Middle Aged Man Flies Tailwheel, Laughter Ensues

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I need your advice.


I am getting ready to build another plans built toy for something to keep me busy in my old age.


I have bought the plans for both the Thatcher CX 4 and the CX 5.


Which is the most attractive of the two?

[Colonel]

John:  because of your background, you take something
extremely important for granted:

What do you do, when all that fancy shit stops working?

I did some training of some new RV owners, and one of
them told me, he expected to die if his fancy screens went
blank.  No steam gauges.

I laughed, pulled the breakers, and off we went flying.

He was AMAZED that you could actually fly an airplane
without all that shit, by [b]LOOKING OUTSIDE [/b]and remembering
that [b]POWER + ATTITUDE = PERFORMANCE[/b], something that
AF447 didn't know.  Those four bars killed themselves and all
their pax because they lost their ASI.  I am not making this up.

Eric and I flew the Pitts across the country last summer.  No
gauges, just my iPhone - I got another one, after your buddies
at TC stole my last one - and the Interstate under my left foot.

[John Swallow]

[left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)]
[font=arial][size=4]"What do you do, when all that fancy shit stops working?"[/size][/font][/color][/left][left][/left][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][font=arial][size=4]Simple.  Dig out my map and do it the old fashioned way.  Real pain in the ass, though.[/size][/font][/color][/left][left][/left][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][font=arial][size=4]With all the magic, the workload is reduced immensely, especially when wandering around in the smoke which has been prevalent for the last few weeks.  Instead of head in cockpit constantly checking the map, it's head out of cockpit with the odd glance inside.  I didn't install an autopilot, but consider what a boon that piece of equipment is to a pilot.  [/size][/font][/color][/left][left][/left][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][font=arial][size=4]It's no great trick flying across country with just a map [or no map - just go IFR  (I follow roads)]; anybody over 60 years of age did that routinely.  However, consider going into a place like Calgary or Vancouver or anyplace else that has VFR reporting points. [/size][/font][/color][/left][left][/left][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][font=arial][size=4]We've about 20 RV aircraft on the field here; some with magic, some with steam gauges.  However, all are quite comfortable with a map.  [/size][/font][/color][/left][left][/left][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][font=arial][size=4]Your comment about an aircraft fitted with EFIS and EMS experiencing electrical problems is one of the reasons I went round gauges for the engine stuff...  If I could get it started, I could always get home.[/size][/font][/color][/left][left][/left][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][size=4][font=arial]Again,  the kids today do not have the map reading skills of we olde phartes, but given the MTBF rates of today’s avionics and the low cost of redundancy, is it really a requirement?  [/font][/size][/color][/left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][size=4][/size]
[/color][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][/color][/left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)]
[/color][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][size=4]PS  Is there any room in a Pitts to modernize the instrument panel and upgrade the avionics?  [/size][/color][/left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)]
[/color][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][size=4]PPS  On your X-country trip, did the cell phone have a mapping application installed?[/size][/color][/left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)]
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[font=arial][/font][/color][left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][font=arial][size=4]  [/size][/font][/color][/left][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)][font=arial][/font][/color]

[Colonel]

The dash of the Pitts (rear seat) is incredibly minimalistic,
and is full with only an ASI and altimeter and G-meter -
no gyros at all, not even a slip/skid ball.

That's it - and some engine gauges.  You might be able
to squeeze in one of those new, shallow solid-state attitude
indicators, maybe, if you got rid of the G-meter. 

The GPS in the cell phone is incredible.  I have external
power for it, and I like the Garmin app - all the kids today
use something called Foreskin or something.  Like a donkey
punch or a rusty trombone, I suppose.

It's funny - the cell phone makes a better GPS, IMHO, than
all those VFR-only (ahem) portable GPS's that we bought
back in the old days .... 196/296/396/496/etc.

PS  You know the "old-fashioned way".  Kids these days
only know how to push buttons.  The basic skill of holding
a heading for a specified time is long gone.  When the
fancy shit stops working, it's time to die.  That's aviation
in the 21st century.

