Warbird Information Exchange

Ok Mr. Rozenthal:

What are the worst things about each plane you've flown? The only planes I've flown are the Aeronca 7AC, Cessna 180, Cessna 172, Cessna 150, and Citabria.

I can't think of any bad things about any. The only thing is the noise, but the headset solves that.

On the Aeronca, something some people might not like is the way the landing gear hangs down, and when you land it doesn't spread back out for a long time. It kind of make the plane feel like it's unsettled on the ground for a long time.

On the Beech 18, I've heard if you don't hold the tail at the right angle while landing, you'll have some difficulty.


Chris

OK, I'll bite....
At the risk of sounding like a whiner..... Here goes,

The L-2 with a stock 65 hp is underpowered and will barely fly with 2 fat guys in the summertime.
The T-6 has miserable stall characteristics.
The Twin-Beech Rudders are worthless at low speeds when the throttles are closed.
The Corsair canopy can be cantankerous and taxiing in a crosswind is a chore.
The Super Corsair has 4360 cubic inches 56 spark plugs 28 cylinders 7 magnetos and 1 propellor. Too many moving parts.
The C-47 copilot must perform what looks like an obscene act on the pilot while raising and lowering the gear.
The B-25 has Two Wright engines
The A-26 has wing spars that break
The Mustang has a Rolls Royce engine
The -C mustang canopy has to be closed on the ground. There is no air moving in the cockpit on the ground and it's almost unbearably hot. Further, you can't lean out the side and look around the nose.
The Stearman, when operated on pavement, is never more than a moment from turning the lower wings into a canvas bag full of toothpicks.
The BT-13 has huge fuel tanks that outlast the bladder of almost anyone, and they all leak ( the fuel tanks, the bladder depends on the pilot ).
And, drum roll please,
The T-28 has only ONE Wright engine, and therefore violates rule #1, "Never fly a single engine Wright powered airplane."

Tailwinds,
Doug Rozendaal
Still the Luckiest guy you ever knew.

Additions or corrections please????

Doug,
At least those Wright's on the B-25 aren't R-1300s!

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Don't touch my junk!!

The one I dislike to fly is a Cessna 172.

Either you set the seat so you can see ahead, but not on the sides, or you can see on the sides and not ahead.

Those Cessna people...

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

Hi Ollie, I was going to say that too, but thought it was just me..

Yeah, it's pretty annoying.

The same problem occurs in the 180/185, etc.

Only in the 150 are you able to look everywhere.

Oh, and the Bird Dog!

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

When I was first starting flight training, I had a problem being consistant doing landings. I think it took me a lot longer to learn how to land the 172 than the average student. After a lot of hours and a lot of bad landings, my instructor and I figured it out. I'm 6'4". With the seat left in the position of the last student who used the plane, usually all the way up, I can see over the front of the plane. I'd get close and look right down over the front at the pavement and try to land. He was amazed that I did as well as I did. We fixed it by lowering the seat all the way to the bottom. I couldn't see over anymore and it broke me of the looking at the pavement instead of the end of the runway habit. He said that view picture is what regular short people see with the seat all of the way up. I don't have any problems now. I think I'll put it back up now, it's cool to be able to look over the front.

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DEEP THOUGHTS BY KIDS:
"If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started. Age 15 "


Deep Thoughts,
Jack Handy

Did'nt like the Cessna 152 that I flew for my first few training flights....too sqirrely, no weight to it, felt like a big bunny hopping down the runway....liked the Cessna 172 much better, more solid feel to it....flew the Cherokee 140 (or PA -28) a few times, really liked it, but went off the side of the runway once due to the ground effect and flaps causing 'float' and I drifted a little too far to the left and off the runway at Centennial in Denver one day....walked away from it ok though...

Mark

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Mark Morris

Worst aircraft to fly;

1) Beech Sierra w/145 hp. I had a student that needed to get current and his IFR certified, 4-place 1970's vintage all metal acft. seemed like a really good deal at $14,500. It had the worst flying qualities imaginable, climbs, stalls, sink rate and couldn't break a 100 in cruise. Sink rate was like anvil. I kept looking at the control yoke Beech nameplate because I couldn't believe how bad it flew. Remember thinking "name should be "Beached" as in shipwreck!!!

