Tri pacer driver

Flying is my passion. Growing up my dad had a love of being up in the air. That is where my influence came from. The airplane that I have is the same one passed down from him.



Can think of no better way to clear my head than to *Take her around the field*.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Jet Man

Breaking boundaries to fly like a bird.... for real.









Man in jetpack races real jet aircraft - video
Swiss pilot Yves Rossy flies a spectacular formation flight alongside two Albatross jets over the Swiss Alps. His custom-built jet suit weighs 54kg and can travel at speeds in excess of 125mph. Rossy used to fly fighter jets for the Swiss air force and in 2006 became the first and only man in the history of aviation to fly with a jet-propelled wing

Monday, November 28, 2011

It is a bird, it is a plane?

An Airplane That Flies like A Bird
SmartBird - a lightweight airplane modeled on a seagull - flies by flapping its wings.

These Germans are some kind of engineers. Just building the framework of this "bird" from carbon fiber rods would be a major undertaking. And, in flight, it's beautiful to see. I'm impressed!

http://www.flixxy.com/airplane-flies-like-a-bird.htm

Friday, November 11, 2011

Airshow pics

These are a few airshow pictures,















If you look close. There is a penny visible and is a part of this radial engine.

















This is a video from the airshow planes flying. They put on a great show. It is advertised as the largest on the East coast that is not a military show. All older prop planes, no jets.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0ONAp4M6PU&feature=player_detailpage



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_vVw9ON0jc&feature=player_embedded

Friday, November 4, 2011

warriors and warbirds

Warriors and Warbirds Airshow

Monroe NC

















The airshow is this weekend. Always honor those veterans for what they have done for you and your country.









Warriors and Warbirds












Thursday, November 3, 2011

Old age no barrier to flying

Don't clip my wings

85 Year Old completes assembly of RV-12




http://www.theunion.com/article/20111101/NEWS/111039973/1056&parentprofile=1056









I'll never forget the first time Harold Wolfe took me flying in his little Cessna 152 airplane. I was a little nervous because the plane was so small and Harold was ... well ... so old ... and I had to ask the question.







“So, Harold,” I began, not knowing how to phrase the question so he wouldn't be offended. “If something happens to you up here — like a heart attack, for example — what should I do?”







At that point we were flying above Grass Valley and I could see nothing but trees below.







Without missing a beat, Harold said, “Head for Beale Air Force Base because the runway is so big you could land this thing sideways.” Then he pointed to the Sutter Buttes, so I'd generally know which way to head and showed me where to find the Beale frequency on the radio so they wouldn't shoot me down for trying to land sideways on a military base.







That was maybe six years ago, when Harold Wolfe was only 79. Since then he's managed to build his own airplane and he took me for a little ride in it last week, a couple of months after his 85th birthday.







Think about that for just a minute. You're Harold Wolfe. You're almost 80. Your kids have been out of the house for 30 years and cruise ship companies are sending you brochures every week with offers to Alaska and beyond.







What to do?“







I know,” said Harold. “I think I'll build an airplane with my own two hands.”







Just what you might expect from an engineer who built his own house on the weekends.







Harold was born in 1926, just 23 years after the Wright Brothers “Flyer” made aviation history. “When I was 4, 5 or 6 my dad paid for an airplane ride for both of us,” he told me. “That planted a seed for my desire to fly. From then on, I built airplane models from kits using balsa wood, banana oil and tissue paper — every kind of plane I could get my hands on.







”Harold took his first flying lesson on Oct. 10, 1943 and soloed in a J3 Cub on Independence Day in 1946. “I got my private pilot's license on Sept. 12, 1947,” he recalled. “It took me four years to get my license since I paid for the lessons with the money I earned from a paper route.







”Note to children — if you are reading this: Harold didn't ask his parents for the money. He got a paper route and paid for the lessons himself, which is where the whole “value proposition” comes in. Your own hard-earned money can be a wonderful motivator when it comes to determination. It's a concept that seems to be getting lost in a world of entitlements, as in, “I'm entitled to your money.”







Unfortunately, life got in the way of Harold's flying enjoyment. “I stopped flying in 1948 because college, work, career and family got in the way,” he said. For the next 47 years, Harold would instead work to build a successful career that allowed him to raise a beautiful family.







But the desire to fly continued to burn inside Harold and in late 1995 he got the chance to manage the Nevada County Airport, rekindling that fire.







“I started taking lessons from John Bauer, a flight instructor at the airport,” Harold remembered. “He was somewhat surprised to learn that I already had a private license.”







