Landing This Plane... The Aviation Thread...

[K'Tesh]

 

[Mugs914]

 

[Hobie1dog]

I worked for McDonald Douglas Aircraft for 5 years. Once you see how they're put together it gives you a little bit different perspective about getting in one.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Sailplane ride last year

 

[user 13]

.

 

[Wrightme43]

Sailplane ride last year

Gliders are amazingly cool!

 

[Mugs914]

 

[Cape Byron]

 

[Huxter]

Why does that sail plane have a parachute? Is he in trouble?

 

[tsmmiller]

Why does that sail plane have a parachute? Is he in trouble?

My guess is it is used for deceleration.

 

[Mugs914]

Why does that sail plane have a parachute? Is he in trouble?

No trouble, normal landing for some of the older sailplanes.

The chute ruins the efficiency of the glider to the point that a predictable landing can be made. Without the chute it is actually difficult to get it on the ground. The newer birds have wing spoilers that do the same job.

 

[Mugs914]

Here are a couple showing the wing spoilers...




...And a couple more with chutes just because it looks cool!

 

[ksaves2]

I built a 10 foot wing span Paragon R/C sailplane and installed Graupner spoilers and had full span ailerons. It originally a polyhedral wing but
I built it with a straight wing with some central dihedral. I had a mechanical mixer on the ailerons I could droop for flaps. I laminated all the spars top and bottom with .007" carbon fiber for strength and re-notched the ribs.
On approach, I could be high, pop the spoilers, droop the ailerons as flaps and that thing would make a slow-motion, very stable steep descent. It was so cool to witness. If I had no "lift busters", the thing would have picked up speed and taken forever to flare and land. I would have run out of field by then.
I think as mentioned, the parachute adds drag to increase the descent angle without a higher speed gain in ships without spoilers and or flaps. I believe there is a protocol for the parachutes use and the pilot needs to stay above the stall speed. Never flew in a full size sailplane so I'm educated guessing that. Sold all my R/C stuff off when I lost a place to fly years later. Kurt

 

[John Beans]

One of the coolest things I've done is fly a glider in the Alps.
The one I was lucky enough to fly is self-launching, but you fold the prop away after climbing above the airport and just glide the rest of the time.

More pics and a short video here:
https://x.com/john_beans/status/1681713162851057683?s=20

 

[NateB]

A glider ride is on my bucket list. I'd love to fly in as many different types of aircraft as I can. I have been told the silence of soaring without an engine is a wonderful experience.

 

[tsmmiller]

A glider ride is on my bucket list. I'd love to fly in as many different types of aircraft as I can. I have been told the silence of soaring without an engine is a wonderful experience.

Glider and hot air balloon for my bucket list. Had my share of helicopter rides already.

 

[NateB]

Glider and hot air balloon for my bucket list. Had my share of helicopter rides already.

I have been up and down in a tethered balloon, but have yet to go on a free flight ride. That's on my list too.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Glider and hot air balloon for my bucket list. Had my share of helicopter rides already

My wife got me a hot air balloon ride for my 35th birthday. They say you look absolute best around 30- 35 years old, this was it.

 

[K'Tesh]

Someone is having a bad day...

I don't think *THAT* parachute is going to spoil the landing today...

 

[K'Tesh]

And the Winner of the "Closest to the Pad" competition is Hans Wilhelm

 

[NTP2]

View attachment 627668
Someone is having a bad day...

Or they are a test pilot and it’s Monday.

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[NTP2]

That is cool!

 

[Getmore]

I'm currently building this experimental aircraft. It will be at the sun&fun air show in April.

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[Mugs914]

View attachment 627668
Someone is having a bad day...

I don't think *THAT* parachute is going to spoil the landing today...

Actually, they were having a pretty GOOD day, it just had a funny ending...

This F-4's call sign was "Showtime 100". The guy riding the seat is Willie Driscoll, he was the RIO in Showtime 100. About to take the same ride is Lt. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, pilot of the Phantom. Together they had just splashed their third Mig on that particular mission, reputed to be a Col. Toon, one of N. Vietnam's best. This made a total of five air to air kills for the pair, making them the Navy's only aces of the Vietnam war.

Shortly after their third victory of the day they were hit by a SAM. With some difficulty Duke was able to wrestle the damaged bird back out to the South China Sea where they ejected safely and were recovered.

It is quite a story and worth reading! there are also some very good CGI-type videos depicting the dogfight in it's entirety.

Incredible painting, by the way. Any idea who did it?

 

[K'Tesh]

Donchajushateitwen You're on a tear to get into the air and find that the groundcrew forgot to gas up your plane?

 

[MClark]

 

[K'Tesh]

One pissed off Mitchell...

 

[MClark]

One pissed off Mitchell...

View attachment 630666

My father had a coworker, an airline, who flew an A-26 with all the forward firing guns. Fly low and fast, shoot anything that moved, or didn’t.