[TheForge] OT - sometimes stuff just happens

[Andrew Vida]

Oh, and speaking of stoopid pilot trix, there is a small airport in NJ I 
used to fly into - Robbinsville.  One pilot had a P-51D - beautiful, if 
a bit high-strung.  One day some Texan d00d flies in, sees the Mustang 
and offers to buy it.  Owner says "no".  In those days they went for 
about $150K, give or take.  Tex offers him $400K cash on the barrel 
head.  Sold.

After transfer, Tex gets in to take it home.  Mind you, although being 
an experienced pilot, he had ZERO time in WWII vintage warbirds - no 
check ride, no nothing.  This proved to be a serious error in judgment, 
if "judgement" can even be said to have applied.  He fired the baby up, 
taxied to the active, throttle up, roll, rotate, and then proceeded to 
fly over Route 130, invert, and go face first into the farmer's field. 
Pilot dead - no big loss to gene pool.  Mustang destroyed.  Big loss.

What the overly confident rocket surgeon did not know is that 1400 hp 
driving an 8 or 9 ft diameter metal prop assembly weight perhaps a good 
600 pounds applies a whole lot of torque for which the pilot must apply 
a stiff amount of right aileron on order to keep the bird level until it 
gains enough speed that the wings can do their jobs.  If you punch the 
throttle forward while on the ground it is possible to flip the plane 
over on its back.  That is why one *gently* eases the throttle forward 
on those canaries.

With that much torque the plane flipped over *very* quickly such that 
Tex had no time to correct.  He was dead before he knew it.  Moral of 
the story: hubris and piloting are a very bad combination.

On 4/10/2012 11:53 PM, Jerry Frost wrote:
> I seen to recall you telling us of some of the practical aspects of flying
> under bridges. I think the best lesson any pilot can learn early on is,
> "Takeoff is optional."
>
> Jer
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andrew Vida"<osan at netlabs.net>
> To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA"<theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 12:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] OT - sometimes stuff just happens
>
>
>>
>>
>> On 4/10/2012 12:11 PM, Ron Childers wrote:
>>> Andy, you must have received your wings a long time ago....
>>>
>>
>> Oh yeah.  Last time I was in the left seat was 1987.  In fact, I'm not
>> even sure where the license is anymore...
>>
>> When I was living in Vancouver I used to hang out at Evergreen airport
>> with some of the regulars.  The FARs are so thick I am not sure I'd even
>> enjoy flying anymore.  I suspect farting in the cockpit would be a
>> violation worthy of some large fine or prison sentence.  FAA has been
>> working tirelessly to end civil aviation and they seem to be winning.
>> Airports are disappearing and just a few years ago there were fewer and
>> fewer new pilots coming online.  It is disgusting and very discouraging.
>>
>> Some of the stupid things we did in aircraft would get us shot down or
>> sent to prison these days.  It's pathetic.
>> ______________________________________________________________
>>
>
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