The lessons began on May 24, 1996, and Harold would solo for a second time five months later after a 48-year absence.







“I've been flying steadily ever since and the enjoyment is still there,” he told me. “Even after 1,300 hours of flight time.”







Bauer would eventually sell Harold an interest in his Cessna, which they used as a trainer. Bauer was later killed in a tragic car crash and Harold purchased the remaining interest in the plane.







So why did Harold decide to build his own experimental RV-12? “It was just to satisfy a lifelong dream,” he said. “Plus, the RV-12 is classified as a Light Sport Aircraft and, as such, the FAA rules allow you to fly these planes using your driver's license as a replacement for the usual medical exam required by the FAA. At my age I could never be sure I would continue to meet the medical requirements, so the RV-12 gave me an easy out.”







While I'm not sure building your own plane can be described as an “easy way out,” Harold's reasoning probably explains why there are so many experimental planes at the airport. Flying and learning to fly is a lot more expensive than it used to be and the median age of pilots in this “older” county of ours is growing by the year. For proof we need look no further than the number of empty hangars today and ... no ... it's not just the economy.







There just aren't enough young people who have an extra $10,000 or so it takes to get a pilot's license today.The RV-12 came in six different boxes, or “kits.” The first “kit” arrived at Harold's garage on Aug. 1, 2009. This past May he moved everything to his hangar and an FAA inspector signed off on the plane July 8, almost two years after Harold began the build. “







On Aug. 23, one day after my 85th birthday, I made my first flight in the RV-12,” he said. “When I started building the plane, I wasn't sure my health would remain sound long enough for me to actually fly it.”







So what's next?







“I suppose I need to stay healthy, fly my plane and catch up on all the ‘honey do's' I set aside while building the plane,” said Harold. “It would also be fun to repeat our 2007 flight along Interstate 80 into Nebraska and then Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and back to California.”

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Enter the Short Wings





Enter the Short Wings







PA-15, PA-17 VagabondIn 1947 it was Panic City in every airframe manufacturing plant and the order came down from Piper management to build the cheapest, two-place general-use airplane they could and to do it using nothing but materials already on hand and as little of that as possible.




For that reason everything about the PA-15 Vagabond was made smaller and simpler. They even went so far as to use military surplus mag switches. The wings were minimized (six feet shorter), as was the fuselage, which gave birth to the short wing Piper.




The name “Vagabond” is applied to two different Piper designations, the PA-15 and the PA-17. The airplanes are nearly identical and are almost naive in their low-tech approach to flight, but they are great fliers. The differences between the two included adding a right side control stick in the –17 as well as replacing the –15’s ultra-simple, rigid landing gear with a more conventional bungee system. Originally equipped with the 65 hp Continental, many are seen with 75hp or 85 hp engines, which greatly improve the climb performance.




PA-16






ClipperWhere the Vagabond started the short-wing ball rolling, it is the Clipper, produced only in1949, that set the shape of things to come. A true four-place airplane with a right side door for the front and a left side door for the back, the little bugger moved right along on 115 hp. It still had sticks, rather than control yokes, and got most of its performance out of its light weight. These are great buys because all but the super-restored birds sell for $16-$22K and a few even drop below $15K. PA-20 Pacer



This is the Clipper gone one better. The engine became a 125 or 135 hp 0-290 Lycoming and the sticks were heaved in favor of a pair control yokes. The airplane grew flaps and Piper layered on some cosmetic cockpit treatments that gave it a more finished look. With its short fuselage and higher-than-a-Cub touchdown speeds, the airplanes rapidly gained a reputation of being a little quick on the runway, but these days that doesn’t seem to be a problem—each year dozens of Tri-Pacers get a “nosewheelectomy” to make them into Pacers because of their sporty appearance and handling.


















The Pacer never got the 150/160 hp Lycoming of the Tri-Pacer so they are a little underpowered when loaded to gross, but that’s as much a function of the environment, as the airplane: short wings don’t like high density altitudes.



PA-22






Tri-PacerThe Tri-Pacer is a solid, easy to fly airplane that in the 150-160 hp versions actually is a pretty good four-place airplane, although the backseat is a little small and dark. Their reputation is one of being fast on final, but that’s not true. Yes, it is much faster than a Cessna but no different than a Cherokee. Also, it’ll work out of a shorter field than many would believe. It’s a solid 125-130 mph cruiser with the bigger engines and if the air is even remotely smooth, you can put your hands in your lap and watch the countryside go by. $18-$25K buys all sorts of Tri-Pacers and none of them will disappoint so long as a thorough pre-buy inspection is done.







