The Airplane Fanatic Thread

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

55 minutes ago, CycleTex87 said:

I have a buddy who worked at Pratt & Whitney as an engineer in the part of the company that did root cause failure analysis on engine failures.  He said as a result of his work, he almost refuses to fly on PW powered aircraft.

Probably the same for anyone who’s seen the inside baseball on any company’s engine failure analysis. I know the geared Pratt’s were eating themselves at an alarming rate until recently where they’ve seemed to get the materials up to snuff for the technology. 

[Homercles 10205]

I thought the larger fans had tips that went supersonic and thus that grinding sound...at least that was explained to me when I asked why C5s had such a unique aural signature when I was growing up on MAC/AMC bases.  
 

I always loved how you could hear the turbine spin up on takeoff first, followed by that growl as the fan caught up.  Looking at a cutaway of something like a GENx is fascinating to see how a small, highly engineered core can drive such a massive bypass ratio.  

[RMac5 1551]

I would think that’s an ATC nightmare.

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

1 hour ago, RMac5 said:

I would think that’s an ATC nightmare.

Chicago O’Hare is an interesting place. One of the busiest airports in the world, and the departure procedure is to fly a heading. That’s it. Oh, and ground doesn’t want to talk to you when taxiing in unless there’s a problem or you need to be sequenced or rerouted. Just follow be plane in front of you and contact ramp when u get close. 

3 hours ago, Homercles said:

I thought the larger fans had tips that went supersonic and thus that grinding sound...at least that was explained to me when I asked why C5s had such a unique aural signature when I was growing up on MAC/AMC bases.  
 

I always loved how you could hear the turbine spin up on takeoff first, followed by that growl as the fan caught up.  Looking at a cutaway of something like a GENx is fascinating to see how a small, highly engineered core can drive such a massive bypass ratio.  

Well you just taught me something. I wonder if that’s why the fan blades on the NEO’s are shaped the way they are. Best push versus drag dependent on blade speed and radius. They kinda narrow and then flare at the end. Maybe reduce transonic drag. 

 

*Well after doing some reading the tips of GTF’s are subsonic which reduced noise. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Bobby_Batronic

[Homercles 10205]

Yep I think it’s just like scimitar prop blades, except I’d guess there’s some complex aerodynamic interplay with the interior of the cowl that lets them curve forward again.  It’s just like wing sweep and the ability to make those shapes is why fan blade count is dropping on the larger motors.  
 

Believe it’s a GE90 blade that’s in AUS concourse near the AA lounge.  Damn thing is beautiful.  

Edited March 3, 2021 by Homercles

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

1 hour ago, Homercles said:

Yep I think it’s just like scimitar prop blades, except I’d guess there’s some complex aerodynamic interplay with the interior of the cowl that lets them curve forward again.  It’s just like wing sweep and the ability to make those shapes is why fan blade count is dropping on the larger motors.  
 

Believe it’s a GE90 blade that’s in AUS concourse near the AA lounge.  Damn thing is beautiful.  

I hadn’t really read up much on the engine other than the how it works. Didn’t realize PW1100G had a 12:1 bypass ratio. I remember when 6 or 7 to one was considered wild stuff. 

[CycleTex87 2967]

Back in college in the 80’s my aerospace engineering buddy explained that it was more efficient to accelerate a lot of air a little bit rather than a little bit of air a lot in explaining high bypass engines. I don’t know a lot about the subject but that’s stayed with me all this time. 

[Homercles 10205]

Well it is if you aren’t going supersonic.  Beyond the induced drag of a large inlet, I believe something like the Raptor uses low bypass turbofans to be able to ensure it can get the jet of air up to Mach 2+ even in supercruise.  A high BP ratio is great for transonic in the Mach .75-.95 regiment but isn’t practical beyond that and the air still has to be slowed/compressed before inlet ingestion.  
 

If you want to read about something cool in that regard, google ‘F35 DSI’

[Prepuce of Doom 21065]

South winds last night meant that we had a few widebodies saying hello on approach to one of the infrequently used runways at ORD. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Prepuce of Doom

[Lat22 4010]

Parked in a parking lot on the approach to 17R at Ellington last week. It worked out.

[StassneyHorn 6575]

Any of you flown in Lubbock before? It looks like that’s where I’m gonna have to do the Private checkride with my school after putting it off for a little bit. Went up 3x this week and did pattern work in the 20 knot winds around new braunfels, figured I’d ask you degenerates. Hit some gusts in the 30s so I’m seeing if that’s expected there

[Your Mom 4805]

Lubbock can get a little windy but they have two perpendicular runways so you should never have more than a quartering crosswind. Both runways are long. There’s also fields galore everywhere so the engine-out glide routine should be easy. Most of the fields around there are probably lined up on cardinal direction section lines so that makes some of your maneuvers a little easier than in central Texas where every road winds around random directions. Elevation. Is higher than you’re used to. 3500ish feet I think. On a warm day you will notice that density altitude. Expect your performance numbers to be worse than at home.   Lubbock Aero is the fbo I’ve been to a long time ago. There might be something else on the field too.  I’d say Lubbock isn’t a bad place at all to do a check ride, just expect the worse performance and some wind. 

