On the Ramp Right Now!

I had hoped I'd never see another Swearington Metroliner in my life. Over a 7 year period, I had to use the small commuter airlines in my job as a Regional Sales Manager. I have probably flown in the "Tube" over 100 times on Air Midwest, Scheduled Skyways, Royale, SunBelt, Trans Central, Cardinal, Wheeler, and other air carriers I don't care to remember.
On my very last flight on a Metroliner due to a weather and fuel emergency we did an emergency landing on a city street with streetlights at Ft. Leonard Wood , MO. !!!!!!!
I disobeyed the pilot and co-pilot and opened the door and and disembarked, quickly followed by the other 17 passengers. I even offered to help the pilot and Army helicopter guys to refuel it.. There was no trouble because everyone including the flight crew was terrified of a the take off on the street with the street lights !!!!!!!
That was my last flight on a Metroliner and I told the Boss so also. From then on , it a big plane or a long drive....I had used my 9 lives up !!!!!
As a matter of note, the Short SkyVan built in Ireland was the best small plane I ever fly on.
Steve...

fit90 wrote:

Kim wrote:
May I present the "Wiener Dog of Cargo Runners"....the Swearington Metroliner !!!!

Metroliner? I thought it was a Texas Death Tube or flying sewer pipe. I'm sure the manufacturer is quite fond of those nick names.

Back during my time,our ANG base was transitioning from recip engine aircraft to turboprop aircraft, so we had both JP-4 and 115/145 AV gas in storage tanks and each with several dedicated 5000 gal R-5 tanker trucks.There was always fuel contamination going on when a guy would stupidly fill an AV gas truck with Jet Fuel and vice versa. I probably dumped 5000 gals of contaminated fuel down a drain and changed out $2,000 worth of filters a dozen times. The JP-4 was bad enough but that 145 Octane had to kill anything alive all the way to the ocean !!!
Not only was the Metroliner scary in flight, the window seat front row starboard side had the starboard engine prop tips about 18 inches from your legs inside the plane. Ride that seat about 2 hours and you will need medication to get over it !
The worst Metroliner flight ever was about 2 months after one did a lawn dart move into the parking lot of a Steak and Ale Restaurant somewhere in Texas with no survivors.. I was going from Tulsa to Memphis in a heavy night snowstorm riding like the meanest ride at Six Flags and it started lightning !! The ride was so bad that a guy opened his briefcase and opened a fifth of whiskey, took a big drink and handed it over his shoulder. All 18 passengers including me and the female flight attendant took a big shot to settle things down.I was 100% sure that we would be the first ones at the scene of the crash !!!

Steve.........

That thing doesn't look like it has enough wing to get off the ground on a Summer day.

These are the Viet Nam war rotary wing aircraft officially in theater starting in 1953 when we helped the French at Dien Bien Phu. (CIA had other country variants)
I observed, flew in, trained with, and worked on many of these during my twenty four year Army Aviation career
1. Bell AH-1 Cobra
2. Bell OH -58 Kiowa
3. Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey)
4. Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight
5. Boeing CH-47 Chinook
6. Kaman HH-43 Huskie
7. Kaman SH-2 Seasprite
8. Mil Mi-4 (hound)
9. Mil Mi-8 (Hip)
10. Piasecki/Boeing Vertol H-21 Shawnee
11. Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion
12. Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe (skycrane)
13. Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw
14. Sikorsky H-34 Choctaw
15. Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green Giant

The Sikorsky Search and rescue HH-3E was the Jolly Green Giant. I also remember a LOT of CH46s were mistaken for Chinooks. I flew SAR in HH-43s from Fort Lewis Wa in the 70s. Rescues on MT Ranier required repelling out of CH47s as they could get us higher up the mountain than any other helicopter. They always dropped us off at 10,000 feet ...any one quess why?

Kim wrote:The Mississippi River has gotten so low in our area that the Coast Guard is getting ready to blast rock formations loose in it's main channel to allow River Boat traffic to continue as long as possible. This Coast Guard Grumman Gulfstream / C-37 brought in an Admiral and his assistants to survey the area where they're doing the blasting.

From the looks of the jet, I thought it must have been carrying at least a captain or above. It is a beautiful plane --- those are some pretty sizable winglets.

The low water has been causing all kinds of havoc down here, too. The blasting has been on the news quite a bit, especially since many of the grain ports on this side of the river are running reduced barge loads to decrease draft.

Wow, thanks for the eye candy.

I believe that was the same one that passed thru here last summer. It was nuzzled up to the jet pump getting ready to head back east. We had a chance to talk with the pilots and crew a bit --- seems they travel the country working heavy lift jobs. I think there are several turbo conversions in their fleet.

Never seen that Fairchild before... learn something new everyday

I still have an engine for a Fairchild Ranger, sitting at my parents home in Belgium. It's a inline 6 cylinder aircooled 440 ci engine with double ignition and overhead camshaft. In the airplane it is mounted upside down with the crank at the top. It's all beautifully engineered. The camshaft is driven by a vertical driveshaft and bevel gears. To adjust the timing you have to fiddle with these gears, putting them in different positions to get it right.

I bought it in the late 90's to make an aero engined special. I mounted it in a 1927 Citroën B14 chassis but that is as far as it got and remained one of those unfinished projects. I also have the overhaul manual and all the documentation for modification to an upright engine. These engines were used after the war in dirt track racers.

Lieven

But of course, How could I have forgotten that? Splendid picture BTW; The real PT 19 and the real Cox. Here's a picture of a racer with an inverted Ranger engine that survived:



Lieven

OVERLORD wrote:But of course, How could I have forgotten that? Splendid picture BTW; The real PT 19 and the real Cox. Here's a picture of a racer with an inverted Ranger engine that survived:



Lieven

Awesome !

Kims pic too

There's an article on the subject in an issue of Automobile Quarterly vol. 28 nr. 3 from 1990.

Lieven

A shaft driven camshaft. That's a first for me.

It was a common feature in aircraft engines before the war. The pre WW1 Mercedes aero engine was often taken as an example: an inline cylinder block with shaft driven single overhead camshaft. It was among others adopted by Hispano Suiza in their V8 and V12 engines and by Rolls Royce in the Merlin. Prestigeous car makes as Bugatti, Hispano Suiza and Bentley in the 3 and 4,5 litre version had engines with this configuration. Below drawings of Hispano Suiza V12, RR Merlin and Bugatti type 37 engine.

Lieven

Wow, you sure have a lot of nice air machines come through your home base. What I'd give just for a ride in that WACO, that is one great looking airplane.