Porn for Pilots

[kach22i]

That guy is so close to death it's not funny.

Never fly higher than you are willing to fall.

I'll stick with my hovercraft, I can go down similar rivers and stop to piss on a sand bar anytime I want, and at a fraction of the operational costs.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by svandamme
Tim , is that some kind of optical illusion or something?

the engine looks to be standing upright, yet attached to the plane ?
but that wouldn't make sense now would it

just looks plain weird

The engine is mounted "upright" on a stand that I use for engine assembly. The (6) cylinders I just removed are what are lying on the floor in the foreground. On most small airplanes the cylinders can be removed while the engine is still in the plane, but this T-34 has a larger STC'd IO-520 in it and had to be removed in order to pull the cylinders. My customer wanted new cylinders until he found out that they would cost $9000, so we are getting his original first-run cylinders reworked for about 2-3K. This aircraft costs him about 4 times what a Cessna 172 would cost him to maintain. If you want to play, you gotta pay!

[304065]

Tim, awesome picture. Proof of the old axiom, the best way to service an aircraft engine is to stand it on end.

You could probably buy a T34 for a fair price these days due to all the trouble they have been having. Two inflight breakups with at the air combat schools with the wing separating led to a 152 Knot redline and +2.5g max load. Subsequently the feds said you could replace the spar with a Baron or Bonanza spar or put doubling straps on it as alternate means of compliance.

I wonder whether it's just the repeated high time and probable over-limit stress (The T34 has a +6G redline normally) on the air combat school airplanes that's responsible or if the fleet is just getting older.

Yeah, call me a safety nut, but I've done enough acro to know that altitude is your friend. Just doing the manuevers requires enough concentration without worrying about whether you have enough altitude for a recovery or whether you could exit the aircraft wearing a chute

[svandamme]

Originally posted by Tim Hancock
My customer wanted new cylinders until he found out that they would cost $9000, so we are getting his original first-run cylinders reworked for about 2-3K. This aircraft costs him about 4 times what a Cessna 172 would cost him to maintain. If you want to play, you gotta pay!

sounds a bit like early 911's , just times 4

[Tim Hancock]

Originally posted by john_cramer


You could probably buy a T34 for a fair price these days due to all the trouble they have been having. Two inflight breakups with at the air combat schools with the wing separating led to a 152 Knot redline and +2.5g max load. Subsequently the feds said you could replace the spar with a Baron or Bonanza spar or put doubling straps on it as alternate means of compliance.

I wonder whether it's just the repeated high time and probable over-limit stress (The T34 has a +6G redline normally) on the air combat school airplanes that's responsible or if the fleet is just getting older.

These guys have to take it to Iowa every 80 hrs to have a couple wings parts checked with special equipment. It is a major pain and I am glad I do not have to mess with the wing AD. This particular airplane was worth around 400K before the wing AD. Now it is worth around 200k.

Those planes that broke up had tons of hours on them and were beaten severely by inexperienced pilots on a daily basis. The only failures that I know of were the two at the combat schools.
It is very unfair, but what are you going to do?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The best way to fly or build hours is to do it on someone else's dime. This is (unfortunately) why I haven't been up in the air in over two years even though I have over 3,000 hours T.T. Too damn expensive if you're paying for it out-of-pocket. . .

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
Too damn expensive if you're paying for it out-of-pocket. . .

Maybe you should get into a glider.

Old link:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=245170&highlight=glider

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Not a bad idea - something to look into. There is some great glider flying around here too - back side of the San Gabriel mountains has a couple glider places, ditto over up towards the Sierra Nevada range (bunch of endurance & altitude records set there).

Not a bad suggestion, thanks for that - might look into it. . .

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Not a bad suggestion, thanks for that - might look into it. . .

Second link with some associated websites.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=181304&highlight=glider

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Seahawk
Nice but a little slow...brought back lots of memories.

As a CO of mine once said, when it comes to low level flight, you can only tie the record.

Was thinking the very same thing, this really brought back some very good (and not so good) memories. Have been out flying overseas the last month and need to get home, get my taildragger annual finished and do the same thing this gent is doing.

He is low but the camera distorts things a bit so believe that he had a bit more safety margin than it appears.

This is a L-39. Friend of mine in Phoenix has one and loves it. No chutes needed, they have ejection seats with chutes built in.