[Telegraph_it 3357]

Flying into FCO just in time for lockdown. Nailed it. 
 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

On 3/13/2021 at 8:46 PM, Your Mom said:

Lubbock can get a little windy but they have two perpendicular runways so you should never have more than a quartering crosswind. Both runways are long. There’s also fields galore everywhere so the engine-out glide routine should be easy. Most of the fields around there are probably lined up on cardinal direction section lines so that makes some of your maneuvers a little easier than in central Texas where every road winds around random directions. Elevation. Is higher than you’re used to. 3500ish feet I think. On a warm day you will notice that density altitude. Expect your performance numbers to be worse than at home.   Lubbock Aero is the fbo I’ve been to a long time ago. There might be something else on the field too.  I’d say Lubbock isn’t a bad place at all to do a check ride, just expect the worse performance and some wind. 

Everything this guy said. Lubbock Aero or Chaparral were the two FBO’s in use back in the day. There’s a short North/South runway directly across from Chaparral that might be used for your short takeoff and landing stuff. Some airline service, but overall not really busy.  

[Gil Bang 25943]

My AA pilot buddy is on a layover in Costa Rica and just texted me that one of their crews got robbed at gunpoint. Pilot’s iPads taken along with wallets and FA purses

[markstanco 12574]

Tell him to request a different route.

[Shoxthemonkey 1977]

Is anybody going out to Bergstrom to see the AN 124? Flight number VDA4418 if you want to track it. It just flew over the NW corner of KS so it should land around 1:30.

[Armybrat 40832]

3 hours ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

Is anybody going out to Bergstrom to see the AN 124? Flight number VDA4418 if you want to track it. It just flew over the NW corner of KS so it should land around 1:30.

Posted on the Skyscraper Austin forum this afternoon...

 

[Shoxthemonkey 1977]

2 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Posted on the Skyscraper Austin forum this afternoon...

 

My daughter took a video of it landing but without anything else around it to reference it didn't look any different than a 747. Other than a jillion wheels underneath it maybe.

[Homercles 10205]

3 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Posted on the Skyscraper Austin forum this afternoon...

 

Anyone catch what they unloaded?  South Austin’s Moms dildo or something for Tesla?

[StassneyHorn 6575]

Failed the shit out of my stage 3 check for the oral section of the checkride couple days back. My flight plan was great according to the CFi, but hated my answers for systems. Got the classic scuba diving questions from her. I’m at goddamn near 75 hours and this place is still doing stupid shit to stroke money from me but it’s been too hard to come in consistently with Covid and have forgotten a lot of the ground lessons without POH knowledge. Needed to vent. I absolutely sucked on questions about the electric system and fuel system, but everything else in ACS was good. Just ordered Amazon’s Michael Hayes prep book cause they recommend it. One of the CFIs literally sent me a link to a competitors schools PPL prep that is 15 miles away to review and it blew my mind on how shitty that should be to most people. I’m doing everything I can to pass this and get the hell out of here and never use this place again.

“You know how to fly, I’ve done all your checks, you just talk like you don’t know.”  from the same CFI.

Fucking brutal, I can’t answer verbal  fill in the blank questions for obvious answers without feeling like a jackass.

I feel like her questions are “2 and 4 are numbers.” What is math? No! I needed to hear 2.”

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

3 hours ago, Homercles said:

Anyone catch what they unloaded?  South Austin’s Moms dildo or something for Tesla?

I’m sure the Austin City Council ran low on BS or something. Here’s one pooping out Blackhawks in PBI:

 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

Btw, the high wind condition limited DFW to arrivals and departures on 31L/R. Winds were almost directly out of the West at 30-40 knots. One ATIS had them at 38 gusting to 43. Anyway, here’s a nice pic of the lineup to depart 31L. Zoom in to see all the dinosaurs being sacrificed to cross wind limitations :

[markstanco 12574]

[Texas St. Armadillos 1381]

13 hours ago, StassneyHorn said:

Failed the shit out of my stage 3 check for the oral section of the checkride couple days back. My flight plan was great according to the CFi, but hated my answers for systems. Got the classic scuba diving questions from her. I’m at goddamn near 75 hours and this place is still doing stupid shit to stroke money from me but it’s been too hard to come in consistently with Covid and have forgotten a lot of the ground lessons without POH knowledge. Needed to vent. I absolutely sucked on questions about the electric system and fuel system, but everything else in ACS was good. Just ordered Amazon’s Michael Hayes prep book cause they recommend it. One of the CFIs literally sent me a link to a competitors schools PPL prep that is 15 miles away to review and it blew my mind on how shitty that should be to most people. I’m doing everything I can to pass this and get the hell out of here and never use this place again.

