TALESPINNERS - May, 2003

Hangar Flying
with Stu Faber

NEED A BFR?  From General Aviation News 3/14/03.  You might look up Evelyn Johnson who, at age 93, is the oldest active flight instructor in the world.  With more than 57,360 hours in her log book she is a designated examiner for Private, Commercial / Instrument, and Flight Instructor.  She has been instructing for 56 years.  She has soloed more than 3000 students and given 9000 flight tests.  As an examiner she is concerned that some students are not getting the training they need.

HIGH TIME PILOT.  Also from GAN.  A young woman from Sweden has more time in the Collings Foundation's B-24 than anyone else.  Her name is Caroline Lundgren and she has logged nearly 500 hours in the B-24 and at least 150 in the B-17.  The Collings B-24J (J-?) is described as the only operational B-24 still flying.  That could create some argument from the group, formerly called the Confederate Air Force but now with a more politically correct name which I forget, bills their B-24 (no letter) and also known as an LB-30 in the British version.  Following a nose wheel collapse in Canada enroute to England the LB-30 was reconfigured into a transport.

PUBLIC / PRIVATE AIRPORTS. The Reason Foundation's newsletter notes that New Orleans Lakefront Airport is completing a change to a privately operated airport under the FAA's Airport Privatization Pilot Program.  It has been leased to American Airports Corp. for 50 years as it was running at a loss of $1 million per year.  The lease provides that the operator will pay 11% of gross receipts per year as rent.  So far the only other privatization has been Stewart International in Newberg, NY.  It was leased for 99 years to a British company - National Express.  FAA has turned down two others as not being financially practical.  The article had no comment on the effect on the users.  Prices rise?

FLYING WINGS. History Channel, Mar 18. History Under Cover. The story was the German WW II attempt to develop a bomber capable of flying to New York and return.  They felt they needed a 10,000 mile range and wanted a high bomb load capacity.  Rather than explosives they thought of dropping radioactive sand as a more effective tactic.  As the usual airplane configuration uses the tail section to provide a down force to balance the nose heavy design for stability they thought of eliminating the tail to reduce drag.  Two brothers named Horten had been experimenting with flying wings for gliders with some success.  Several were built and one with two jet engines was tested but when one engine quit and there was no tail to hold it straight it spun out of control and crashed.  Another was built with 6 jet engines but the performance was far too marginal.  Even the most advanced technology of the time was inadequate for the New York project.  Over the years a number of successful flying wing gliders have been built.

The flying wing idea keeps coming back and after WW II Northrop developed a large strategic bomber, the YB-35 with 4 3000 hp pusher radials and a 10,000 mile range; then it was modified with six Allison 5600 # thrust jets as YB-49 (About half the total thrust of a modern fighter).  Range was reduced but it looked good and 30 were ordered.  Then, Consolidated's B-36 got the nod (politics ?) and for some reason a number of the nearly complete YB-49s were quickly chopped up.  When the B-2 was unveiled, Jack Northrop, who had long dreamed of flying wings, was brought to see it and was at last vindicated.  He was right all along.  One of his experimental types, the N9M has been restored and is flyable.  In the 1980s I stopped to see a man named Mitchell in California who had built a rigid flying wing hang glider and then added an engine.  I saw one fly at Sun-N-Fun one time and asked the pilot what the CG range was.  He said about 3 inches.

6 STROKE EXPLAINED.  Last Hangar Flying I said "don't ask me" but I think I have studied it out.  Following the exhaust stroke it turns another revolution to draw clean air in and blow it out to eliminate residual exhaust gases.  Good theory but probably wastes power.  Valve timing gets complicated.  How about a 2 stroke - 3 cycle?  I just read about an antique engine.  Possibly a toy.  On the intake stroke a side valve allows gasoline in while another valve admits air.  At half same stroke valves close and an outside gas flame ignites the charge through a hole in the cylinder giving a half stroke power stroke followed by an exhaust stroke.  Pretty low power output.

Copyright © 2003 by Stu Faber.  All rights reserved.