ball at Linton one year.....for some reason he appeared to be in bad odour with the "senior" types.

My first instructor at Linton was Steve Griffiths...as an F/O creamie....and he was the best instructor I ever flew with. I know he was Wg.Cdr Chief Instructor at Linton in later years..... When he put his hands on the controls, the aeroplane would just fly along straight and level at a constant speed....all the needles pointing to the right numbers; and after a bit, I could do that too!! I started on 20 course but got stuffed by motion sickness...went off and did the "spin table" cure. When I came back I spent quite a few hours with Standards, which is where Steve had gone by then, and I learned more in that time then any other. I knew the whole of Yorkshire like my front room! Sadly, the motion sickness cure was not fully effective and my dreams of Valley and fast jets had gone......went to Oakington flying Varsities, but by then the dedication and desire had gone, and the screaming around at low level attacking things bit was not going to be mine.....and that was it, pretty much. Didn't fancy bumbling about in Hercules or whatever, and the RAF and I parted company. Huge fun and frustration in close measure.....got me out of the rut, though, 8 years later I was a boat bum cruising the French waterways and busking in Paris!!   

[Alfa2Evora]

On ‎01‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 07:03, redshift said:

After the passing out parade at Cranwell in the film, I thought you might be interested in the 1997 version:

 

The standard of 'dressing' in that parade is surprisingly sloppy - more waves in it than the North Atlantic. Standards have clearly slipped since my day,  .

[molemot]

Mario's account of the crossing to Antarctica....

 

Tasmania is beautiful place. And also what makes it more beautiful is the people there.

The Aeroclub of Southern Tasmania (Don Prairie) and Par Aviation (Greg Wells) have been really nice with me, since the very first time I did contact them.

Joy Roa, from Asian Air Safari came into Hobart, to video report my stay there, and aircraft preparation for Antarctica.

All was ready, waiting for me: the skis, the spare aethalometer (would I need it), a spare

Spidertracks (would I need it also) and other stuff. Soon I met Paul Boland, who finally became my guardian angel, and helped me quite a lot.

My aircraft was hangared, and I was provided with anything I could need. I had the luck to share with Joy and its crew a nice visit to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, where I saw the first time, many local animals, including birds, snakes, Koalas and Kangaroos.

We can say that it was an only relaxing moment since long, but soon it was over and I had to keep going with the flight.

I went through the 50 hours aircraft maintenance check and installing the skis. Everybody was there, a true aeronautical ¨church¨. Don had my aircraft so clean, that it looked brand new.  The skis installation was straightforward, thanks to the designer Patrick Gilligan. Once the job was done, the aircraft looked very nice.

I am writing from Italian Polar Antarctic Station, and sharing a lot of things and experiences.

Many airplanes do arrive here, but mainly those are Twin Otters, Baslers and C130’s.

Baslers are a kind of turboprop DC3, and it is interesting to know that they don´t install the tail ski…

Mine, was installed. Didn´t know before and besides, it is so small that should not be a concern.

I had a test flight and everything was right, concerning the stability, and alignment.

But the big issue was speed: straight loss of 11 indicated kts, at somehow light weight for me. So Paul and I discussed later about that. Speed was too bad, but ditching with skis was much safer, would it necessary (the aircraft would not flip over).  Also, skis allowed me to land over snow or ice, at many areas in Antarctica. As I had plenty of fuel and endurance, the decision to fly with them into Mario Zucchelli, was taken.

That way, also I would test them at heavy weights. I also tested the new steel braided HF antenna. The one I was flying was a special one, but finally was too fragile for the purpose.

I have built at Hobart two of those steel braided HF antennas, just in case one is broken. The test results were slightly worse than the former antenna, but ok. Also I was fortunate to find a ¨Marina¨ next to the Hotel. They had available a radar reflector. That

RR is a kind of plastic tube, designed to be seen by a SAR Search and Rescue) radar. So far my intentions were to use aluminum foil, for the same purpose, would I ditch somewhere.

Altogether, I kept watching a close eye into the weather. Crossing the southern sea would be not a piece of cake! The path was not clear. But aircraft have something called 3D, so that third dimension was to be studied again. After many hours of studying, there was a chance to be entering some clear ¨bubbles¨ areas that were moving fast. I was concerned about crossing two clouds barriers (clouds down there means icing, and icing means the end of the flight).

