Hold Onto Your Seat !!!

[BrentN]

26 grand for the composite PROP!!?? Holy Moly! Great vids, love this stuff. Living in the wrong part of the country to enjoy airshows, among other enjoyments.

 

[Flopsweat]

26 grand for the composite PROP!!?? Holy Moly! Great vids, love this stuff. Living in the wrong part of the country to enjoy airshows, among other enjoyments.

Well I remember when I thought people were nuts for spending more than $300 on a scope.

 

[Ura-Ki]

26 grand for the composite PROP!!?? Holy Moly! Great vids, love this stuff. Living in the wrong part of the country to enjoy airshows, among other enjoyments.

He paid WAY more for that then is normal, mine ( Same Manufacture, much bigger) brand new was $4800!
His needs to be specially built for the amounts of stresses and abuse it's going to experience and I would imagine the costs also include tear down and inspections on a regular schedule!

 

[BrentN]

He paid WAY more for that then is normal, mine ( Same Manufacture, much bigger) brand new was $4800!
His needs to be specially built for the amounts of stresses and abuse it's going to experience and I would imagine the costs also include tear down and inspections on a regular schedule!

I am as amazed at the skill of the pilots as I am in the planes holding together under the massive amounts of physical stress on the airframes. I vaguely recall a vid of, I think, a c-130 on a firefighting mission, pulling up hard over a hill and the wing falls off....not fair.

 

[Flopsweat]

I am as amazed at the skill of the pilots as I am in the planes holding together under the massive amounts of physical stress on the airframes. I vaguely recall a vid of, I think, a c-130 on a firefighting mission, pulling up hard over a hill and the wing falls off....not fair.

There's one of a fire tanker doing that with a full load of water, just a few hundred feet in the air. Scary and just devastating to watch.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I am as amazed at the skill of the pilots as I am in the planes holding together under the massive amounts of physical stress on the airframes. I vaguely recall a vid of, I think, a c-130 on a firefighting mission, pulling up hard over a hill and the wing falls off....not fair.

Airplanes exist for the sole purpose of killing pilots! As a Pilot, my job is to keep the airplane from killing me from the time the engine starts, to the time it's put back in the hanger! Doing the inspections religiously should prevent bad things from happening, but, the nature of the beast is to kill pilots, so, even doing the inspections isn't ever enough!
Then there is the abuses of flying, especially in ways the airframe was never intended, and that will ALWAYS come back and bite you, usually at the worst time possible! I have been very fortunate, I don't push my airplanes beyond their ratings, and don't try to do things outside their capabilities. I know their limits ( risking everything to learn where those limits are) and stay below that through out! The most stress my birds will ever see is in extremely rough landings, and they are braced to absorb most of it, and pray the tires can cope with the rest!

 

[Ura-Ki]

There's one of a fire tanker doing that with a full load of water, just a few hundred feet in the air. Scary and just devastating to watch.

Fire fighting is a special kind of dangerous! Your asking an airplane ( or helicopter) to operate right at the limits, or even beyond them, and the risks go way up the more you push! That said, most accidents are preventable, ether mechanically, or through pilot error, bad judgement! What compounds things is the fire it's self, fires make their own weather, it's constantly changing, and it's unpredictable, and can be flat out dangerous! Add in the tanker companies operations in tight maintenance schedules and budgets, lack of skilled labor, and the costs of operating in such an environment, often with old aircraft that have already been retired once, and your just asking to get clobbered! Every incident could be prevented, but often, through a chain of events, bad things happen and until these operators learn this, will continue to happen!

 

[Flopsweat]

Fire fighting is a special kind of dangerous! Your asking an airplane ( or helicopter) to operate right at the limits, or even beyond them, and the risks go way up the more you push! That said, most accidents are preventable, ether mechanically, or through pilot error, bad judgement! What compounds things is the fire it's self, fires make their own weather, it's constantly changing, and it's unpredictable, and can be flat out dangerous! Add in the tanker companies operations in tight maintenance schedules and budgets, lack of skilled labor, and the costs of operating in such an environment, often with old aircraft that have already been retired once, and your just asking to get clobbered! Every incident could be prevented, but often, through a chain of events, bad things happen and until these operators learn this, will continue to happen!

I seem to remember something about a downdraft, and the required input to counter it being too much for the airframe. But it's been a while since I saw it.

 

[chukar]

These were amazing to watch. I need to catch an airshow now..