Yak 52 owners/pilots?
- Thread starter Tram
- Start date
casey
Well-Known Member
I need to stay in general topics, the other forums make me ill..
There are a few quasi-locally.. Mostly Nanchang Cj-6's which are cheaper to operate, go faster and burn less fuel.. They also cost more..
I'll be losing a good bit with the RV.. I'll go from 7gal/hour to 25+/hour.. I'll be going from 160kts to ~140kts.. I'll be going from tailwheel to trikey gear..
Don't really do much XC in the 6 anymore now that we are s family of 4. I usually just go up and have a good time and I'm thinking the Yak would be a good place to go..
Are you selling the RV?
BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
Smacking your head against the glass during a maneuver hurts a whole bunch.
Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
Provides a little more protection in the event of some kind of crash...lots of stuff to hit in a tight cockpit; panel, canopy, etc.
As was mentioned, protects against smacking the canopy while maneuvering, too.
....as well as just keeping the comms on your melon while maneuvering with some Gs. BFM/ACM, the David Clarks would be somewhere behind the ejection seat after being peeled off one's head.
Additionally, for bailing out, there are many things that can thump you in the head and black you out....
Tram
Well-Known Member
They can also save your life..
In the following picture, there are 2 pilots.. One of them is no longer with us, the other was saved by a helmet. The impact, milliseconds after this picture was taken, slammed his head into the canopy. He attributes the fact that he didn't go black to the helmet..
Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
What's the story behind that midair?
Is that a formation with a wingman not maintaining deconfliction with his lead, or is that two non-participating aircraft that ended up in the same piece of sky at the same time? Looks like a very different flight path out of the RV, so if he was the wingman, something significant must have been happening.
Is that a formation with a wingman not maintaining deconfliction with his lead, or is that two non-participating aircraft that ended up in the same piece of sky at the same time? Looks like a very different flight path out of the RV, so if he was the wingman, something significant must have been happening.
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
Actually, helmets can be really helpful. I know more than a few "cub drivers" that have helmets that they wear to keep their head safe for when they plow into some trees on short final, or lose a motor and crash out in the sticks some where. Its probably a really good idea, a few guys I've met who've had accidents told me that they hit their heads on impact. Seems like if you were a little unlucky you'd nail your head on the v-brace in the 206/207 and be knocked unconcious. I never wore one, not because I'm reckless, rather because I never had the money to buy a "good" one that didn't look too weird and wouldn't scare the passengers.
ryan1234
Desensitized Member
I see the point of wearing a helmet with an aircraft with hot seats, etc
But the CJ is made for little Chinese dudes. A bigger guy has a little trouble moving his nugget around with the helmet on, as a matter of fact, when I did wear a helmet, it was or nearly was in contact with the canopy (even with the seat adjusted). As far as the DCs sliding around, I've never really had a problem and they make a chin strap that keeps them where they need to be. Formation/BFM stuff can be a pain if you can't move your head and see what's happening IMHO. The Hooker harness is pretty good ....the tighter, the better sts.
The canopy doesn't just pop off, it slides back - the forward frame can catch your helmet if you're not slouching down. To continute with my rant... I'm not a big fan of the butt 'chutes that you sit on... rather sit on a cushion and have my back reserve conical that makes egress simple.
Thats what you get for wanting to purchase junk made in China for little Chinese dudes.........
Tram
Well-Known Member
Well.. The join-up was never briefed on the ground.. Never spoken about..
The guy in the CJ is a pretty accomplished formation pilot, flies a pretty good bit of formation.. The guy in the RV-8 was good pilot but had no formation training..
Basically the story goes like this - there was a new terminal dedication at a local airport and some of the local guys flew in to have a static display.. After the show was over, people started leave.. The CJ pilot and RV8 pilot lived on the same airpark, so they knew each other well enough to share a pattern without too many concerns. Well, from what I understand, there was no briefing of the flight. Basically it was an impromptu bit of formation flying that the CJ pilot says he never knew anything about. They taxied out, the CJ departed and the RV departed (I don't know the order, could have been RV then CJ) but they were both flying around in the pattern, low approaches, etc over the airport from what I've been told.. Then the RV8 made a call that "He'd see ya back home" and departed the area to the west.. The CJ continued his show over the field. Well, this is where it gets conflicting, but the result is the same none the less..
Eye witnesses say that the RV made some calls leaving the pattern and then made a few more calls stating he was coming back into the pattern and was giving position reports that sounded like he was going to join up with the CJ.. The CJ pilot says he never heard the reports and had no idea what was going on.. The CJ was in a gradual turn towards the west when the RV showed up and overtook the CJ at a "considerable rate." A friend who saw it happen said it looked like Steve "had to have had more than 60 knots on BJ." and basically Steve flew through the right wing of the CJ..
Steve lost the outboard section of his left wing from about the fuel cell out. BJ was lucky and only lost his right aileron, it didn't depart the aircraft, but was dangling almost vertically off the plane. The impact rolled the CJ into a right hand roll and Bl wound up inverted and pointing at the ground. BJ was able to right it and get it onto the ground. Steve spiraled out of control and impacted the ground less than a mile from the initial impact.
Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
Not too difficult to find the root causes in that situation.
Root cause #1.
Root cause #2.
Contributing Factor #1
Contributing Factor #2.
I will never understand why people do this kind of stuff. Totally reckless and completely unprofessional. At least two pilots didn't die in the process.
Root cause #1.
Root cause #2.
Contributing Factor #1
Contributing Factor #2.
I will never understand why people do this kind of stuff. Totally reckless and completely unprofessional. At least two pilots didn't die in the process.
Precisely why I don't fly formation with someone who doesn't know what they're doing and aren't trained. And without a pre-brief or at least some understood standards.
Tram
Well-Known Member
Yeh.. It can get you killed quick.. When we got our RV, one of the first things my pops made me do was learn to fly formation and agree to never fly formation with someone who wasn't competent or without talking about it on the ground..
I've flown off a few guys who weren't formation trained, but we talked about what was going to happen on the ground and they basically flew straight and level..