First one could be flown at low level, even 4000 ft., because temperature was higher than zero Celsius. It was to be cloudy, but not a big issue to fly in clouds. Second issue was a front I could cross when close to Antarctica, south of ¨Young Island¨. That barrier was deteriorating later but was there at my intended arrival time.

I organized everything to depart the next day at 7 AM, local time. Paul and I were too late for the dinner at Paul´s home, where her wife was waiting for us. Even at their home, before dinner and right after, we kept working (flight plan, departing Australia procedures, and plenty of other things). Also Paul´s wife got involved with the project: she installed the right Velcro on one of my survival flight suit pockets lip.

So finally, the night was very short for me, some 3,5 hours…Even though I kept thinking about the flight: what would I do if I couldn’t go through? Next morning, I checked again the weather prediction along the route. I found that flying left of my path when approaching Antarctica, could have me away of that barrier. The flight time would increase easily some 1,5 hrs, but I would be safe. That escape route was very important to me.

Also the prediction showed that two hours after reaching Young Island, the tops of that clouds barrier were going down to some 10,000ft, so I would be able to fly above them.

The decision for the flight was made and also to delay it for two hours.

If you take the time to study the flight track, you will see that it is not a direct one. I was to track south east, then turn left a little bit to cross the first barrier, and then direct to south. At 0900 local, the aircraft was refueled, I had all the survival gear ready, dry suit on, breakfast on, and hot water inside the thermos bottle, to have water available to drink during the flight ( because water freezes soon inside the plane). Also I had the time to break the rear window of Paul´s car!!!!  Sorryyyyyyy Paul !

The problem was again the skis. The heavy aircraft would have the steel main landing gear opening its legs, and have the skis axles pointing downwards, so the skis internal border would touch the ground. Was that compatible with taxi and take off? The aircraft was being able to be pushed, so the skis drag was more or less ok. Then the aircraft weight was to be increase by my weight…

Once the clearance was provided by Hobart Tower and I did taxi the plane. It was draggy! I needed a lot of power to taxi it. Wind was headwinds, coming a little bit from the left, so I applied full power and soon, some lift was present in the wings, so the weight became lower, the axles positioned parallel to the ground and so the skis. Friction was gone and then the aircraft accelerated right. The take-off, seen by the Tower, would have looked standard and good. I was cleared to stay under 3500 ft., initially. So I did. Not because of the clearance, but because of the skis drag. I was unable to get past the 105 kts indicated, nor able to climb higher than 1500 ft.

The altitude was however right with my needs, and I knew that later I would have higher capability to climb and cruise faster.

Rear Center of Gravity didn´t help either. Autopilot was not able to control the airplane, so I had to fly it manually for some two hours to have the CG inside the autopilot range.

So, the rear tank was the engine feeding one, to have the sooner, the CG going forward. Then some of the external tank fuel was used to lower the level and avoid losing fuel through the vents. Then the rear tank again, the belly tank, the forward tank and back to the external wing tanks…

Everything relative to the weather was as predicted by Windity software. The clouds were at the predicted places, so the temperatures, so the thickness of the clouds, so the base layer and tops. However, when I was crossing that first front, at already 4000 ft., I was looking at the rain drops running along the windshield. Those ones started to become lazy and slowing their motion.  Ice was about to form and that meant big danger. I started my descent immediately, to increase the speed and then the wind friction over the airplane (more heat). At 3000 ft., the rain drops went fast again and soon, I entered the clear bubble area, the one that would have me next to Antarctica.

Don Pearsall was tracking the flight with the Spidertracks all the time and providing my position reports to Melbourne Center. We kept chatting with SpiderTXT, and that was very nice.

Even though the flight plan was submitted and approved, Mario Zucchelli (MZS) didn´t receive it. Something rang in my head, and I asked Don if he could contact MZS to inform them about my expected arrival time. He did manage to do so, and that was good, because they were not knowing about my arrival. Australia helped again with that procedure. Talking about Australia SAR… they advised me that I would have to survive 3 to 5 days, would I ditch somewhere, before they could have their ship to rescue me….

That keep the mind quite awake!!!!

Before departing I had to confirm the light conditions during my last part of the flight and upon arrival. I was going to be a Civil twilight condition for some two hours over Antarctica, and then, sunrise again. Civil twilight provides good enough light to see and avoid, if necessary, the clouds and obstacles. Those clouds were there!!! The ones to be through.

