Category Archives: Flying

Landing the plane, then some tight taxiing spins to park it.

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When I landed on Hudson Island this Easter long weekend, Dan took some videos. First, is my initial arrival landing. In the video you’ll see a fly-over first, where I’m looking down to check that the runway is clear. Then fast-forward to 2:45 to see the actual landing (poorly visible unfortunately), but subsequently, the plane spinning around in tight turning circles on the grass runway, is kind of cool. see youtube: Easter Landing On Hudson.

And this next video, by Dan in the right seat, shows another landing, viewed from inside the plane. Another landing. (Dan MacMullin and Janet and I went up for a pleasure flight around the islands).

And this next video, is approaching Hudson Island runway from the south, the harder direction to land from. I’ve never actually landed from the south, but I did a few practice fly-overs this weekend, to get a feel for navigating the curve in the runway. Curved runway flyover. This is kinda cool.

Spitfires

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I would like to own a Spitfire. It’s extremely unlikely that I ever would get the chance, but I’ve been following the news about the buried spitfires in Burma, and in December 2012 there was an update in the news: see Spitfires. (And maybe some are buried in Birmingham?)

Here’s another article, and it also discusses the Spitfires and the interest of the Boultbee flight academy, where someone could get training to fly. Maybe…

Would someone like to take a trip to Rangoon, and have a talk with them for me?
Spitfires

Here’s a blog on the World of Warplanes website, about the dig-up-the-planes project.

Unrelated link. A live google map showingcommercial aircraft flying, like air traffic control.

History of Found aircraft – video

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On youtube, I found a great video made by Found aviation, showing the history of the various models of Found bushplanes. I was so impressed, I’ve posted a link to it here, AND, I’ve screen-captured a few key photos from it that impressed me about its strength.

You’re naturally going to want to watch the whole video, but these pictures of the big wing, and the landing gear being stress-tested, were very reassuring.
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Airplane Oil Pressure and Fuel cross-connection observations.

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Random Comments about my Expedition E350 airplane. My Oil Pressure reading is interesting. If I add a pint of oil, climb to cruise altitude and cruise a while, my oil pressure will be around 81. Gradually as the flight cruises longer times, the oil pressure will drop to 79 or 78. No problem.

(My picture shows Oil Pressure of 79 PSI. Further discussion ensues…)

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Slow flight landing

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I had some free time to enjoy my plane on Canada Day, July 1st, and so I practiced a few things. One thing was a “Slow Flight” landing. The normal approach speed for a landing begins by slowing the airspeed to 80. But I let the airspeed slow to 55 knots, which is the “stall” speed (where airflow over the wing surfaces becomes turbulent and the wings lose lift). But just before it stalls (which is a very gentle altitude drop in this plane), I pull the nose even higher and add power again. Thus entering “slow flight” mode with the nose very high, the stall warning sound continuously buzzing, the airspeed drops further, into the 45 to 50 Knots range. But the strong engine keeps the airplane flying without losing altitude. ( It’s like 2/3 airplane, 1/3 helicopter.) Turning gradually to base leg then final approach, I landed with no trouble whatsoever, at an airspeed of 44 knots over the runway.

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