Hmmm..do you like low flying aircraft?....then here ya go!

[Mullaney]

727 Varig Log - Low Pass - YouTube Varig Airlines Boeing 727 Low Pass.

Pretty amazing how much like a fighter a commercial plane can be. Especially when it isn't hauling 200 fatboys weighing in at 200 pounds each (40,000#) + another hundred pounds each (20,000#) in the luggage compartment! Sixty thousand pounds less makes a BIG difference.

I remember when I solo'd in a Cherokee 140 @ Monroe Airport. My instructor weighed about 225. He warned me when he got out and before he walked to the tower: "This plane is going to climb faster and float longer without my weight. Think about that and plan accordingly." It was amazing enough that I remember that today more than 40 years later!

-

 

[Another Ahab]

I keep thinkin of my Dads trials and tribulations and how I searched in the late
70's for anything about Waco CG4A gliders, talk about low!

He had more time at night in gliders than I had in powered aircraft back then.

Bless the memory of your Father, frank8003.

Night flying in a glider? NO lift at night (no solar, no thermals).

"Brass Ones" is right.

 

[VertigoPilot]

Bless the memory of your Father, frank8003.

Night flying in a glider? NO lift at night (no solar, no thermals).

"Brass Ones" is right.

As one who has flown dead-stick at night, and also spent many hours soaring paragliders well past civil twilight, that is not technically accurate, but still that must have been a helluva adventure flying the Waco gliders!

 

[Another Ahab]

I remember when I solo'd in a Cherokee 140 @ Monroe Airport. My instructor weighed about 225. He warned me when he got out and before he walked to the tower: "This plane is going to climb faster and float longer without my weight. Think about that and plan accordingly."

My Father was Forward Observer for a battery of 8" Howitzers during WWII:

- There was as pilot assigned to the battery (dedicated? or shared by other batteries I don't know).

He flew a Piper Cub (I think that was the airframe, seating was fore-and-aft, pilot and the FO seated directly behind).

The aircraft and pilot were available when aerial reconnaissance was in order.

My dad told me once that the guy weighed something like your instructor (or maybe more (close to 300#'s?), the guy was just huge, as in fluffy, as I recall).

Dad said the guy's weight was just WAY over regulation, but that he was just so good on that stick that all in the command just looked the other way.

My dad said that the take-offs could be plenty "hairy", but that once in the air that he had total confidence being in that man's hands.

Wacky, right?

 

[VertigoPilot]

My dad said that the take-offs could be plenty "hairy", but that once in the air that he had total confidence being in that man's hands.

Once in the air, what other choice did he have, right?

(I'm occasionally close to 300 myself, and have plenty of stick time in Pipers.)

 

[Another Ahab]

As one who has flown dead-stick at night, and also spent many hours soaring paragliders well past civil twilight, that is not technically accurate, but still that must have been a helluva adventure flying the Waco gliders!

You are right, of course, VertigoPilot. "Not much" is a better choice of words. Thanks for the correction!

An amazing story worth the read is the British night landing (gliders: Wacos? I don't know), the night/morning of D-Day (WWII) to take the bridges that might have allowed German armor to reach the beaches:

- Read a book once by Ambrose about it, worth the read if you have time

Here's some background:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deadstick

 

[Tracer]

You are right, of course, VertigoPilot. "Not much" is a better choice of words. Thanks for the correction!

An amazing story worth the read is the British night landing (gliders: Wacos? I don't know), the night/morning of D-Day (WWII) to take the bridges that might have allowed German armor to reach the beaches:

- Read a book once by Ambrose about it, worth the read if you have time

Here's some background:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deadstick

CG- 4A Gliders - YouTube Here is a video with the story of the Waco CG4A Glider.

 

[SgtMajHarper]

My Father was Forward Observer for a battery of 8" Howitzers during WWII:

- There was as pilot assigned to the battery (dedicated? or shared by other batteries I don't know).

