Landing airplanes
I saw Mr. Hoover and the Shrike at Salina, KS many years
ago. It is very impressive in person, but he missed the
spot on the ramp when he rolled back in, by about 6 inches.
Thanks for the info on the modifications to the Commander.
Jim
"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
link.net...
| Bob is absolutely one of the world's finest pilots, and
probably the
| smoothest aerobatic pilot I have ever known.
| You are correct about the Shrike routine. It was indeed a
study in EM
| (energy management).
| It's interesting to note for the group at large, that
500RA (Bob's Shrike)
| was maintained by Byerly Aviation in Florida for the 20
years Bob had the
| airplane.
| Byerly made several modifications to the bird that made
Bob's wonderful
| routine possible.
| 500RA had an accumulator that stored hydraulic pressure
that allowed Bob to
| lower the gear inverted with both fans feathered, and also
a special setup
| for unfeathering both props. Bob would pull both fans back
into feather
| without having to idle back the throttles and mixtures.
The restart was made
| possible by micro-switches that triggered electric pumps
that unfeathered
| the props for him.
| The accumulator also stored enough pressure to give Bob
nosewheel steering
| for his "dead stick landings".
| Bob, by his very survival in the low altitude aerobatic
environment for as
| long as he was in it, and flying a variety of airplanes to
boot, has
| established himself as truly one of the world's all time
best in the
| business.
| Bob was one of the initial charter members of the
International Fighter
| Pilots Fellowship that I founded in 1971. In every contact
I have had with
| him through the years, he has always been a gracious
friend and a quiet
| force in our community.
| Dudley Henriques
|
|
|
| "Matt Whiting" wrote in message
| ...
| Flyingmonk wrote:
|
| After so many hours in the ultra sensitive R22,
airplanes are a cinch.
|
| Matt Whiting wrote:
|
| The issue is energy management and the
| source of energy can be airspeed or power.
|
|
| Your statement above reminds me of that great video of
Hoover doing
| aerobatics in with power off. What a pilot huh?
|
| Yes, absolutely. Bob was a joy to watch. He didn't
believe all of this
| crap about needing power to do stuff, even in fairly
high performance
| airplanes. He just went out and did it. Energy is
energy, doesn't matter
| if it is provided by the engine(s) or by airspeed or by
altitude. All can
| be used to achieve the desired outcome.
|
|
| Matt
|
|
|