PA-22-l08 Colt



The Colt has to be one of the least known contemporary airplanes built. Essentially, a stripped down, two-place Tri-Pacer it is the Vagabond of the 1960’s. In fact, it flies a lot like a Vagabond and is just as much fun. It has to be an exceptional Colt for it’s price to be over $18K and you see them all the time in the $12-$14K range. Being a fabric airplane and one that isn’t too popular at that, you can expect the lower range airplanes to be pretty doggy. The Colt’s 108 hp, 0-235 engine is a solid motor that with minimal care will run to TBO, so you can buy a Colt with a mid-time engine, fly it for a bunch of years and sell it for what you paid for it after flying its wings off. Summary-Do a careful inspectionAll high-wing Pipers have steel tube airframes that are 40 to 60 years old and this is something to consider when buying one. If they were well taken care off, age is of no consequence, but the rag and tube Pipers all sat around as derelicts at some time in their lives. During that period of time moisture was continually trying to convert them to ferrous oxide. When doing the pre-buy inspection, hire an expert in the type to do the work.





The usual places for rust are at the rear of the fuselage in the taildraggers and inside the doorframes and in the strut carry-through in the belly of nose draggers. Also, these kinds of airplanes have lived in the land of the field mouse for decades and nesting mice can cause more damage then flying can. So, when you decide you can’t live without a high-wing Piper, try to find the best one available, or at the very least, do your best to determine the true condition of an airframe before buying it. There is no substitute for paranoia, when buying any airplane but on high-wing Pipers it will really pay off.

Piper High-Wings













This gives some of the history behind the shortwing Pipers.









"...and in the begining, there was the high wing Piper and He looked down and said...yeah, that's good, really good."





Cub to Colt and all the Rag- and-Tube Wonders Inbetween
Back in its high-wing days, pre-1963, Piper Aircraft really only designed one airplane, the J-3 Cub and even that wasn’t a new design. Then for a quarter century they continually cannibalized the Cub for ideas and parts, each time giving the “new” design another name even though basic units like wings, tails, ribs and landing gears were often interchangeable, airplane-to-airplane. Old Bill Piper couldn’t see designing a new part when something they already had on the shelf would work just as well.The Piper family tree evolved in a very linear fashion with just one major branching-out taking place in 1948 when the PA-15 Vagabond came out. That fork in the road gave birth to two distinct families of Piper high-wing airplanes—the clan of the Long Wing and that of the Short Wing. It could logically be asked exactly what the definitions of Long and Short include.




It’s pretty simple—Long Wing Pipers all had wings a shade over 35 feet long while the Shorties ran a little over 29 feet.




Regardless of which clan and airplane you’re discussing, however, until the end of the Piper high-wing dynasty, none of them strayed far from the formula laid down by chief engineer, Walter Jamineau, with the J-3.-Steel tube fuselage-Bungee sprung “V” gear-Fragile aluminum ribs made of riveted-together “T” shaped sections-Trim via screw-jack moving forward edge of stabilizer up and down-Steel, sealed struts



In the Beginning All Wings were Long


J-3 Cub



Although other engines were offered in the J-3, the 65 hp, Continental A-65 became the engine of choice and it made the J-3 a huge improvement over earlier Cub variants. On 65 hp, the airplane flies well, but the 85 hp conversions make a real airplane out of it. With a touchdown speed a little over 30 mph, the airplane is the standard for simplicity both in flying and in maintenance.




One maintenance item worth noting, however, are the original expander tube brakes that can cost a fortune to overhaul. Also, most post-war Cubs have aluminum wing spars, not wood, and that’s worth paying a premium.




With a 75 mph cruising speed, the Cub isn’t going to take you very far very quickly, but you’ll enjoy every second of it. The front seat is a little cramped and blind while the back seat is more or less comfortable with great side visibility. The airplane is made for sunset cruising with the side door open. The Cub is one of the most expensive two-place classics you can buy, which is a function of its popularity. It’s hard to believe it takes $20K to get into the game and even harder to believe we’re seeing restored specimens fetching in excess of $40K. Since the airplane will fit into the new Sport Pilot category, the prices will just keep going up.



J-4 Cub Coupe.



The J-4 is, a side-by-side Cub. Period. Everything else is the same. The engine was cowled in an effort for more speed, but they didn’t get it. It’s still an 80 mph airplane, but, like the Cub, it’s only burning a little over four gallons an hour. Although the Coupe appears the same as its peer group, the Luscombe, Aeronca Chief and Taylorcraft, there’s one major difference (besides being slower): the visibility is much better. The wing is mounted just a little higher and it really improves the way the cockpit feels. J-4 Cub Coupes have never been as popular as the J-3 and assuming both airplanes are the same quality, the J-4 will usually be priced a solid 20% lower than a Cub.



