On the Ramp Right Now!

andrew wrote:My first airplane ride was in a DC-3.  I had entered a plastic model building contest and put together a P-2 Neptune.  Luckily, I won in my class and the prize was a ride in a DC-3.  Best estimate was about 56 years ago --- a lot of memories have gone by the wayside, but I still remember that.

That's cool, congratulations, 56 years later, for your model building skills. I hope you got a seat where you could see out the window.
Rusty

This past July at the Reading WW II weekend, they had a DC-3 and a C-47 version. The public was allowed to take a tour of interior and cockpit. I love this airplane and up until about 5 years ago, one flew over my rooftop like clockwork in the evening. The lumbering sound of it's radials quickly would grab my ear and I would always look up to try and catch a glimpse. My son and I were looking over the C-47 from the exterior when another fellow asked what the trumpet like device that was hanging outside the engine nacelle. The pilot of the plane was relaxing in a fold up chair just under the wing. He replied, " That's the horn". I had to get a chuckle as this fellow truly took his response seriously. This version had a snorkel like device that was trumpet shaped which used the engine exhaust as a heater.

RknRusty wrote:I remember my Dad was kind of ticked off to hear that because he had arranged the flight and wanted my impressions of the clouds and other things to see from that unique vantage point. He said he would make sure that if a kid ever sat next to him in an aisle seat, to offer to trade.
Rusty

Think I would have liked your dad, Rusty.  Sounds like a man after my own heart.

Grown-Up Kid Kim

ARUP wrote:Wouldn't it make a nice twin 1/2A model? Beauty!

Somewhere...in my pile of old magazines, there a building article on a nicely designed DC-3 with twin Babe Bees.  I'll scan it onto here if I find it...think it was a late 1960's Model Airplane News.  Of course, it MAY be listed on one of the plans sites too.

In 1987 or so, the parachute club at Sparta, Illinois chartered a DC-3 jump plane, that also allowed some passengers to go along.  It was an obvious working dog...no glory or glamour...just doing it's job.  I'd flown up with a girlfriend who wanted to take the one-day course for a solo jump, and bought a couple tickets so we could tag along on the DC-3.

Two long rows of skydivers were sitting on the floor, toboggan-style with us sitting against the forward bulkhead, right behind the cockpit of the gutted airliner, in our own 'second-hand' parachutes.  The climb to jump altitude was a long one, with the temps steadily dropping as the wind blasted through the gaping door at the end of the cabin.

On cue, everybody stood up, performed some last-minute checks on each other, then suddenly filed out the back door and into space.  This hit me as one of the strangest moments I'd experienced in a plane...I KNEW they were all gonna leave...but it still seemed a little bizarre to suddenly have the plane empty it's passengers at altitude.  The only thing remaining was a paper coffee cup, making laps in the whirlwind near the door.  

We stood up to look out the windows, but never caught sight of the skydivers, and were promptly dumped back onto the floor as the crew, apparently bored with the stately climb, entertained themselves with steep banks to get the old airliner back down as quickly as possible.

My girlfriend made her jump, successfully, and it was a pretty cool experience...and no...I had NO inclination whatsoever to accompany her with my own jump!

andrew wrote:My first airplane ride was in a DC-3.  I had entered a plastic model building contest and put together a P-2 Neptune.  Luckily, I won in my class and the prize was a ride in a DC-3.  Best estimate was about 56 years ago --- a lot of memories have gone by the wayside, but I still remember that.

I had that model too !!!!!!!!!!!  Think it was an Aurora kit!!! I didn't really understand it's purpose, but liked the cool MAD boom 'stinger', AND decided that ALL airplanes could use a spare jet pod out on their wings!

andrew wrote:My first airplane ride was in a DC-3.  I had entered a plastic model building contest and put together a P-2 Neptune.  Luckily, I won in my class and the prize was a ride in a DC-3.  Best estimate was about 56 years ago --- a lot of memories have gone by the wayside, but I still remember that.

