Air-To-Air Of Another WIXer

Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:31 pm

Here's some photos I took last year of our fellow WIXer, Eric Downing. Eric graciously agreed to fly his Skyraider during the Goshen Airshow in Northern Indiana.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:34 pm

tc

Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:47 pm

Now let's all thank Eric for keeping this beast alive. And Thank You Eric for flying your airplane for a 16 year old punk to take pictures!

Hope you guys liked the shots!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Trey

Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:49 pm

Absolutely stunning shots. Thanks for posting.

Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:53 pm

Great Stuff!

WOW!

Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:59 pm

Beautiful shots of a beautiful bird.

You've got a he11 of an eye!

Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:09 pm

Great shots, Trey!

Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:27 pm

How do some owners of warbirds get to fly with inert or fake ordnance mounted. I know of one organization that tried to do the same and was not allowed to fly with the stuff mounted by the local Friendly Aviation Administration (We're not Happy until you're not Happy!)

Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:31 pm

Look at all those techno gizmos in that cockpit. And I'll bet Ed Owning is gonna try to tell us that he actually knows what all them things are for. With that much stuff, if I had to check it each one on the preflight and runup list I'd probably forget where I was going by the time I got ready for takeoff.

Now that's not a bad looking airborn destroyer, such as they go. Obviously Douglas was getting paid by the pound when they got the contract for them. I'll bet Eric is among the happiest of WIXers to see fuel prices drop.

He ought to base it at Compton, where the natives really put a premium on being well armed. No bowling balls needed.

Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:18 pm

Trey -- You continue to impress! I always look forward to your work. It is beautifully and intelligently seen, and you seem also, from what I've seen you write, to really appreciate how lucky you are to be around these remarkable machines and their people.

Thanks for this, and I look forward to the next chapter!

As for the airplane -- very nice except for being the station wagon version, or is it the maxivan version (ducking and running)...

Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:48 pm

I like your booster seat, Eric. It's lots better than the stack of books they made you use in training, ain't it?

Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:55 pm

John Dupre wrote:How do some owners of warbirds get to fly with inert or fake ordnance mounted. I know of one organization that tried to do the same and was not allowed to fly with the stuff mounted by the local Friendly Aviation Administration (We're not Happy until you're not Happy!)

They must've not gone about it the right way.

Typically, the FAA only requires that the object on the aircraft be certified by the BATF to be "okay to fly" if a weapon shape (typically that means inert or a replica) and a letter describing the carriage and circumstances. They typically also want proof that the particular aircraft or aircraft type once had the necessary mounting equipment installed and your re-installation of this equipment would not adversely affect the certification basis (i.e. not cause adverse handling effects).

Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:56 pm

Trey and Eric thank you for sharing!

Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:01 pm

Nice shots :!:

, I for one would have to say how CLEAN :shock:

it looks since Gary did all that work last year :shock:

Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:13 pm

Betcha I know what happened to all the trash in the first photos! :lol:

Don't them Hoosiers know where the garbage cans are? :wink:

Fantastic photos and Man, what beat that plane is. Eric, how is it to fly? I pulled a loop in a Harvard recently and it seemed like I was trying to pull a fence post out. What's it like in yours?