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.

L.D. wrote:
snip


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.


I think what he meant was the BT-13 has a sudden and unpredictable
stall break, which is probably true. I have flown (back seat) a T-6 and
while the break is sudden, it's also predictable. The bottom line is if
you are going to fly a warbird, you fly a T-6 first, and well, then the
fighters are a matter of systems and quirks. The average person who
should be flying at all, can be trained to fly a T-6-most military
cadet pupils had no special aptitude, for every Yeager or Hoover there
were thousands with average or slightly below aptitude and if they paid
attention, and didn't let fear or other baggage get in their way, they
graduated.

On 10 Nov 2005 12:19:22 -0800, "Bret Ludwig"
wrote:

The average person who
should be flying at all, can be trained to fly a T-6-most military
cadet pupils had no special aptitude, for every Yeager or Hoover there
were thousands with average or slightly below aptitude and if they paid
attention, and didn't let fear or other baggage get in their way, they
graduated.

True, kinda. But for every cadet who graduated, there were two or
three who entered flight training but washed out for one reason or
another and were placed in bombardier school or became navigators.
Then there were those lost through crashes for one reason or another.

Some of those guys, who survived the war as bombardiers and
navigators, went on to become civilian pilots. During the war the
military was in a rush and it didn't really matter that they washed
out so many because there were dozens lining up behind those culled
from pilots school eager to take over.

During the last full year of war, training was scaled back
dramatically because there were so many pilots already trained.

Yeager, according to his biography, got very airsick during many of
his training flights. He must have really wanted to earn his wings to
continue through that.

Corky Scott

Charles K. Scott wrote:
On 10 Nov 2005 12:19:22 -0800, "Bret Ludwig"
wrote:

The average person who
should be flying at all, can be trained to fly a T-6-most military
cadet pupils had no special aptitude, for every Yeager or Hoover there
were thousands with average or slightly below aptitude and if they paid
attention, and didn't let fear or other baggage get in their way, they
graduated.

True, kinda. But for every cadet who graduated, there were two or
three who entered flight training but washed out for one reason or
another and were placed in bombardier school or became navigators.
Then there were those lost through crashes for one reason or another.

Some of those guys, who survived the war as bombardiers and
navigators, went on to become civilian pilots. During the war the
military was in a rush and it didn't really matter that they washed
out so many because there were dozens lining up behind those culled
from pilots school eager to take over.

During the last full year of war, training was scaled back
dramatically because there were so many pilots already trained.

Yeager, according to his biography, got very airsick during many of
his training flights. He must have really wanted to earn his wings to
continue through that.

I think he did. I only puked once in my life in an airplane and it was
in the back of a V-tail Bonanza, sashaying as usual like a drag queen
in a Gay Pride parade in mild turbulence.

The Bonanzaphiles are people that so often have never rode in the back
of them. I used to see these dorks on Harry St. at their Bonanza
Bordello.

Q. What's the last thing that goes through the mind of an
(obstetrician, TV preacher, tax lawyer, insert favorite Bonanza owner
here)?

A. The accessory section of a TSIO Continental, of course.