Flying

Status
Not open for further replies.
The first question is how much of a load you want to haul out of how small of a strip or lake. "Best" for light work for the money is a 170HP Champion 7KCAB. It also has inverted fuel, smoke oil, and likes to play! I'm biased because I have one.

For heavier work (500-2,000 pounds) get a Cessna 185. For more get a Pilatus Turbo Porter. If money is no object, get a Cessna Grand Caravan on amphibious floats, and haul you and your friends almost anywhere with almost anything. That's $3.5 million Dollars, though. My 7KCAB Champ cost $34,000.
 
Well I was thinking 300 to 500 lb. from a 200 ft grass strip. You know, like Northern :m: Brazil :m: . Can the Champ do that?
 
No, for that when the weather is hot, and winds are blowing, you need 700' to get off the ground, and a clear path (no obstructions taller than 6') for a further 1000' by 80'.

A Helio Courier could maybe do it from a 300' strip, but not under all conditions. You need a lot of money and a helicopter, or some more land. And to haul :m: you need to be very stupid. An airplane is the most conspicuous possible way to cross a border, even at low level.
 
Do you know much about the Piper Cub? some specialized ones without a load of any kind can take off in just over 20 feet! Of course fill it with 200 lbs of food and supplies :m: , and you can get off in maybe 1 or 2 hundred.
 
I occasionally take off for fun in 150hp Cubs, using about 50' of ground roll, with the surface wind blowing 20 knots or more: Almost any direction (into the wind) happens to be works fine- it looks like a helicopter, and you can even back up as you climb into faster air. Then you lower the nose, pull power, and drift downward and backward. Then you add power and level at the bottom. Then full power, gradual pitch up, and back to the top of the Ferris Wheel. It can be repeated and perfected for as long as the wind blows, and the fuel holds out. It does stop cars on the highway, though. Lotsa fun, but to do it hauling a load, you need a Helio Courier- even with a 180-horse Cub, space to stuff anything becomes a problem.
 
What is the max payload of a helio courier? That's what a lot of mission boards use, (Mission boards as in Christian, non profit, and medical aid benefits) in the jungle.
 
'Anything about flying'?

Okay: Whats the primary functional difference between the A-Star and 204?
hehe; sorry, trying to stump you.... ;)
 
Please point out the problems with the below idea and how to overcome them.

THE FLYING CAR.

Chop the side wings of any small plane (with propeller on its nose) create new wings to the width of the plane or a car. Place them on the top of the plane from above the nose, stepping down to the tail one after the other. Like a radio antenna, they pop up the plane as the plane speeds up due to the lift on the wings, first wing is the topmost and last is lowest, the plane hangs on these wings. Now take off the propeller on the planes nose and place it in front of these stepped wings and above the nose. Here the high-speed air from the propellers passes through the wings, giving them a greater than normal lift.

When the plane lands and slows down, the wings get retracted on the top; also the propeller has to be lowered down. Now the plane will fit in a car garage and it becomes a flying car.
 
Last edited:
fligth Q's... hmmm yea, How fast do i need to flab my arms before i get air born.
 
SkyVenture Orlando is a state-of-the-art Vertical Wind Tunnel that creates the exact sensation of free falling during skydiving. At SkyVenture, visitors experience an exhilarating flight experience at 120 mph. If you're not quite ready for the real thing, this high energy Vertical Wind Tunnel offers the perfect alternative - you'll feel the sensation of skydiving but with no parachute, no jumping and no experience necessary!

http://clickit.go2net.com/search?po...ture+orlando&rawto=http://www.skyventure.com/
 
nearest one in the UK, and under construction.

anyway can you calculate how fast i would need to flab those arms before i take off, and at what speed would they break do to stress .)
 
Fireguy: "Whats the primary functional difference between the A-Star and 204?"
You did have me stumped, because I think all helicopters are a very uncouth way to fly. To me the 204's a guzzling, overbearing Hummer, and the A-Star's OK like the Renault Laguna, but not my favorite car. Both have too many parts trying to whirl and vibrate themselves apart for my liking. I've enjoyed some minimal helicopter training, but they are specialized machines far beyond my budget.

RTT: The flying car, like the flying boat involves many compromises. Water and sky do have more in common than sky and street. With a seaplane you have an unwieldy boat and a less than ideal airplane- but it's a very fun combination. I love flying seaplanes, both for the feel of coming down from the air to touch the water, and also for the beautiful places to which a seaplane can gloriously transport you.

