As I sadly announced a couple of days ago, a friend of ours was killed
in a plane wreck west of Iowa City.  He (and a buddy) were ferrying
something called a "Spencer Air Car" back from Seattle, for a third-
party buyer.  According to eye-witnesses, the engine failed.  (They
had been stuck in Idaho for five days, waiting for parts — so
apparently this plane was giving them some problems along the way.)

Here’s a picture of a similar plane: http://dougnlinap.home.mindspring.com/Home.html
It’s basically a homebuilt Republic Seabee, but with one important
difference: It’s apparently all-wood construction.

Looking at the design, I’d say an off-airport landing in anything less
than ideal conditions will be fatal, since that big engine and prop is
hanging right above and behind your head.  Hit anything moderately
hard on the ground, and you’ll have an O-360 with a pair of Ginsu
knives coming right through the cockpit.

No one really knows what happened, yet — and maybe we never will
know.  But in this plane, if you got slow during an engine-out
landing, or tried to pull up over that last fence and stalled, a hard
landing that would be survivable in a spam can would result in a very
bad day in this particular aircraft.
—
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Click on this.

When the video starts, click on the screen at it will go full screen.
You’ll notice their version  of the FAA does not seem to have the same
restrictions on air show performances as does the domestic version.

Be sure your seat belt is fastened.

http://guyrevel.free.fr/WGP/Haute-Voltige_au_Japon.wmv

Under what conditions, if any, would you explicitly tell ATC that you
are rolling, that is, actually rolling on the runway for take-off?

I hear this used occasionally, but I don’t know if there are any
formal circumstances that merit it, or if it is just at pilot
discretion, or what.  It is normally independent of the readback of
the take-off clearance (which precedes it), although sometimes I hear
"Rolling" without a readback of the clearance.

–
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

I am thinking about buying a 1946 Taylorcraft that has NO gyros at all on
the panel.  I really want at least a turn and bank so I want die if I loose
reference to the horizon for any reason.  I have been told that the heading
information from a GPS is good enough to do the function of a turn and bank
and allow emergency operations without having a visual horizon reference.
Is this correct?

Danny Deger

Gettin’ a bit confused here. (nothing new in that)

In the big sprawling thread I started down below, there’s been a couple of
themes that have come up.

One is that I am pretty sure that for the same IAS (not TAS) at a higher
altitude, more power is required. However, one contributor to the thread has
stated that this is not the case:-

"Power is net force time velocity.   Thrust equals drag, net force is zero.
The energy change of the airframe overtime is zero.  All energy from the
engine is going into the air.  The power to move air to make the same thrust
is the same regardless of velocity.  Same IAS, same engine power
requirement.  Look at some aircraft performance charts."

I’d always understood that power = thrust x velocity, hence the deduction
that it requires more power to go the same IAS at a higher alt. At the same
IAS the drag and hence the thrust is the same. Plug that into the equation
and you get the power required, which is more because TAS is higher at
altitude.

As for aircraft performance charts, they’re for the most part in TAS, not
IAS.

However, the same author as the snippet above says:-

"The statement that power is drag time velocity is
incorrect."

Is it? I’ve seen that formula mentioned in almost every text on power that
I’ve seen.

Is there something I’m missing?

Not trying to be a PITA, just seeking clarification of something I was sure
was right. And I know that operationally TAS is much more important than IAS
except for, say, stall speed, best glide and the like. So it’s a largely an
academic question, I realise. It was (sort of) started as a way of finding a
plain language non-mathematical explanation for the question "why does the
same IAS require more power at altitude?". I haven’t found that plain
language explanation yet, but now I’m getting conflicting answers as to the
very definition of power.

Can someone clear it up?

TIA!

I had another close encounter with a (party / decoration-type) balloon.
  I was flying back to SQL with 3 passengers in an Archer at 2500
AGL/MSL when out of the corner of my eye this black thing flew (no pun
intended) by.  I asked a passenger what it was and they said it was a
balloon.  I think this is the 3rd or 4th time out of ~250 hours that
I’ve been very close (less than 100 feet) to a balloon.  One of the
times it was at 10,500 feet over Los Angeles.  Any else see balloons all
the time?   I’m guessing they can’t do too much damage unless they go
into the engine air inlets or hit the ADF antenna.  Now that would be
bad luck.

At least birds stay out of the way….unfortunately not all of the time.

Gerald

I normally fly into Brookhaven ( HWV ) to visit my Mom but I need to go
up next Sunday and there is no car rental there and Enterprise is closed
on Sunday.  Can anyone recommend a airport/FBO combo on the eastern half
of the island with decent prices for tiedown & car rental?

John Theune

http://machineitright.com/movies/060213_flying_motorcycle.wmv

I want one.

See

http://us.cnn.com/2007/US/01/29/reactor.security/index.html

I agree with the NRC.  Nuclear plants are designed to readily
withstand far worse than the impact of an aircraft, such as internal
steam explosions.  Aircraft are light and fragile, and would simply
crumple uselessly if they hit a containment building or cooling tower
(and cooling towers aren’t terribly critical).  The same is true of
aircraft hitting structures like dams: if the dam can resist a
bazillion tons of water pressing against it 24 hours a day, an
aircraft hitting it would be like a fly against Mount Shasta.

–
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Hey, It’s me I havent been on usenet it a little while so just droping you
all a line saying hello!

I, got a few flights on the burnner PA/28 U.S. to S. Africa And a Buckfifty
U.S. to Peru!

The PA/28is on hold as it was not ready for pick up to take to the tanker
for tanking….so far lots of problems 1 more I gona scratch it totally. The
Buck Fifty is all ready to go just waiting on bank funds..It will be a fun
ride will take lots and lots of photos.

Oh! I think when I return I am gonna get my CFI!

"give me the POH….my fee….the keys….see ya"

Also been reading this book it’s really good story.
http://www.spikefly.com/crop.php