"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
11/29/2017 at 10:17 • Filed to: None
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"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
11/29/2017 at 10:17 • Filed to: None | 11
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On the trip back from Oklahoma I spotted something interesting. I just happened to look left while toodling down the highway and saw a very large open hanger with something really cool parked inside. I couldn’t grab a photo and since I was pulling a trailer, I couldn’t easily double back for a better look. Google to the rescue!
Yeah, the Church has nothing to do with this and Google has it marked in the wrong location. That white building at the top of the image is the hangar. There’s a vague outline of a grass runway running east/west across the property.
Well, that was disappointing! It’s hard to see, but hidden inside of the hanger is a large biplane with unequal wings. I had no idea what it could be, so Google to the rescue! A quick search led me to a likely candidate, the Antonov AN-2.
With that information, I searched for AN-2s near Valient, OK and there it is, tail number N707AW:
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
It turns out that the complex of buildings south of the hanger (seen in the aerial photo above) belong to F & F Automotive, the registered owner of the plane. Even better, this tail number is in the example photos used for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !
Look at it in all its Soviet glory!
This plane is designed to be a multi-purpose workhorse that can operate from short and unimproved fields. With a take-off distance of 500 feet, this plane can be in the air before it reaches the driveway crossing their grass runway. It has no official stall speed and pilots have said it flies fine as low as 30 mph. In comparison, the Cessna 152, probably one of the most common planes used for pilot training, has a stall speed of 48 mph. Wow.
Go check out the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I’ll be over here planning a stop on my next trip to OK.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> TheRealBicycleBuck
11/29/2017 at 10:38 |
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I would like to know the thought process that led up to that. Was it just the boss guy one day at a desk looking out at the old runway, and
ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy
> TheRealBicycleBuck
11/29/2017 at 10:40 |
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Saw plane in field; found EXACT plane on interwebs.
The time we live in is amazing.
Ash78, voting early and often
> ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy
11/29/2017 at 10:45 |
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Yet creepy. But still amazing.
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
11/29/2017 at 10:54 |
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Me too. I wonder what they use it for. It’s too slow and thirsty (43 gph!) to be corporate transport. Parts have to be scarce because it is a) a foreign plane that wasn’t a standard import , and b) it went out of production in 2001. I was a bit surprised to find that there are fourteen of them registered in the states .
There must be some guy over in Russia with a hanger full of them, a decent internet connection, and an e-bay account.
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy
11/29/2017 at 10:55 |
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Exactly.
Aero
> TheRealBicycleBuck
11/29/2017 at 11:18 |
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Aircraft don’t really work like cars. You can import anything at anytime, so long as you do the right paperwork. The engine on the Antonov is incredibly common, with a bunch of brand new assemblies and parts sitting in boxes all over the world. Plus, the airframe won’t need much maintenance in a dry environment, and any thing it does need can be fabricated. That being said, I’ve been in an AN-2 and it was the most agricultural feeling airplane I’ve ever experienced.
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> Aero
11/29/2017 at 11:47 |
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In my mind, it’s not about the import rules, it’s about the availability of parts. I wasn’t aware of how common the engines are. I guess it’s just a matter of finding the parts you need.
WilliamsSW
> TheRealBicycleBuck
11/29/2017 at 11:57 |
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That’s awesome! I always thought the An-2 was a really cool and useful airplane, but I’ve never seen one in person.
It’s a weird airplane to have here - - I’m guessing parts are actually easy to find, overnight from Russia though (RDM yo!). 18,000 of these built. But expensive to operate, unless you have a purpose for it.
Perhaps it’s used for aerial application? I think the An-2 is capable of it.
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> WilliamsSW
11/29/2017 at 12:20 |
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One of the uses listed is aerial application, so it could be. There’s no evidence of that in the picture I found of the plane.
With AVGas costing ~$5.50/gal and with it burning 43 gph, it costs $236/hr just in fuel! Yeah, it’s expensive to fly.
Cue the next guy with a better example of worse fuel economy....
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WilliamsSW
> TheRealBicycleBuck
11/29/2017 at 12:26 |
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I actually missed the fact that it’s painted in old Aeroflot livery, so it’s probably just for exhibitions.
There are plenty of airplanes that use more than 43 gph, but most of them will give you more than 100 kts cruise speed for that fuel burn. That’s 2.8 MPG. Even if you fill all the seats, that’s not good.
SpeedSix
> Ash78, voting early and often
11/29/2017 at 14:51 |
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Basically he cyberstalked a plane after seeing it at its place of residence.
punkgoose17
> TheRealBicycleBuck
11/29/2017 at 19:54 |
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I just read the wiki. This plane is amazing.