I started a long and shallow climb and finally ended at 12000 ft., to be above those clouds. Temperature was already minus 20 C, and inside the cockpit it was nice (good idea to install a second heat muff). Underneath, the sea was already ice, broken by thousands of billions micro icebergs, together with huge ones that were impressive.

Soon, the true rocky mountains were in sight: weather was looking promising and chances were to fly direct MZS. I entered the Rennick huge glacier, and soon saw the lenticular clouds in front of me and left of my course.

That meant strong winds, and strong winds inside mountains meant high danger.

All my model aircraft slope soaring experience was to be used: I had to fly the headwind side of the slopes, or the updraft side of the downwind mountain waves, and so I did!

Even doing that, the wind was so strong that it pushed me into the slope of the Southern Cross mountains, at such a speed that I had to use some 30 or 40 degrees wind correction to avoid  crashing into the beautiful slopes. Those slopes and some of the mountains were hidden by ground fog. Entering those clouds could mean entering a wall.

Finally I was able to provide an HF estimate to MZS, and then also got VHF radio contact.  I was suggested to arrive from the East (I was planning for a left base, not a right one), so I followed the advice. I was suffering moderate to severe turbulence over the mountains, so it was not easy. Fortunately the aircraft was already light and handled it right.

Once I started shallow descent to avoid fast cooling the cylinders, the wind speed decreased, and the final approach was stable.  I kiss landed my dear RV8 on the ice blue MZS 22 runway, and attempted to follow the flatter areas, because of the heavier aircraft produced grooves. Skis were handling perfect! There they were, waiting for me and helping me with everything, even though I have arrived in the middle of the ¨night¨.

My first ever contact with Antarctica has been impressive. The area is of incredible beauty.

A beauty that kills.  Difficult to explain the feeling.

Now the airplane is sitting over the sea. It looks like a pea in the middle of a salad. But that pea is very special and I love it!

The best Pilots in Antarctica: Jim Haffey (ALE), Michel Gordillo, Steve King (BAS)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Departure from Hobart, Tasmania

Landing At Mario Station

[molemot]

More "navigators" than "pilots"....but I've always wondered how they navigate spacecraft...especially the interplanetary and wide ranging beasts. Then I found this...

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/basics/bsf13-1.php

So here it is, for anyone with similar curiosity. Love the way that they calibrate all the delays occurring when different bits of the spacecraft talk to each other....!

Sums are truly a wonderful thing.

 

[auRouge]

✈️?

[redshift]

Well as i have just appplied to join the local gliding club it wont be AB v B now more Schempp-Hirth v ASW

[Bibs]

[molemot]

THE low level attacker....The aeroplane the RAF got because they cancelled the TSR2...and then the F111 wasn't up to spec....so it was back to the Bananajet.......

[DDubya]

Where's your Bucaneers?.............under my Buckin hat!

[ChrisJ]

There's an interesting thread in PPRuNe that I contribute to that you might be interested in - Which Aerodrome

 

[molemot]

Just because it has four seats, doesn't mean it'll take four people.....not a happy ending.

 

https://youtu.be/fhWjtXNGT5Y

[molemot]

 

[redshift]

 

On 09/01/2017 at 08:04, molemot said:

Just because it has four seats, doesn't mean it'll take four people.....not a happy ending.

 

https://youtu.be/fhWjtXNGT5Y

I think I was less than half way down that take off run and thought I would have closed the throttle at that point and had a rethink so not surprised it all went tits up. Sad case of gethomeitis?

Edited January 13, 2017 by redshift
cock up

[molemot]

Yes....if ever there was a case for abandoning a takeoff, that was it. There's ony so far you can "stuff the bloody nose down!" and build airspeed, and sometimes it can't be done....

[molemot]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Russian-TU-144-SST-Airliner-/182442671622?forcerrptr=true&hash=item2a7a6e3e06:g:U-0AAOSw241Yk5u2&item=182442671622

 

New toy, anyone??(!)

[Chillidoggy]

On 08/02/2017 at 11:15, molemot said:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Russian-TU-144-SST-Airliner-/182442671622?forcerrptr=true&hash=item2a7a6e3e06:g:U-0AAOSw241Yk5u2&item=182442671622

 

New toy, anyone??(!)

 

With a feedback score of only 1? Not on your Nellie.

[Choppa]

That would look good in the Brooklands Museum, I wonder if he takes Paypal?