I had that model too !!!!!!!!!!!  Think it was an Aurora kit!!! I didn't really understand it's purpose, but liked the cool MAD boom 'stinger', AND decided that ALL airplanes could use a spare jet pod out on their wings!

My first ever flight was in June 1956 on an Eastern Airlines DC-3 from Washington DC to Logan airport in Boston.  Somewhere there is a picture of me exiting the aircraft.  But this is a picture of that exact same DC-3 now hanging in the Smithsonian National Air & Space museum.  I like to think it's the same airplane I flew in.





My second flight was a bit more exciting.  A Howard Hughes Eastern Airlines "Super Connie" non-stop from Pensacola Florida again to Logan with my wife and new born daughter in 1957.  I was somewhat disappointed when we had to take a DC-6 back to Pensacola.  



Sorry for the out of focus, my slide to computer transfer device is kind of old.

MY first second and third airplane rides were all on the Island of Taiwan (FORMOSA as we call it in the 60s)

The military DC-3 was used to shuttle families to and from Taichung to Taipei up north for a commissary run every month

We also flew in it to the Philippians for vacation and shopping on an every other month schedule. My 9 to 12 year (old at the time) memory was my dad, an Army Captain, booked the flights a week in advance. We had to figure out baby sitting logistically as they only allowed 4 family members and we had three of us kids at the time, so occasionally I was left behind (I was oldest) to stay with a friends family for a day or two.

I also got a ride in an F-104 trainer of the 50th Red devils squadron when I was 11 that to this day is probably the most memorable day in my life

We had gone to Formosa on the USS Mann a Army Troop ship out of Oakland Army terminal a 21 day sea voyage including 2 typhoons

My First airline commercial flight was to Portland Oregon from Taipei in a Boeing 707 when re returned to (CONUS) the "mainland" as we called the USA

The 4 years overseas as a Army Dependent taught me so much it is hard to describe all the experiences and how they shaped my future life....But certainly the aviation experiences totally influenced my hobbies

I've always loved the DC-3, an old friend's dad bought one and has been restoring it. It's was cool to see him fly it in and out of thier farm.

I've always loved vehicles that can haul stuff, and my favorite for the title of 'Favorite Single Engine Piston Cargo Plane' is this Pipeline Patroller that stops though our airport on a regular basis. Big doors, box-like fuselage, and wings that look like they could double as a truck bridge...this is one serious hauler!

[quote="Kim"]I've always loved vehicles that can haul stuff, and my favorite for the title of 'Favorite Single Engine Piston Cargo Plane' is this Pipeline Patroller that stops though our airport on a regular basis.  Big doors, box-like fuselage, and wings that look like they could double as a truck bridge...this is one serious hauler!




Captain Kim: So when do we get our ride?

Happydad

The GA8 is designed and built about 40 miles down the road from me.  They are an amazing performer and extremely popular in remote areas around the world, such as Africa.  They're widely used for skydiving out here.  They're built like a tank but perform like a sports car.
Sadly, Gipps Aero, now taken over by Indian company Mahindra, have cut and cut their budget so much that they're finding it difficult to continue to produce aircraft.  A friend of mine was working for them as a mechanic and they were paying him about the same as an unskilled labourer.  He couldn't survive and baled out for a better job across the tarmac.  There were several promises & plans for other aircraft from the company but few have emerged.  They did make a crop duster.  The had planned to improve & reproduce the Aussie built "Nomad" aircraft but still nothing.  Their business practices are pretty poor.

A Nomad

happydad wrote:

Kim wrote:


Captain Kim: So when do we get our ride?

Happydad

Just as soon as one of my lottery tickets hits and I get my Dream Plane delivered! Figure to fly around the country, gathering all willing CEF members and their planes for a CEF Convention and Fun-Fly!



Hey, a guy can dream !

Oldenginerod wrote:They had planned to improve & reproduce the Aussie built "Nomad" aircraft but still nothing.  Their business practices are pretty poor.

