The Aviators Thread

Twocats

Little bit of a different vibe today to my usual A320 and B737/747’s. These turned up earlier and will go through a full nose to tail overhaul over the next three months. Then they will go back out fire fighting. Vodka burner specials.

RI Omega Fan

Has anyone seen the Netflix documentary “Downfall”? It’s the story of how poorly Boeing dealt with the 737-Max problem. Very well done; very revealing. Check it out.

Omegafanman

Flying boat stopwatch....
I mentioned on an earlier post a Lightning pilot being plucked from the Irish Sea after an ejection. I guess during WW2 the RAF really honed their survival equipment and recovery drills with so many pilots ending up in the channel.
I had not realised it was the RAF Marine Craft Section. True rapid response ‘Flying boats’ with different propellers (screws). There is a nice video - state of readiness and sea survival 1970 on YouTube by Joluqa Malta. He puts up a lot of good content for all things RAF vintage aircraft.
Nowadays it is the RNLI / Royal Navy and RAF helicopter support who combined do amazing work to keep people safe around the UK coastline.
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Pascal S

I used to be a private pilot. I first soloed at age 15 and got my private license at 17. I mostly flew on a Socata TB9 out of Cannes Mandelieu.

That's me, looking smug on that picture. But life took another turn and flying became a memory. I miss it. A lot.

But at least I got a bunch of good stories to tell, like flying with Henri Giraud, the guy who once successfully landed a plane on top of Mont Blanc. I had gone to Alpe d'Huez for a week of skiing but busted my knee on the first day. I knew there was a small mountain airport nearby, so I booked an initiation flight without knowing anything about the credentials of who was to be my instructor on that day. He let me do the landing on the way back, and doing a touchdown on skis on a snow-covered uphill runway was definitely a new experience. Mr. Giraud is no longer alive, and his name has since been given to the Alpe d'Huez airport.

Pascal S

Landing on skis definitely feels... different. At the start of the flight, Mr. Giraud explained that he wanted to say hello to a friend. So, a few minutes later, we landed on a ski slope, right in the middle of puzzled skiers. He got out of the plane, and had a brief chat with one of the people from the snow grooming vehicle that was parked there. It became obvious that they had planned to meet there beforehand. We then took off from the ski slope, with his friend making sure that we benefited from a moment with no skiers in our way.

Later in the flight, the topic of landing on top of a mountain came up. Remember that I knew nothing of his Mont Blanc exploit at the time. So imagine my surprise when he proceeded to illustrate his explanations by landing on top of a round top mountain, putting the plane into a drift, coming out of it with a bit of power to face down the slope and... cutting power completely. We took off in gliding mode! It showed how quickly a plane could get speed on skis, which definitely was mind-blowing as far as I was concerned.

We made a further stop in Méribel airport, again so that he could salute some pals of his. As in all "altiports", you land uphill and take off downhill. Which means that, while taking off is a piece of cake thanks to gravity, you basically land with full throttle and you maintain that power for a little while to get to the top of the runway where it goes flat.

That's why I was more than a bit excited when he told me that he would let me do it for our final landing back at Alpe d'Huez. So here's me lining up, level with the lower part of the runway. As we approach, we increase power gradually, and the thing still looks like a white wall in front of us. Full power now, and we pull more on the stick to find ourselves at an almost parallel upward slope with the ground. Touchdown, and Mr. Giraud reminds me to keep full power on. But he also warns that we should not keep it for too long. That's because, while cutting power too early would result in us sliding backwards, going too fast would have us crash into the hangar or the air rescue helicopter parked nearby since we have no brakes on skis. No pressure then!

It was an unforgettable experience. And here is the Jodel plane we flew in:


And here is the man in action:

Archer

Considering current events, I thought I'd see if I could find a relevant photo from my air show days. Here we are in June 1992, at the air show I worked security at for 15 years, looking at a Ukrainian MiG-29 that was one of two that arrived in North America for air shows that summer:



This is the MiG-29UB, and the other was a single seater MiG-29A. They were partially disassembled and flown over to Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, in Alberta in an Antonov An-124 transport, and assembled on site in just 2 days. They flew in an air show the following weekend, and not long after were at the show that I was involved with. Not having seen any Soviet warplanes up close before, it was pretty exciting to get to see these up close and personal.

Good friend of mine who I went to school with, who was best man at my wedding, and who did the air show with me every year is first generation Canadian of Ukrainian descent. He was particularly proud to see these planes in person.

Don't recall much from the flying demonstration, other than the engines ran very dirty, and that they didn't do the "Cobra" maneuver that everyone was hoping for. Anyway, a memory from more hopeful times for Ukraine.

Cheers, Al