Another great day at the airport

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
06/01/2019 at 15:52 • Filed to: None

I’ve learned that f lying is a skill that rapidly degrades if you don’t use it. So, I’m hanging out in Houston this weekend to keep in practice so I don’t bomb my check ride next week. Today was a quick jaunt over to the DPE’s home airport since he has a history of taking pilots over there for their emergency maneuvers and required landings. I was surprised how busy the little airport was. When I arrived, there were three other aircraft coming in and two already on the ground. All of us were practicing flying the pattern. the neatest aircraft was an old Cessna 140. I was too busy flying to take a picture, but it looked just like the one below.

After returning back to home base, there were a few other neat planes flying around. An RV buzzed the hangars :

And I caught one of the T-6s taxiing back to its hangar. This one is chassis # 88-10676 and is painted in South Africa Air Force colors.

One the way out, I came across another Texan! This is a Beech T-6 Texan II which is still in use as an Air Force trainer.

The military was in force at KDWH today! They also had a Beech C-12 Huron on the tarmac.

Some of you may remember the Bonanza I posted the other day. It’s last flight ended badly.

I mentioned that it’s sitting at the north end of the airport, so I thought I’d stop by and get a closer look. It’s bad.

The gear are being held in place by ratchet straps and the prop is bent. That means the engine will have to be torn down and inspected for internal damage. If a pilot knows there will be a gear-up landing, the prudent thing to do is shut down the engines so the props won’t strike the runway and damage the engines. Since the pilot didn’t shut down the engines, the pilot probably didn’t realize the gear were up. Bad mistake.

Just in case you’re wondering, here’s a perfectly executed belly flop:

More flying to come tomorrow!

I hope your Satur day was as good as mine, Oppo!

DISCUSSION (4)

Ash78, voting early and often > TheRealBicycleBuck
06/01/2019 at 16:27

Good thing that Comanche has 2-bladed props...with 3-4 I don’t think you can avoid a prop strike no matter what you do.

Cool Cessna 140...that’s the plane my grandfather bought in 1950 when he quit his law practice and became a full-time aviation author (my dad and both uncles are pilots, too; none of the grandkids are, though...)

Those turboprop Texans are pretty prolific — they’re also the Navy’s primary trainer, IIRC. Aren’t they all rebadged/modified Pilatus aircraft? I think Beech just sort of bought the design and has been printing money ever since.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Ash78, voting early and often
06/01/2019 at 16:50

You’re right about the 3-blades. That video makes a good argument for only using tw0-bladed props.

I’m not normally a fan of polished planes, but I have to admit that it was a sweet 140.

I know almost nothing about the new Texans. It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen one, but I’ve never looked into them.

WilliamsSW > TheRealBicycleBuck
06/01/2019 at 17:44

Nice! Great sightseeing too, except that poor Bonanza.

Ash78, voting early and often > TheRealBicycleBuck
06/03/2019 at 09:35

All I know about them is they’re basically a huge turboprop engine (PT6) and a canopy. The idea is to mimic the behavior of real jets, albeit at a smaller scale and speed. But they are still really quick (320kt cruise). That engine is normally reserved for much larger craft like the Cessna Caravan or the Texan’s big brother, the Pilatus PC-12.

I love me some big single-engine turboprops.