Flying the small block Chevy

Charles K. Scott wrote:
On 7 Nov 2005 11:56:22 -0800, "Bret Ludwig"
wrote:


The BT-13 is no longer in military training service anywhere and so I
doubt it kills cadets any longer. It probably does kill the odd warbird
owner or two, especially in "bull markets" when incompetents get big
credit lines and buy themselves a toy they can't handle.


I think if you check my comment, you'll see I did not say that it was
still killing cadets. But it is still killing pilots still flying it.
One died just this summer not ten miles from where I'm typing this.

Sudden loss of power on takeoff from a private grass strip bordering
the Connecticut river. The pilot turned out over the river and was
probably attempting to make it back to the field with the engine
sputtering and not producing power. The airplane hit in a corn field
short of the runway, nose down. The airplane burned and both
occupants were killed. The pilot was supposedly a very experienced
warbird pilot who was a member of a BT13 association, from what I
gathered from the news. The passenger I think was his son.

Would he have made it in any other airplane? Don't know. All I'm
saying is the slow speed handling qualities are known to be
treacherous.

My preference is to fly for fun without having to be unduly concerned
about what happens when I get slow. Each to their own, you certainly
don't have to listen to me. I wish you well.

Corky Scott


Slow?????? What is slow?????? 40 years ago I got solo ticket and
bought me a Tri Pacer. People told me you can't fly that thing slow, it
falls like a rock. Well it never fell. True, I couldn't fly it as slow
as the Taylorcraft I soloed in. I started my commercial and getting high
performance in a Mooney. Humm, you know that Tri Pacer could fly slow,
when compared----. Well I am always concerned about what happens when
you get slow, that is too slow, er ah too slow for the airplane I'm
flying and I don't need an airspeed indicator to know that. What I'm
trying to say is that BT-13 didn't kill that pilot but that pilot killed
the BT-13. If they got it too slow it certainly wasn't the airplanes
fault. There was NO reason for them to hit in a corn field with the nose
down unless he had a control system malfunction. Sounds like the control
problem was the pilot.
L.D.