A roadable airplane involves many more compromises than a seaplane. I think Molt Taylor came the closest, during the latter part of America's prolific mechanical creativity. Today, it's very hard for American mechanics and engineers to work so independently and creatively as in the 30s-50s, since liability and corporatism have driven independent craftsmen who build personal planes for a living into near extinction. Roadable Aircraft are a wonderful dream, but still impractical not only technically but socially. The freedom to personally move about the sky is both resented and hoarded, depending on which side you are on. In the air, you can't read the "No Trespassing" signs of private individuals, and you can't see the artificial borders and restricted areas laid out by governments. Every time I fly, I must give careful consideration to not offending these parties who only grudgingly allow this gift of freedom that is aviation. I am in the business of facilitating the entry of everyday people into the fraternity of aviation, and I can clearly see that my side is losing in the present. I must struggle on anyway, because this boundless soaring freedom is never really bound by so much regulation, incomprehension, and sometimes resentment from the ground. Even when we're all gone, the fantastic experiences of flying can never be taken away.

From 2,000 feet, I look down a straight stretch of road. No traffic. No Utility poles, no houses nearby, completely suitable, and in certain circumstances, I often have landed on roads. There is no air regulation against doing this, so long as it does not endanger lives or property. However, there are often local ordinances against the activity, so caution is the rule. One of my favorite things to do in winter is land on and Adirondack lake, pull up at the edge of Main Street of any of several small towns, and stroll around, get some lunch, etc. One of my dreams is to bring my planes home to sleep, with a hangar and runway incorporated with the house.

Considering the technical and social problems with roadable airplanes, I think that many of the pleasures of such a machine are actually already available in certain wonderful circumstances.

Cosmic: I'm ready to try that, it looks like a lot of fun, but at more than $10/minute, I'm sure I'll continue jump out of planes, for the full experience at the same or lower price. Obviously, it's a great way for skydivers to develop freeflying technique, or to offer those unwilling to jump from an airplane one aspect of the experience.
 
hypewaders........you say,

Cosmic:" I'm ready to try that, it looks like a lot of fun, but at more than $10/minute, I'm sure I'll continue jump out of planes, for the full experience at the same or lower price. Obviously, it's a great way for skydivers to develop freeflying technique, or to offer those unwilling to jump from an airplane one aspect of the experience."

Well you won't get yourself killed in one of these and for 10.00 that's a pretty reasonable cost to save your life! Most people freefall no more than 1 minute befor they pull their ripcord and that plane ride costs over 30.00 or more to make the jump. Here you can free fall for 3 minutes which would have cost over 90.00 if you were to have to use a plane plus there's no waitng to get your chute repacked and go back up again.
 
Hype,

Do you, knowing how a plane works, still get on and feel amazed everytime it takes off... with half your brain saying "lift, drag, elevators, air speed" and half saying "big metal things don't fly"?
 
Yes. I teach theory all the time, but still wonder at flight. Airplanes are much more than machines to me, and the experience transcends all the explanations for it. Especially in smaller aircraft, I feel not like a human within a contraption- instead We are one flying being.

There's also indelible amazement for me riding in an airliner. I always touch her skin just outside the door on entering, and I always get a window seat, along with a cramp in my neck from gazing outside. From childhood, I have never been able to fly in the belly of an airliner without pretending or imagining that I am doing the flying, and as an adult I often glance across a row of bored or nervous passengers as we accelerate, rotate, and lift off, and can't help quietly exclaiming to them: "Woo-Hoo!"
 
The trick to flying is to be able to throw yourself at the ground, and miss."

-Aurther Dent
 
shichimenshyo said:
The trick to flying is to be able to throw yourself at the ground, and miss."

-Aurther Dent
Click to expand...

The other trick is to not get caught up in the aircrafts tail, fuselage or landing gear when you jump out! Then hope the plane actually makes it up into the air during take offs! :eek:
 
"The other trick is to not get caught up in the aircrafts tail, fuselage or landing gear when you jump out!"

That part is pretty easy, so long as nobody accidently deploys a pilot chute in the doorway- that is a nightmare scenario that bears consideration with every pilot briefing of jumpers. Other than that, having identical momentum with the plane, gravity moves you clear very predictably.

"Then hope the plane actually makes it up into the air during take offs!"

Takeoff is, without a doubt, the most critical time in flying. It's my pet peeve, making sure that there is at least a mental briefing before every takeoff, covering what to do and when- various instantaneous responses to engine failure at various points in the departure. It's the only way for a pilot to react correctly in time, when various unpleasant things happen. I've come through 4 engine failures without injury, by being trained into, and regularly reinforcing the habit of being ready.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top