“You know how to fly, I’ve done all your checks, you just talk like you don’t know.”  from the same CFI.

Fucking brutal, I can’t answer verbal  fill in the blank questions for obvious answers without feeling like a jackass.

I feel like her questions are “2 and 4 are numbers.” What is math? No! I needed to hear 2.”

Where are you training out of?

[DaysOff 7947]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMmf-YHhqtb/?igshid=ie8yqgqbikwy

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

3 hours ago, DaysOff said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMmf-YHhqtb/?igshid=ie8yqgqbikwy

We had a discussion the other day about how screwed we be for a while if we had to fly a plane that didn’t auto trim itself or leave the pitch and bank wherever you set it in perpetuity.  

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

20 hours ago, StassneyHorn said:

Failed the shit out of my stage 3 check for the oral section of the checkride couple days back. My flight plan was great according to the CFi, but hated my answers for systems. Got the classic scuba diving questions from her. I’m at goddamn near 75 hours and this place is still doing stupid shit to stroke money from me but it’s been too hard to come in consistently with Covid and have forgotten a lot of the ground lessons without POH knowledge. Needed to vent. I absolutely sucked on questions about the electric system and fuel system, but everything else in ACS was good. Just ordered Amazon’s Michael Hayes prep book cause they recommend it. One of the CFIs literally sent me a link to a competitors schools PPL prep that is 15 miles away to review and it blew my mind on how shitty that should be to most people. I’m doing everything I can to pass this and get the hell out of here and never use this place again.

“You know how to fly, I’ve done all your checks, you just talk like you don’t know.”  from the same CFI.

Fucking brutal, I can’t answer verbal  fill in the blank questions for obvious answers without feeling like a jackass.

I feel like her questions are “2 and 4 are numbers.” What is math? No! I needed to hear 2.”

You might just need a fresh set of eyes or a new voice delivering the same message. 

[RPM 26318]

Is the Civil Air Patrol holding an event? There's a bunch of CAP in North Texas from all over the country on Flightradar24. Never noticed so many up at once before.

[Brew 3049]

On 2/24/2021 at 11:16 PM, Brew said:

It is a 1996 58. It was owned by a client for 4 years (he moved up to the CJ we are looking at and is now moving up to a Lear), then another client of mine bought it last year and we would be buying in half. The management company has a client that has offered to buy it if we go up to the CJ. I talked with the owner of the management company and it and the CJ have been maintained with an open checkbook and are fully updated and they are very high on both.

Bought the Baron and hold an option on the CJ open to see how this goes. Going to take a few weeks to get all the paperwork settled, so we’ll see where this goes. 

[Chewbacca 7773]

On 3/16/2021 at 8:30 AM, Gil Bang said:

My AA pilot buddy is on a layover in Costa Rica and just texted me that one of their crews got robbed at gunpoint. Pilot’s iPads taken along with wallets and FA purses

Wow, that sucks.  Very unlike CR from my experiences there.

[Gil Bang 25943]

21 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Wow, that sucks.  Very unlike CR from my experiences there.

Yeah, it was shitty.  But, AA really stepped up on the deal. Sent an empty bird down to pick them up  with no other passengers, just the crew, and gave them 30 days off with pay.  They (and the other crews) had a police escort from hotel to the airport. 

 

[Homercles 10205]

Anyone here flown an older King Air?  Was watching a startup video the other day and the dude mentioned to his student that you can’t leave Gen 2 on when first starting #1, or else you’d risk ‘frying everything’...so he’d flip it on to charge the battery for a bit, flip it off before turning #1, then turn it back on for good just before adding fuel on #1.  
 

Im guessing older KAs would not handle the current surge from a high idle generator into the starter on the other motor when Ng was really low...ie when the starter was at max torque?  
 

Just seemed like a simple design oversight that could lead to major problems.  Guess that’s why you have a checklist.  These little nuances fascinate me. 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

11 minutes ago, Homercles said:

Anyone here flown an older King Air?  Was watching a startup video the other day and the dude mentioned to his student that you can’t leave Gen 2 on when first starting #1, or else you’d risk ‘frying everything’...so he’d flip it on to charge the battery for a bit, flip it off before turning #1, then turn it back on for good just before adding fuel on #1.  
 

Im guessing older KAs would not handle the current surge from a high idle generator into the starter on the other motor when Ng was really low...ie when the starter was at max torque?  
 

Just seemed like a simple design oversight that could lead to major problems.  Guess that’s why you have a checklist.  These little nuances fascinate me. 

