Okay I’m not normally impressed with any airplane on a stick. But at Chena Hot Springs today this one impressed me. Saw it last year at the end of the runway and their plans were to turn it into a bar. That’s still the plan. Out to bring a whole new definition to “falling down drunk” from that height.



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Ah picture maybe !!!!!!!!

Mapleflt wrote:Ah picture maybe !!!!!!!!

Stupid Tapatalk wouldn't let me upload a picture from my phone. But it's there now from my laptop.

Good Grief.

I'm so glad I live where I can still see these babies flying. It'll be a sad day when the big round motors are gone.

Nice on the video, thanks!


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Makes me sad to see a honest, hard working airplane turned into a novelty to sell drinks or attract customers. As for the landing it was nice to see profession pilots doing what professionals do, and making it no big deal. Doesn't really matter if it is a Supercub or a 747-800, always fun to watch a pro at work whether paid or amateur.

Tim

Round engines and round tails help make the world go around, very cool video thanks for sharing it.

Looks like an AH-1G Cobra helicopter (fuselage) that had a mid-air with one of those Transylvania AirTruks (wings and engine pods)... But I kind of like it!

I want to know how they got it on the stand.

Kurt

Piece of cake, a crane. What I do.

I was hired once to pick a helicopter up and put it on a trailer, for a XXXX hour inspection several states away, I had of course planned on letting them rig it, and I found that a helicopter's pick point is.... (wait for it), the center of it's rotor head, who knew! One very special shackle and it hung just right. When I asked why they didn't fly it onto the trailer, I was told "you're cheaper." I am pretty sure that is the single most expensive item I have ever picked.

Until General Creighton Abrams, of Bastogne fame, arrived in Vietnam, troops enjoyed blowing downed helicopters in place. He issued the order that none were to be blown in place because the enemy wasn't flying them. So our Pathfinders rigged them to be slung out by a larger helicopter. This often happened while the downed pilots were being rescued. Saved Uncle Sam a ton of money.

My former platoon sergeant was a part of a recovery team during Vietnam. He told of a time he and the maintenance officer (a "crusty CW3") had to go recover a Huey that was shot down. The aircraft was supposedly only lightly damaged, as both pilot and copilot had been shot, but managed to land it in a field without crashing and were MedEvac'ed out...

When they got to the scene, the Huey really was pretty intact, except for a few bullet holes through the chin bubble (how the crew were wounded). But one of the rotor blades had a very large hole (maybe from a 50-cal?) right through the rotor blade just aft of the leading edge, about one foot from the end of the blade. The CW3 said "Gimme the hacksaw from your toolbox," and proceeded to cut off the end of the rotor blade, just before where the damage started. Then he took the cut-off section to the other side of the rotor, held it up against the good blade, and commenced hacking off the end of the good blade, so the blades would be roughly balanced laterally.

Sgt Usher told me he'd never felt such a horrible lateral 1:1 shake as what they got when they ran it up to 100% power, and were barely able to get it off the ground. (A significant amount of lift is produced at the rotor tips, which were now lying in that clearing...) They took off – just the two of them – and the Huey acted like they do when you load them over gross with troops and gear – barely getting off the ground and skimming the treetops al the way back to their base – shaking like crazy the whole time.

After they landed, Sgt Usher said he literally got out and kissed the ground! But they salvaged the Huey, and it was back in combat (with new rotor blades and some hundred-mile-an-hour tape over the bullet holes) the next day.

bat443 wrote:Makes me sad to see a honest, hard working airplane turned into a novelty to sell drinks or attract customers. As for the landing it was nice to see profession pilots doing what professionals do, and making it no big deal. Doesn't really matter if it is a Supercub or a 747-800, always fun to watch a pro at work whether paid or amateur.

Tim

You can bet Everts got about all the utility out of that Doug or they wouldn't sell it to be mounted on a pole. Everts is a great outfit, and they work for very reasonable prices. But, when a plane gets to the point where it doesn't make sense to refurbish it......

They've done a great job resurrecting a lot of these old beasts, as well as being the largest operator of C-46 Commandos on the planet.

Rob (the pilot in the video) flew a C-46 with 10,500 pounds of cabin building materials to a lake ~ 110 miles SW of Fairbanks, landed it on the ice, and unloaded it, with my help. All for $1500.

MTV

A 1961 Cessna 310F once owned by World War II aviator and movie star James M. (Jimmy) Stewart was dedicated as a monument last month after an extensive restoration effort. Located at Indiana County Jimmy Stewart Airport (KIDI) in Stewart’s hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania, the monument is the result of five and a half years of work undertaken by Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Chapter 993. The project was funded by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed for the purpose.