A Nomad

Yeah...common story in aviation. Some 18 years ago, the controlling parties at my own airport were taken in by what can be best described as a Traveling Snake Oil Salesman, who talked them into building a huge hangar for the manufacture of a Luscomb replica. Convinced that there were enough rich eccentrics willing to pay $80,000+ for a two seat sport plane, the city jumped through all kinds of hoops to accommodate this new 'business' and it's promise of local jobs.

Several of my friends worked for minimum or no wages, banking hard on a sudden burst of business which never came. The Snake Oil Salesman bailed out, with a bunch of evil thoughts and intents behind him, but none of the ensuing lawsuits made any money but for the lawyers who filed them.

The whole thing got a replay when ANTOHER company showed up, wanting to manufacture the Commander 114 aircraft. They hung around a little longer (with lots of forgiven rent and fuel payments), but also bailed without paying their bills.

It all reminds me strongly of the episode of 'The Simpsons' where the 'Monorail Salesman' comes to Springfield...

http://vintageaircraftmuseum.org/ This group will soon have a Hall 'Bulldog' replica on the ramp. I contributed but I'm an odd man out because I think it is the ugliest racer built. It's cool, though!

ARUP wrote:http://vintageaircraftmuseum.org/ This group will soon have a Hall 'Bulldog' replica on the ramp. I contributed but I'm an odd man out because I think it is the ugliest racer built. It's cool, though!

COOL !! The Bulldog is one of those planes that SEEM ugly (in my eyes) but is still cool-looking any way.
Like to see it fly !

Came around the corner early today, and beheld this beautiful sculpture parked on our back ramp.  I'm pretty sure that I've posted photos of my bud Pete's Beech-18 before...in it's as-purchased white paint scheme.

Well, the old paint is gone...replaced with gold trim and polished aluminum that'd make a guy's arm hurt just looking at it.  I WILL be mooching a ride in this rumbling beauty at some point, and there WILL be photos posted here !!!

Amelia immediately popped into my head when I saw those pictures.  The plane (Lockheed Electra) never let her down but perhaps poor navigation did.  A mystery that lives on and intrigues.

Bob

Wow. Just WOW.

Amazing thing of beauty, one of my favourite airplane designs.

Beautiful!

Phil

So, my buddy Travis cues me in on a Facebook page about Pietenpols, and I suddenly find myself hooking up with bunches of friends who I hadn't talked to in a decade or so.

For 13 years, starting in 1989, I made the late summer pilgrimage to the 'Pietenpol Expo'...at a grass runway airport near Brodhead, Wisconsin.  THIS was to place to be for flyers and builders and fans of Bernard Pietenpol's little Ford-Powered Hombuilts; the Sky Scout and Aircamper.

There were old Piets, fresh-paint-new Piets, naked skeletal Piets and parts of naked Piets on trailers to be wheeled about and admired for their woodwork.  Many were built strictly to plan (a HIGHLY recommended way to go), while others demonstrated the wild imagination of their creators.

While the Ford Model A engine is most associated with the Aircamper, it's airframe lends it'self well to a bunch of different powerplants, and many 'Engine Guys' found the Piet as a very competent flying test stand.

After the Muslim attacks in 2001, a lot the steam went out of my flying, and though I made a few more trips, my general paranoia of the government ended my low level cross-country runs, along with the fun of flying my plane.

So now, with the help of some good friends, who keep assuring me that it won't be too big a project, I'm setting out to get ole Yeller going again, and confronting some health problems...with an eye toward flying north again this July.  We'll see how it turns out.

And Thanks Again to Travis for letting me know about the Facebook page.

These are some videos I just posted on the Pietenpol Facebook page, showing a fraction of the great flying at the Expo back in 1994:





https://youtu.be/iCXmyp4Ug3g

https://youtu.be/1GZE0J-V1Mk

Wondering if your aircraft falls under FAA part 103? How can it weight less than 254 lbs, whats the payload?

Fantastic !! really enjoyed see and hearing those ole birds fly ;; Question because I don't know Why is the pilot setting in the rear set instead of the front ? getback Thanks you Kim !!