Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:59 pm
The seats came with my first Rawdon that I picked up in Washington. It came from Carl Terrana's collection and the seats were laying with the pile of parts. Given the sort of planes that Carl was known to aquire, I'm sure they belong to something that had a tail wheel. I agree, they do seem to be from a champ. Like I said earlier, I'll give them to anybody that wants them. Jeff, I'm always happy to see Rawdon pictures. With or without nekkid women on the wings!
FOR TODAYS SAFETY BRIEFING.....
The TBM story. It's funny now and I guess was funny at the time. But, like so many other things in aviation it could have went horribly wrong in a split second! It falls under the category of one of the dumbest things I've ever done and can serve as an example of what not to do!
On a Friday night in the summer of 2001(?) Bud Granley and I took the P-51 down to Salem Oregon for the Fly in that used to be put on by the "Supper Rabbit" crew. Brian came down the next morning with the L-39. While some of the planes were taking riders up, Jack and I tugged airplanes around and did our normal airport chores. When it came time to depart on Saturday afternoon, Crash Williams couldn't get his TBM to start. Somebody called me over and I crawled up on the wing. Everything seemed to be set up right, but the engine wouldn't even try to fire. Crash got out and told me to get in. He stood on the left wing and Bud stood on the right wing. For some reason we weren't getting any fuel. I moved the fuel selector to off and back to the right tank. When I turned the aux pump back on, fuel finally started flowing. I started to get out and Crash said go ahead and give it a try. I cracked the throttle and Crash said "no, you've gotta give it a little more" and pushed the throttle a little farther. As the engine turned over, Bud reached over and was tickleing the primer switch. I just planned to see if the engine would fire, which I didn't think it would, and all of a sudden, it burst to life! Crash had the throttle up about half way and moved the mixture up to keep the engine running. This wasn't my plan but Bud and Crash were doing their best to keep the fire built. The problem is that Crash is quite a bit taller than I am so with everything adjusted the way it was, I couldn't quite reach the brake pedals. The plane is running at about 1800RPM, the guys working the controls can barely stay on the wings, and the guy in the cockpit can't reach the brakes! I slid down in the seat and got my toes on the brakes until I finally was able to pull the mixture back and kill the engine. If the chocks hadn't been in place, I'm sure we would've all had a wild ride. Unfortunately we probably would have ran over the crowd that had gathered around the plane for the festivities. After I changed my drawers, and we realized nobody was hurt. we were able to laugh about it. That's also when I realized that the other two guys didn't know I couldn't reach the brakes! The look on my face and that of all involved was priceless as Jack said.
From that day on, everytime I get in a plane and have any intentions of flipping switches for any reason, I adjust the brakes so that I can reach them. I also make sure nobody else touches ANYTHING!
For proof that at a later show, I was able to sucessfully start the same airplane without harm to man or beast:
FOR TODAYS SAFETY BRIEFING.....
The TBM story. It's funny now and I guess was funny at the time. But, like so many other things in aviation it could have went horribly wrong in a split second! It falls under the category of one of the dumbest things I've ever done and can serve as an example of what not to do!
On a Friday night in the summer of 2001(?) Bud Granley and I took the P-51 down to Salem Oregon for the Fly in that used to be put on by the "Supper Rabbit" crew. Brian came down the next morning with the L-39. While some of the planes were taking riders up, Jack and I tugged airplanes around and did our normal airport chores. When it came time to depart on Saturday afternoon, Crash Williams couldn't get his TBM to start. Somebody called me over and I crawled up on the wing. Everything seemed to be set up right, but the engine wouldn't even try to fire. Crash got out and told me to get in. He stood on the left wing and Bud stood on the right wing. For some reason we weren't getting any fuel. I moved the fuel selector to off and back to the right tank. When I turned the aux pump back on, fuel finally started flowing. I started to get out and Crash said go ahead and give it a try. I cracked the throttle and Crash said "no, you've gotta give it a little more" and pushed the throttle a little farther. As the engine turned over, Bud reached over and was tickleing the primer switch. I just planned to see if the engine would fire, which I didn't think it would, and all of a sudden, it burst to life! Crash had the throttle up about half way and moved the mixture up to keep the engine running. This wasn't my plan but Bud and Crash were doing their best to keep the fire built. The problem is that Crash is quite a bit taller than I am so with everything adjusted the way it was, I couldn't quite reach the brake pedals. The plane is running at about 1800RPM, the guys working the controls can barely stay on the wings, and the guy in the cockpit can't reach the brakes! I slid down in the seat and got my toes on the brakes until I finally was able to pull the mixture back and kill the engine. If the chocks hadn't been in place, I'm sure we would've all had a wild ride. Unfortunately we probably would have ran over the crowd that had gathered around the plane for the festivities. After I changed my drawers, and we realized nobody was hurt. we were able to laugh about it. That's also when I realized that the other two guys didn't know I couldn't reach the brakes! The look on my face and that of all involved was priceless as Jack said.
From that day on, everytime I get in a plane and have any intentions of flipping switches for any reason, I adjust the brakes so that I can reach them. I also make sure nobody else touches ANYTHING!
For proof that at a later show, I was able to sucessfully start the same airplane without harm to man or beast:
???
Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:16 pm
The part you left out Brad was the that I'm up there with Bud on the right side and when that 2600 caught and I saw the look on your face all I wanted was not to be there! Cept Bud had a death grip though on me and I couldn't jump for it. Probably the most interesting fly-in we ever had!!!
Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:30 pm
Hi Guys:
You sound like a good group!
It didn't sound that bad, since Brad had the situational awareness to hit the brakes. I'm sure he would've done it anyway w/o the chocks. I suppose it could've been bad if the TBM could accelerate enough at half power to mow something down. At least you guys didn't do it on purpose, and treat it like a toy for the heck of it!
You sound like a good group!
It didn't sound that bad, since Brad had the situational awareness to hit the brakes. I'm sure he would've done it anyway w/o the chocks. I suppose it could've been bad if the TBM could accelerate enough at half power to mow something down. At least you guys didn't do it on purpose, and treat it like a toy for the heck of it!
Last edited by HarvardIV on Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:30 pm
It's for an Aeronca Champ, Brad - 100% certain. Dan