Dead stick with the SE5a
 

Just got the new landing gear shock cords on it, wanted to see how much movement I was getting on our bumpy field, gotta keep up on my dead stick landings this thing does not float, you point and land! lol

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Bungee cords are the suspension for the plane?

yep, cheap and easy to replace, we softened up the gear a lot from what it was:

Works!

Looks fun BTW - keep the blue side up (unless you're over water, then it's your choice).

I've got to admit I was relieved to hear the engine ticking over as you did that approach.
Fun riding along, got any video from the cockpit ?

Cheers Richard

You should see the size of the bungees on the A380!

:d

Neat video - thanks for posting that.

I've always been fascinated by the construction or aircraft (especially "vintage" airplanes). It always seems to be a combination of "high-tech" and "whatever works" to get to something light yet strong and reliable.

So sice (I think) I still heard the engine, then dead stick landing practice is what? Cut the engine back ti idle and land?

Thanks for such a cool video!

Practice is... practice.
You pull the engine power to idle, then you are practicing the ballet of pitch and airspeed control so that you make your intended landing site without being fast, or long, or short, or slow.

Your engine is at idle, so you are hopefully able to throw in the power and recover from your attempts that are not on target.

You can NEVER practice too many 180 side approaches if you fly singles.

Remember to clear the engine for a second or so on each turn - would suck to have a practice power-off landing turn into a real one and would suck worse if you had to do a go-around and... sputter, sputter.

Looks really fun - grass strip flying is something I've never gotten much chance to do but hopefully in the not-too-distant future...

Very cool. Thanks for the video!

Nicely done. And you weren't kidding, that thing appears to glide just slightly better than a brick. :D :p

Please forgive my old NATOPS Instructor eval:

It looks like you were at or around 500ft AGL at the 180 (Low Key in Navy parlance) power off was smooth and you maintained airspeed and very nice control through the 90.

After that, you know the aircraft better than anyone and it showed. Really well done.

Now that I have the gopro mounts for the plane I will get some form the cockpit, if this was a real engine out I would have cut the corner off more, come in high and slip it down, she really drops in a slip. I am getting figured out best glide speed which is 60, same as the climb, and pretty much cruise! lol

What kind of engine, and were any mods(valve seats pumps etc) made?

Simviation: Microsoft Flight Simulator Addons
Although the first examples reached the Western Front before the Sopwith Camel and it had a much better overall performance, problems with its Hispano-Suiza engine meant that there was a chronic shortage of S.E.5s until well into 1918 and fewer squadrons were equipped with the type than with the Sopwith fighter.

That is so totally cool. Well done.

Wow! Cool video. Can we get some details/pics of the SE5a?


I started flying when I got out of school 34 years ago, soloed and had plenty of hours, but never got my license. Now, it's on my list.

Terry

built it back in the 80's first flight was 1 July 1989, powered by an o-200

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Craig, your plane is amazing!

When you say "it doesn't float" or "sinks like a brick" or some such, does that mean the gliding abilities of a bi-plane are poor?

I thought I had heard that a 152/172 could fly 10 feet forward for every foot of elevation it had. If true, is a bi-plane the same or worse than that? TIA.