I flew a Beech 99 (several actually) that probably had more hours than any two posters here combined, and can only vaguely recall turning the gen off for start after recharging the battery. 

There was a test we did each Friday where we checked to see that some very important. 150A circuit breaker hadn’t popped in the previous 7 days. And the fire detection was IR so sunlight hitting the nacelles just so would give you a fire warning.  

[Mighty fine 169]

A buddy sent me these of the AN 124 at Bergstrom the other day. Pretty neat

Have a couple videos he sent but it's poor quality; will share if anyone is interested.

[shadow_operative2.0 15965]

Trouble in Bridgeport. 

 

[Lat22 4010]

This YouTube channel is a pretty good follow for you Antonov fans. 
 

https://youtube.com/c/DAntonov

[pantone159 719]

4 hours ago, Mighty fine said:

A buddy sent me these of the AN 124 at Bergstrom the other day. Pretty neat

Have a couple videos he sent but it's poor quality; will share if anyone is interested.

Sitting in the cockpit, that is pretty cool. I wish I had seen that airplane. Does anybody know what it was bringing to (or taking from) Austin?

 

[pantone159 719]

I just realized that this is the An-124 and not the gigantic An-225. Still cool, but not quite as epic.

[Homercles 10205]

On 3/26/2021 at 4:26 PM, Mighty fine said:

A buddy sent me these of the AN 124 at Bergstrom the other day. Pretty neat

Have a couple videos he sent but it's poor quality; will share if anyone is interested.

Russians love that sky blue and IP background...and apparently giant uncaged fans for the flight deck. 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

At least they’ve got iPad holders these days and may not be navigating with a hiking GPS. 

[Your Mom 4805]

I’m jealous of those blinds. We’re over here working with de-ice cards and checklists wedged up in there. 

I passed through AUS day before yesterday and it was still out on the ramp if you wanted to go check it out. It was parked in the overflow pad south of the terminal though, not very visible from outside the fence.  

Edited March 28, 2021 by Your Mom

[CycleTex87 2967]

We loaded some equipment on the Antonov about 20 years ago at IAH to fly to a project site in Turkey for GE.  I went out for the loading just to hang around the airplane.  Crazy cool.  Had a bunch of digital photos of it on our server that got wiped out by an early virus. 

[Armybrat 40832]

Good 7+ minute story about the Arizona boneyard/regeneration facility:

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-worlds-largest-airplane-boneyard-stores-regenerates-3100-retired-aircraft-2021-2

[El Diablo 4232]

Anyone in the Temple area might find this cool. @DougO not sure if this is up your photographic alley or not.

https://www.kwtx.com/2021/04/08/60-plane-formation-flying-team-will-land-in-central-texas-this-weekend/

[DougO 5243]

6 hours ago, El Diablo said:

Anyone in the Temple area might find this cool. @DougO not sure if this is up your photographic alley or not.

https://www.kwtx.com/2021/04/08/60-plane-formation-flying-team-will-land-in-central-texas-this-weekend/

Cool, I will keep an eye out for it.

They were having an airshow every year until about six years ago, then every other year, then zero due to covid. I went most years, always fun.

[El Diablo 4232]

15 minutes ago, DougO said:

Cool, I will keep an eye out for it.

They were having an airshow every year until about six years ago, then every other year, then zero due to covid. I went most years, always fun.

Yeah, we've had them here in Waco off and on, one year wayyy back they brought a Concord in. I think they were charging $500 a seat to take a ride out of Waco, out over the Gulf of Mexico and break the sound barrier. Best part about the shows to me is hearing the old piston engine warbirds rumbling overhead all weekend. 

[Chad Fuck 17669]

Yeah, we've had them here in Waco off and on, one year wayyy back they brought a Concord in. I think they were charging $500 a seat to take a ride out of Waco, out over the Gulf of Mexico and break the sound barrier. Best part about the shows to me is hearing the old piston engine warbirds rumbling overhead all weekend. 

I was at that show. Having the Concorde there was a big deal. We drove a long ass way to see it up close. Early 80s I think.

[castolon 193]

3 hours ago, DougO said:

Cool, I will keep an eye out for it.

They were having an airshow every year until about six years ago, then every other year, then zero due to covid. I went most years, always fun.

It's only been a decade plus, but I worked that air show ever year for about 5 years. Big fan. It's too bad it fell off. 

[El Diablo 4232]

9 hours ago, Chad Fuck said:

I was at that show. Having the Concorde there was a big deal. We drove a long ass way to see it up close. Early 80s I think.

1986 according to this guy's video description. I was thinking they may have had the Concorde there more than once. I was in the Navy from 80-84 and overseas so if they had that bird at a show during those years I didn't know it. That air show was at the (then) TSTI airfield which is the one Prez Bush would use. Being an old military airbase the runways can accommodate almost anything.