What are your minimums...

I'm seriously thinking about building a Flitzer. I'm in need of a baby biplane and I'm still 95% sure about a Rose Parakeet. The Flitzer is really growing on me though. I'd think about a Rotec r2800 on it - that looks really sharp. Perhaps I shouldn't choose between the Rose and the Flitzer but rather "do em both". What say you?
 
TwoTwoLeft said:
I see what you did there....

I mean sometimes you want to fly a T-34 but have to settle for a Musketeer... Then there's always the Beech Skipper. Which can be a lot of fun until your friends catch you in... Errrrr yeaaaahhhh.
Click to expand...
Like a moped...
 
The lowest I've done was ASEL IFR with 400' ceilings. The school I worked for had an SOP of no less than 400' ceilings forecast or actual conditions. It's a good reason to set minimums for yourself based on your skill and level of experience. However, when you get a new job flying for a company that uses the published minimums, you should be at the skill level to accomplish this or you have no business taking the job.
 
Here are some shots of what a Stummelflitzer with a Rotec looks like. Really captured my attention.
flitzer-engine-run-4-6.jpg


85FirstStart.jpg


g-zira-second-flight-10-12-12.jpg
 
Boris Badenov - work with me here for a moment. First, check out the flitzers above.

My premise is that as society coursens we are basically already a society that enjoys Rollerball (the original with Houseman). Football is basically barbarism and I along with everyone else love it. My idea is a new sport - an extreme sport. WW1 has always been my most favorite air war to study. Knights of the Air and all that. Let's create an extreme sport in which we have people build Stummelflitzers and we can arm them with something like a small machine gun - like .30 or something. Then, we stage actual dogfights with live ammo until a winner emerges. I would be down for that.
 
I'm totally in, but, like those Knights of The Air, there will be no parachutes. You wanna make sure they have some skin in the game, so to speak.

PS. I also believe that they should be rigged like a Sopwith Camel, such that turning left essentially means you're going to die. It's like the opposite of NASCAR.
 
Boris Badenov said:
I'm totally in, but, like those Knights of The Air, there will be no parachutes. You wanna make sure they have some skin in the game, so to speak.

PS. I also believe that they should be rigged like a Sopwith Camel, such that turning left essentially means you're going to die. It's like the opposite of NASCAR.
Click to expand...

The parachute thing was a given - these are too small and chutes are excess weight. And we know that weight is the true enemy of delightful characteristics. Plus, neither of us is a disgusting fatbody - so we'd have an edge - climb, etc. We should also have something to make it truer to the WW1 experience as your excellent comment above. We should randomly select participants and rig their machines prior to the contest. Then, at some point in the game we can push a button and something catastrophic happens - like a wing simply falling off for no reason or similar - just to keep it real.
 
WacoFan said:
Then, at some point in the game we can push a button and something catastrophic happens - like a wing simply falling off for no reason or similar - just to keep it real.
Click to expand...

Well see now you're making me think it should be 100% accurate replicas of WW1 "Pursuit" aircraft. IMS, the Nieuport 17 had a downright ALARMING tendency to shed a wing in a dive. What's Vne? Well, depends on old Jacques at the factory and how many tenpenny nails he used...

Introduces a really fun element of Chance in to ACM, that!
 
n57flyguy said:
I want to see a R2800 on a Hatz, then I'll decide if it looks good.

No parachutes.
Click to expand...

Hatz needs more than 110hp in my opinion. My minimum would be a 125hp Lyc and that still isn't a screamer. 150 is about perfect for a Hatz. They make a lighter Hatz, the Hatz Bantam - that would do well with the Rotec R3600 I believe. Maybe even a full sized Hatz would.

In a related note - my Grandpa taught John Hatz how to fly many years ago before he got called up to Korea. Believe he was in Galesburg, Ill at the time. Anyway, years later they reconnected through the AAA and I got to know him at Blakesburg. Neat man and a Hatz is a neat airplane.
 
Boris Badenov said:
Well see now you're making me think it should be 100% accurate replicas of WW1 "Pursuit" aircraft. IMS, the Nieuport 17 had a downright ALARMING tendency to shed a wing in a dive. What's Vne? Well, depends on old Jacques at the factory and how many tenpenny nails he used...

Introduces a really fun element of Chance in to ACM, that!
Click to expand...

Agree completely. What if Hacker15e or bunk22 or ///AMG not only had to worry about being a weapons delivery system but also had to worry about the very good chance that something completely heinous would happen, like a wing just departing in a shallow dive or something? I think it would add to the excitement. Although I think some models of F-15 have this built-in already - the wing shedding thing. Not sure, but certainly not as frequent as a Nieuport.
 
WacoFan said:
Hatz needs more than 110hp in my opinion. My minimum would be a 125hp Lyc and that still isn't a screamer. 150 is about perfect for a Hatz. They make a lighter Hatz, the Hatz Bantam - that would do well with the Rotec R3600 I believe. Maybe even a full sized Hatz would.

In a related note - my Grandpa taught John Hatz how to fly many years ago before he got called up to Korea. Believe he was in Galesburg, Ill at the time. Anyway, years later they reconnected through the AAA and I got to know him at Blakesburg. Neat man and a Hatz is a neat airplane.
Click to expand...

I believe a friend of mine is putting a 125HP Lycoming on his Classic. Should be flying this year, never talked to him about the engine much, I was more pleased by rigging, woodwork, paint, and fabric discussion.

They are very cool airplanes, glad you got to meet him. Most people seem to 'do them right' and turn them into a aesthetically pleasing airplane.
 
Oh, and thanks for the laughs gentlemen...my new personal minimum is to never fly an airplane older than I am now.
 
WacoFan said:
Not sure, but certainly not as frequent as a Nieuport.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think it needs to be a significant enough chance that it'll like linger in the back of their minds even as the bullets are flat-cracking past their heads. You know, not like 50%, but certainly greater than 5%. In short, it should be an Art, not a Science. For maximal entertainment value, I mean.

Hey, I just realized, we've finally found the real reason GoPro was invented.
 
Boris Badenov said:
Yeah, I think it needs to be a significant enough chance that it'll like linger in the back of their minds even as the bullets are flat-cracking past their heads. You know, not like 50%, but certainly greater than 5%. In short, it should be an Art, not a Science. For maximal entertainment value, I mean.

Hey, I just realized, we've finally found the real reason GoPro was invented.
Click to expand...
I would say 15-20% chance - enough that some kind of weird vibration in the airplane makes you evacuate your bowels. Bonus points for people in flames that decide to jump (no chute) rather than burn in the plane. Bonus points also for guns jammed ramming to do in an opponent. The Great Waldo Pepper finish we will call it.
 
Hacker15e said:
Not so much the wing, but more the entire nose of the airplane:

Click to expand...


Weird. It's like some kind of aeronautical Zen Koan type deal. Did the plane shed the wings? Or did the wings shed the plane?

Either way, I think you'll love the Boris/Wacofan game!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top