He flew a Piper Cub (I think that was the airframe, seating was fore-and-aft, pilot and the FO seated directly behind).

The aircraft and pilot were available when aerial reconnaissance was in order.

My dad told me once that the guy weighed something like your instructor (or maybe more (close to 300#'s?), the guy was just huge, as in fluffy, as I recall).

Dad said the guy's weight was just WAY over regulation, but that he was just so good on that stick that all in the command just looked the other way.

My dad said that the take-offs could be plenty "hairy", but that once in the air that he had total confidence being in that man's hands.

Wacky, right?

Every time I see anything about 8" artillery I get all misty eyed, I was an 8" artillery guy for a long time after we retubed our 175's to 8"....8" is a beast.

 

[Tracer]

DC-4 Fly-by "You better duck when he goes over!" - YouTube Rare DC-4 making a Low Pass.

 

[VertigoPilot]

DC-4 Fly-by "You better duck when he goes over!" - YouTube Rare DC-4 making a Low Pass.

That's my kind of flying! Nap of the earth.

 

[Tracer]

DC3 low and fast.MOV - YouTube Here is a C-47/DC-3 giving the photographer a close call.

 

[Tracer]

DC-3 low pass engine SOUND! #DC3 - YouTube Another beautiful DC-3/C-47 making some low passes in Iceland.

 

[Another Ahab]

DC-3 low pass engine SOUND! #DC3 - YouTube Another beautiful DC-3/C-47 making some low passes in Iceland.

Nice shot of the pilot "skidding" over the runway in the crosswind!

I forget what the term is for that:

- Got halfway to a glider-pilot license myself years ago, but had to bail on it, ran out of the time and money

Pretty sure there's an avaition term for it though (and it is NOT "skidding").

 

[SgtMajHarper]

Nice shot of the pilot "skidding" over the runway in the crosswind!

I forget what the term is for that:

- Got halfway to a glider-pilot license myself years ago, but had to bail on it, ran out of the time and money

Pretty sure there's an avaition term for it though (and it is NOT "skidding").

Is the term "slipping"? Or am I having flashbacks to shoveling the deck the other day?

 

[Another Ahab]

Is the term "slipping"? Or am I having flashbacks to shoveling the deck the other day?

That's IT!!! Thanks, SgtMajHarper!

Can't say about your flashback, that might very well apply as well (we just got our first real snow fo the season today).

 

[Mullaney]

Nice shot of the pilot "skidding" over the runway in the crosswind!

I forget what the term is for that:

- Got halfway to a glider-pilot license myself years ago, but had to bail on it, ran out of the time and money

Pretty sure there's an avaition term for it though (and it is NOT "skidding").

Crab... Or at least that was what they taught us in flight school. I think it was called a crab angle

Definitely odd to feel yourself flying forward and into the wind to the left or right -- and at just the last second before the wheels touchdown -- the plane gets aligned with the runway. When the plane speed gets slower sometimes you have to dip the wing into the wind. The first 20 times or so it makes you fight it a little as you wiggle yourself down the final approach...

.

 

[Another Ahab]

Crab... Or at least that was what they taught us in flight school.

If I remember, it was a also a way to slow your airspeed in a pinch (no luxury of a throttle in the gliders).

Does that seem right?

 

[Mullaney]

Another Ahab, I can't proclaim "top of the mark" with my flying skills. I have used a nose up and nose left or right attitude to bleed off airspeed in a tight spot. I always hope that flaps down and gear down will happen before anything before that happens!

The guys who flew gliders were amazing. What they did was pretty amazing.

-

 

[frank8003]

How about fly thru an attack submarine
Now that is minus Low.

 

[Another Ahab]

How about fly thru an attack submarine
Now that is minus Low.

"Onderzee" boaters are a special breed for sure, good people (at least all I ever met):

- Might be important, because if someone screws up and the Ballon Goes Up...

They might be the only ones left, right?

Or is it: right, left??