2) Beech Skipper, twice as good as the Sierra and half as good as anything else by Beech. Look out the rear window when doing stalls or slips and you'll see the aluminum oilcanning and the tail wagging back and forth. How did they think they could best Cessna in the trainer department?
3) Cardinal C-177 , A Friend bought one and needed a 10 hour insurance check out. Great looking design, very efficient and modern, but almost impossible to "grease it on" . He kept it for 10 years, called me every two years for a BFR, and we never did figure it out. Tried every power,flap, and airspeed combination. And he was a retired 10,000 hr. USAF pilot.
4) UC-1 Twin Bee. GOt my Commercial MES, in this one. Great fun , will get off the water in about 350 feet. Easy to fly and felt comfortable in about an hour. Then I noticed it was only cruising at 93 mph. At the time we owned a 220 hp. Stearman that cruised at 93 mph. and burned about 14 gallons per hour. It was a shock to fly a twin engine all metal five place airplane, with two 180 hp. Lycomings that wasn't any faster than our beloved old Stearman. In addition, it has huge weight and balance issues and is best as a two place.
5) Ryan PT-22, Fun to fly, rare, and a good representative of the feel of 1930's military flying. Dislike; has an obscene amount of unnecessary drag. a monoplane, also has struts and flying wires. Landing gear has struts, wires, all kinds of stuff. Has a 160 hp Kinner but all the additional horsepower is wasted on overcoming drag. I believe the wing was swept to overcome a weight and balance design error. The high time PT-22 guys have all told me not to dare get below 80 mph. for any reason! But at cruise it only indicates 88mph. I did a lot of touch and go's and it's easy to land with power . I actually tried one with idle power and the sink rate is unbelievable! The Pt-22 has flaps with a pesky feature that you can pop them from any setting and they will pop closed. It's easy to hit with left elbow as the cockpit is very snug. Known for killing a lot of people in stall spin accidents, no doubt the flaps have killed many. I still can't believe Ryan aircraft with all their stature at the time let these design flaws go to production!
These are just the first five that come to mind!

Very interesting.. Got any others? Let's hear them..

I've run out, but both my Dad and Grandpa have flown many.

My grandpa hates the B-29, and still does to this day. One problem was operations in humid climates like at Tampa Bay. You had to watch the engine temps., because the early models had bad cooling on the 3350's. They couldn't run the engines for long before takeoff, they's overheat and you had to shut them down.

Also inflight there were lots of engine fires caused for the above reason. Even worse the engines have magnesium parts behind them. So if you have a fire on a B-29 engine, then you are in big trouble.

The A-26 is very good, but also had some issues with fuel leaks near the carburator early on. Hence in flight fires. A lot of people killed for that reason.

My grandpa never says anything good about the T-6. Too slow, and didn't like the way they landed.

The T-33, a good flying plane, but too many buttons and switches.

F-86, much better, less buttons and switches. Also, easy to fly. The one thing grandpop didn't appreciate was the only 30min of flight available at sea level, but if you kept the altitude high you could fly for 2-3 hours.

My grandpa hates the BT-13, it would only spin one way and extremely difficult to get out of spins. A buddy of his in flight training was killed for that reason.

Col. Grandpop didn't like landing the Stearman, says it's worse than the T-6.

After the war my grandpa flew in a friend's "Bamboo Bomber", hated those too. Too slow, and underpowered.

Overall his favorites are the A-26 aka B-26 and the F-86.


As for Dad:

He doesn't like Ercoupes. Ailerons and rudder tied together, no good.

Doesn't like V-tailed Bonanzas, they yaw too much from the V-tail.

He doesn't like any of the low wing trainers w/ the Hershey bar wing ie, Cherokee 140's, Muskeeteer, and Tomohawk. Doesn't like planes that are underpowered; 150s, 172, Tri-pacers etc.

Says the Pitts has too high a landing speed.

He hates Maules, says the manufacturer exaggerates performance data by quoting performances w/ almost empty tanks. Says the C-180 is far superior.

Chris

Eh, Maules!

My Dad says it's a POC, a 185 kick it's butt any day.

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

Hear Hear Ollie..

And C-210s have a hydraulic Operating Strut for the landing gear doors that cost $2500 each.

Never had such a thing.

We had a 177 before I was born/very young I was and she was C-FWOE with fixed gears.

We had a Navajo too until 2 years ago, a 1968, and that thing took so much maintenance, you wouldn't have believed it.

Kinda like a Canadian Seaking!

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

I am not a pile-it, so I can only relate what I have heard and that is pretty well covered, but I can tell you a few that us mechanics cringe at when we see them on the ramp. 1. Beech Duke, 2. Early Merlins, 3. Cessna Mix Masters, 4. T.C Bonanza (actually not too bad), 5. APU in a Lear 60, 6. Old Hawker 125s, 7. Cessna 421, 7. Anything thats outside in the rain & the hangers are FULL!
I could go on but I am trying to be civil.
Regards
Robbie Stuart

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

Worst to fly - humm. . . how about something that flies but you don't - ie the Predator. Sure you can crash or be blown to kingdom come and get up and walk away but some how thats not flying.


I just wish I had Dougs experience to be able to complain!

Tom P.