J-5 Cruisers



The J-5 Cruiser clan can be a little confusing because Piper used the same airframe and gave it two designations, J-5A, B, and C and then PA-12 Super Cruiser. In any case, the airplane is sometimes referred to as a “Fat Cub” because of the way the fuselage swells out as it passes the pilot to accommodate the supposedly two-people wide back seat. It was Piper’s attempt to build a three-passenger airplane and they came close, as long as the back passengers are slim of butt and like each other a lot.




The J-5 moves the pilot to the front seat and jacks him up a little so he or she can almost see over the nose on the ground. Also, because the fuselage widens out, the shoulder/fanny room for the pilot is almost excessive—quite a shift from the tight-as-Spandex Cub. This is a real Big Guy airplane that changed quite a bit as it matured. J-5A – 75 hp Continental, open cowled engine with the landing gear bungees hanging out in the wind. Wings and tail are pure Cub. Flies two people fine, but three on 75 hp is stretching it.J-5B – Same as above but with 75 hp Lycoming, which is not exactly a powerhouse.




J-5C



– A 1942 redesign of the airplane resulted in dramatic performance increases as the result of drag clean-ups including moving the landing gear bungees inside the fuselage and putting a full cowl on the much more powerful, 100 hp 0-235 Lycoming (basically the same as in a C-152). The cruising speed was increased to a solid 95-100 mph and the ability to carry three people became a reality. Only about 35 J-5C’s were built before the war changed priorities, but the Navy bought about 100 J-5C’s converted to ambulance duty under the military designation of HE-1. J-5s have lagged far behind the Cub in price (hasn’t everything?) but they are quickly closing the gap because so many have been re-engined with bigger (150 hp being the most common) engines and outfitted for bush duty. When a larger engine is coupled with the Cruiser’s wide fuselage, you have a perfect platform for utilitarian flying.



PA-11



For some reason the PA-11 never had a cute name of it’s own, possibly because it is nothing more than a J-3 with either a 65 hp or 90 hp Continental enclosed in a nicely streamlined cowl. The PA-11 is considered by many to be the ultimate pure Cub because with the big engine, it has terrific performance and cruises 90-95 mph, which is lightning quick compared to a J-3. They are commanding Cub prices-plus and they are worth it.PA-12 Super CruiserThe Super Cruiser is a post war refinement of the J-5C. Structurally, the major change was replacing the low carbon steel tubing in the fuselage with chrome-moly but the marketing department got in the act and gave the airplane a greatly redesigned cockpit and instrument panel. All sorts of minor refinements made it more finished looking, plus they moved the front seat back a few inches, which made the front pit positively roomy. Here too, big engine conversions can drive the prices up to $35-$40K, but figure on the mid-twenties for a good airplane.




















PA-14 Family CruiserThe first serial-production, four-place Piper, the Family Cruiser took the J-5 concept of widening a single seat to 1 3/4 seat and applied it both front and rear making room for two skinny people to fit up front and in back. The airplane is pure Cub in everything it does but it has 115 horses to play with. Few of the airplanes were built and they are dearly loved by those who own them. Again, you see a lot of them all bushed-out with big engines, flaps added, fat tires, etc. None of them are cheap, since they start at $20-$25K.










PA-18




















Super Cub First of all the PA-18 is out of sequence, but it is definitely of the long wing variety and, if there is an airplane as legendary as the J-3, it is the Super Cub. This is the very definition of utility and it is also the last of the long-wing Pipers. In it’s earliest configurations it had 90 hp and no flaps and the only thing that separated it from the J-3 and PA-11 before was that the wing attach structure was moved from over the pilot’s head to the outside of the fuselage giving more head room. The 125 and 135 hp Super Cubs are well respected airplanes and hover in the $35-$45K range while the most common150 hp version with big flaps, can cost anything from $45K to $150K with several custom built examples hitting $250K (really!). The airplanes hold their value so well because they do their job so well. At 105 mph cruise they are leisurely cross-country machines, but they are the airplane of choice for the utility pilot.

Tri Pacer fly in

Carolinas Chapter of the Short Wing Piper Club


These are a few fabric Piper aircraft out for a weekend get together.




Our Chapter is dedicated to flying Mr. Piper’s airplanes in the Carolinas. Shortwings are generally accepted to be the Vagabonds, Clippers, Pacers, and Colts, but we welcome all flying machines.