[David MacRay]

Why do people talk about paper map reading like it's difficult?
It's a drawing of the ground.
Look for the features that match and that is where you are.

If your little tv breaks and you try to blame it when your airplane crashes.....

I don't have anything nice to say about that.

[John Swallow]

[quote]"If your little tv breaks and you try to blame it when your airplane crashes....."[/quote]


Not restricted to magic equipped aircraft.


Many years ago, I was flying with an AME friend who was delivering a Cub back to a client in southern Manitoba.  The side panels were not closed.


I asked if there was a map on board.


He pointed out where it was.


I opened the map.


Did I mention that the side panels were open? 


A mystified prairie farmer probably wondered how in hell some kind of a map wound up in the middle of his 160 acre field...


We continued the trip using the old technique of "Ground to ground to ground to ground..."


Didn't crash though.


PS  Andrew:  Whether panel mounted or cell phone mounted, GPS is GPS and magic is still magic.  You've gone over to the dark side!!!  How can you ever be trusted again?    (;>0)

[Colonel]

I am always pleasantly surprised when that magic shit works.

PS  Losing your map is pretty much a rite of passage in an
open cockpit airplane.  In the Stearman or Ryan, I would
always just follow roads.  Sometimes I might pass the cars,
but not often  ;D

ATC would always be annoyed with me, because of all the
microphone noise, open cockpit.  You try to duck your head
down out of the wind when you talk, but ...

[David MacRay]

That was not directed at you John. I suspected you are probably much better with a paper map and pencil than me. Or as in that case, without.

That's a pretty good story.

I'd be pretty embarrassed but should be able to find an airport/airstrip after losing all forms of map, somehow safely-ish get on the ground to inquire as to my location if needed.

I would not be heading toward a very large airport near a city unless I found one I was quite farmiliar with at which point I'm not lost anymore.

[Liquid Charlie]

Little drift here but I can remember loosing a map out the D/V window whilst scud running with poor vis in a beech 18 the old beech had poor vis in rain and the solution was to fly with the D/V window open. Lucky I knew the area and really didn't need a map. BTW we used 4 mile to the inch scale because 8 mile to the inch aviation charts were incomplete and lakes were missing. Maps only usually came out when vis was less than a mile and "low" ceilings and in the later years after a "chinese let down" and to find one's self after a couple hours of dead reckoning.


GPS has made the biggest impact to aviation since the introduction of the jet engine. I spent years wandering around the arctic dead reckoning and drifting left and right of course until finally an NDB signal and then getting station passage still at FL 16 because of unexpected tail winds. GPS changed all that and then through in the ability to line one up with a runway with the loved 90 angle NDB approach as the published approach -- PFM !!!! -- yup I was a home brew guy but with local knowledge far safer that what was offered. We always wanted varification of approach in the arctic anyway and with radar, ADF  to confirm GPS it was far safer than circling, especially in the dark season.


Sorry for the drift but along with tail draggers the ass of the pants flying does fit in  >:D

[Colonel]

There have been many huge changes in aviation, but to
me, these are the biggies:

GPS [b]receiver[/b] - now you know, precisely where you are.  Nice, but ...
Huge cheap computer [b]storage[/b] - allows you to carry navigational database
Huge cheap [b]displays and GPU[/b]s - allows for moving map presentation of nav

There are many revolutionary technologies that go into what we call a
GPS.  In addition to enormous capacity and power, they must also be
ridiculously inexpensive, stupidly compact, incredibly reliable and low
power consumption.

You have no idea what unbelievable engineering and physics accomplishments
were required to do deliver the above, even if Rockie thinks its stupid.

In addition to GPS/nav/display ... back in the day, we didn't even have
headsets.  Or boom mikes.  We just had speakers and handheld mikes,
and it was horrible.

Now we have uber-damping headsets with boom mikes and PTTs, with
ANR and voice-activated ICS.  Again, a shit-ton of electronics and
software required to make this stuff work.

Fuel totalizers are ridiculously cheap.  We didn't have that shit, but
again, electronics.

When I'm wearing my ANR headset and looking at my GPS, I really
don't miss the Good Old Days of the 20th century.