Beech, please. Aircraft don't start themselves and fly away.

January 31, 2019, 10:08 AM

V-Tail

quote:
Originally posted by ECSquirrel:

I'm academically aware of the rear CG of the short bodies but I don't have any first hand experience.

I have loaded three passengers, along with myself, into the V-Tail to go to open house shooting sessions, both at Jeff Yarchin's place and a Screaming Cockatoo's.

It took a careful analysis, balancing fuel, people, and "stuff." I had the heaviest guy sit in front, and we moved range bags, ammunition, etc., from the luggage compartment to the passenger area, under people's feet, with the weight as far forward as possible.

I know some folks who have installed 25 pound lead weights on the keel, in the engine compartment, to get the CG further forward. I never did that, but much of my flying time in the V-Tail was solo, commuting to various work locations, so there really was no significant weight in the rear seats, and not much in the luggage area.

January 31, 2019, 10:25 AM

sigmonkey

The F-106 could land themselves without a pilot, and fly again. Sometimes...

January 31, 2019, 10:52 AM

V-Tail

quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
The F-106 could land themselves without a pilot, and fly again. Sometimes...

We had some F9Fs in our squadron that could land without a pilot.

January 31, 2019, 10:54 AM

Sigmund

quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
The F-106 could land themselves without a pilot, and fly again. Sometimes...

https://www.f-106deltadart.com...7cornfieldbomber.htm

January 31, 2019, 11:01 AM

Yellow Jacket

quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
The F-106 could land themselves without a pilot, and fly again. Sometimes...

I loved the 106. Got to work on them for 3 years before getting assigned to 'Nam.

At Kinchloe we had one land with a pilot, takeoff without the pilot and then try to land a quarter mile past the end of the runway. It succeeded in landing but was no longer flyable.

January 31, 2019, 11:10 AM

sns3guppy

quote:
Originally posted by architect:
And you pilots want the rest of us to think that flying is hard?

The hardest part of learning to fly is paying for it.

quote:
Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

That reminds me. I was once driving on Hwy58 in Mojave, CA. The wind was crazy strong. There was a DC10 sitting in the bone yard at the airport there, and it’s front gear was lifting off the ground like it was going to lift off. It bounced up and down a little, but then stayed put. Don’t they tie these planes down for just this reason? Or why can’t they leave the spoilers deployed to kill lift?

The DC10, like a number of other large airplanes, is easy to drop on the tail, especially if weight is removed elsewhere that leads to an aft center of gravity. Engine removal, etc, can lead to an airplane that easily tips over.

Spoiler deployment actually leads to a nose-up pitching moment, but spoilers aren't left deployed because they're hydraulically actuated and depend on system pressure (with loss of pressure they stow), and because leaving the actuators extended and the spoiler panels extended during storage is hard on the equipment.

Tail stands are generally the solution, and no, in most all cases, large transport category aircraft are not tied down.

When I was a kid I was in a flying club when a guy came in the front door and collapsed on the stairs. His clothing was bloody and he was cut and scraped up. He'd just hand-propped his experimental airplane. It fired up, but wasn't secured or tied down, and he'd left the throttle half open. It took off, ran him over and under power hit a fuel truck.

January 31, 2019, 01:32 PM

mojojojo

quote:
Originally posted by 10-7 leo:
^^^ VSTOL aircraft!

Nah. More like STOVL in this case.

January 31, 2019, 01:56 PM

lyman

quote:
Originally posted by V-Tail:
Cessnas do it, too.

In the early 1970s I flew into Put-In Bay. This is an island in Lake Erie, north of Sandusky, Ohio (between Toledo and Cleveland). People commuted to the mainland via airplane or boat. There was a cool commuter service that used Ford TriMotors.

When I tied down at the airport, folks were gossiping about a resident -- a member of the state legislature -- whose Cessna 172 had a weak or dead battery. The starter would not turn the engine over. He set the throttle, fuel mixture, and magneto switch for starting, and got out of the airplane to swing the prop.

The engine started easily and the airplane took off without him. Accelerated, pitched up, climbed, stalled, and splashed into the lake.

went to Put in Bay every time I went to Camp Perry,

easy trip now, they have Jet boat service from Port Clinton,

neat place, the Oliver Hazard Perry monument is nice
as well as the winery (sweet stuff) and the walk in geode