Byron was thinking about the day he checked out in the 1969 Piper Arrow.. It was transition into the complex single..........
It was a flying club airplane.. he called an instructor he had never met.... when the instructor arrived at the airport he was wearing a bath robe and house slippers and smoking a pipe.........
They took the plane up and the instructor told Byron he was a 'Natural'..... as they went through a series of stalls.....
He wanted to show Byron something special about that airplane... the wing spar ends four feet in from the wing tip he advised... be careful not to over speed the air frame.. as the wing tips have been know to shed...
Oh I see what you mean as they did a stall and let the wing just fall... the airspeed really comes up quick...
That was an early model... with a Hershey bar wing, they had 3 different wings for the Piper Arrow as Byron Recalls...
The Old Boy in the Bathrobe and slippers smoking a pipe... was right.... better mind your P's and Q's in that little jewel..........
It was a fun little airplane... it was kind of like a Cherokee 140 only it had 200 H.P. engine , retractable landing gear... and a constant speed propeller........
Flying with house slippers a bathrobe and a pipe.
Byron.
Monday, June 6, 2016
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
To Hot Baby
Weighing the consequence of the 180 degree turn on take off....... when the engine quits.....
After Dumping the Nose..... you checked the fuel and mags before take off .... remember?
I suppose you could pull the primer out and see if she will dart for you with some raw gas shot into the cylinders............ I don't see that on the checklist........
Density Altitude?
Minimum Altitude for the turn or not ... What makes it?
Aircraft familiarity?
Weight?
Wind direction Velocity?
Bank Angle?
Stall speed?
Present Altitude?
I suppose one could think of it as tear drop maneuver ......... on departure if executed when safe.
The adage " the runway behind you and the altitude above you as useless" comes to mind... however
How many feet do you need to turn around safely?
Depends on a lot of variables one might know or come to know before hand and set a magic number for themselves for every single flight............ prior to departure.
I mean at 1000' at sea level and lightly loaded in a 172 you should be able to turn it around and land No?... how about 500'? 300'?
Hmmmm?
But then again if there are 4 passengers..... its a hot day.... and your in Denver with full fuel......... you may not even get off the ground.
Certainly not the time to experiment........ that should of been done at altitude years ago...
To Hot Baby...........
After Dumping the Nose..... you checked the fuel and mags before take off .... remember?
I suppose you could pull the primer out and see if she will dart for you with some raw gas shot into the cylinders............ I don't see that on the checklist........
Density Altitude?
Minimum Altitude for the turn or not ... What makes it?
Aircraft familiarity?
Weight?
Wind direction Velocity?
Bank Angle?
Stall speed?
Present Altitude?
I suppose one could think of it as tear drop maneuver ......... on departure if executed when safe.
The adage " the runway behind you and the altitude above you as useless" comes to mind... however
How many feet do you need to turn around safely?
Depends on a lot of variables one might know or come to know before hand and set a magic number for themselves for every single flight............ prior to departure.
I mean at 1000' at sea level and lightly loaded in a 172 you should be able to turn it around and land No?... how about 500'? 300'?
Hmmmm?
But then again if there are 4 passengers..... its a hot day.... and your in Denver with full fuel......... you may not even get off the ground.
Certainly not the time to experiment........ that should of been done at altitude years ago...
To Hot Baby...........
Byron The Air Mail Pilot
When Byron flew the U.S. Airmail... there was very little cockpit instrumentation you see...
He had an Airspeed indicator and an altimeter..and the concrete arrows and beacons below him...
When the weather was good.. it was a joy to fly especially through the clear night sky beneath the stars overhead going along from beacon to beacon...
It was when the crap weather came... that things got interesting.... he had no instruments like an artificial horizon or turn and bank indicator even... but he knew his airplanes dynamic stability.. he knew for instance if he took his hand off the stick and did not mess with the aileron input the old girl would just sit there...and if he reduced the power she would descend and if he increased the power she would climb.. and if he lowered the nose with elevator the airspeed would increase and and if he pulled up the nose the airspeed would decrease... those were the freakish times to fly blind.. in those days they just punched through thunderstorms generally... the updrafts seem mostly to outweigh the down drafts.. there was no need to even try and bother to descend just go up with it... Whee.........
That cold rain could be a bitch.. he was glad for his leather cap and googles .. and scarf.... they were not just for looks you know?
The aircraft was the instrument you see... the inherent stability of it ... one big gyro scope enveloped in the soup moving forward.......
He knew about what later came to be know as the grave yard spiral and spatial disorientation...
They called it 'Don't Loose Your Marbles'
Trusting sensation with no visibility was not good for your health for long ... Never Drop a Wing.
So what Forrest Byron did was simple enough though a bit unnerving upon the first times ... especially when the cold and Ice were involved... sometimes the engine would sputter.........
Byron trimmed the plane and kept his head very still and centered... he controlled Pitch on the longitude axis with engine power more or less and relied on the wings dyhedral for lateral stability and of course kept the compass heading with rudder around the vertical axis... often he would opt to climb.. versus ducking under.. trying to see the ground , always chose up in the mountains...... it was the lesser of two evils.... so to speak.... He knew about how high the mountains and terrain were below him... and had no urge..... to see it up really close...
sometimes it lasted in that nasty weather as he called it... for a few hours even... before he busted out the other side... in his flying gyroscope.
He never Snatched the Controls it was all a gentle, deliberate smooth motion.
Byron the Airmail Pilot.
Some of Byrons old routes...
He had an Airspeed indicator and an altimeter..and the concrete arrows and beacons below him...
When the weather was good.. it was a joy to fly especially through the clear night sky beneath the stars overhead going along from beacon to beacon...
It was when the crap weather came... that things got interesting.... he had no instruments like an artificial horizon or turn and bank indicator even... but he knew his airplanes dynamic stability.. he knew for instance if he took his hand off the stick and did not mess with the aileron input the old girl would just sit there...and if he reduced the power she would descend and if he increased the power she would climb.. and if he lowered the nose with elevator the airspeed would increase and and if he pulled up the nose the airspeed would decrease... those were the freakish times to fly blind.. in those days they just punched through thunderstorms generally... the updrafts seem mostly to outweigh the down drafts.. there was no need to even try and bother to descend just go up with it... Whee.........
That cold rain could be a bitch.. he was glad for his leather cap and googles .. and scarf.... they were not just for looks you know?
The aircraft was the instrument you see... the inherent stability of it ... one big gyro scope enveloped in the soup moving forward.......
He knew about what later came to be know as the grave yard spiral and spatial disorientation...
They called it 'Don't Loose Your Marbles'
Trusting sensation with no visibility was not good for your health for long ... Never Drop a Wing.
So what Forrest Byron did was simple enough though a bit unnerving upon the first times ... especially when the cold and Ice were involved... sometimes the engine would sputter.........
Byron trimmed the plane and kept his head very still and centered... he controlled Pitch on the longitude axis with engine power more or less and relied on the wings dyhedral for lateral stability and of course kept the compass heading with rudder around the vertical axis... often he would opt to climb.. versus ducking under.. trying to see the ground , always chose up in the mountains...... it was the lesser of two evils.... so to speak.... He knew about how high the mountains and terrain were below him... and had no urge..... to see it up really close...
sometimes it lasted in that nasty weather as he called it... for a few hours even... before he busted out the other side... in his flying gyroscope.
He never Snatched the Controls it was all a gentle, deliberate smooth motion.
Byron the Airmail Pilot.
Some of Byrons old routes...
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