re: OT pilots, would you fly this?

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what dat is?

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Bad day at the office. I knew a guy who used to fly crop dusters and he'd hang his busted props on the wall in his spot in the hanger. He had to have 5 or 6 props on the wall and about half of them were like that from hitting the ground with the prop while on a pass.

I have no idea how that guy was able to keep flying. Incidentally, he was the reason the crop dusting service went from old radial engined biplanes to more modern turbine driven low-wing monoplanes. It got too expensive to fix the old airframes and engines when Dennis didn't have enough power to pull out and would belly one in.

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Got lucky that day.

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yeah, no kidding

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Accidentally pulled the gear up, prop hit the runway.

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My instructor used to tell me do not touch any type of lever, etc, while still on the runway just for that reason. So I always wait until I reach the taxiway to disengage my flaps. It just became a habit.

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It got too expensive to fix the old airframes and engines when Dennis didn't have enough power to pull out and would belly one in

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Speaking of Cropdusters...

Years ago, one of my dad's friends saved up enough money to buy an old AgCat Biplane that was in good condition. He had done the math and all the money he was playing the local flying service was costing him a fortune to spray all the acres of land that he farmed. he would have saved a ton by having his own plane and contracting a pilot to fly it. He also helped out some of his other friends like my father and offered a lower rate to spray their crops.

He hired out a well known local pilot named Sam. Sam had been flying forever at that point as a CD pilot but he had been known to crash a few times due to mechanical failures. Sam's issue was that when something broke he was lazy and wouldn't tell anyone.

Primary Magneto go out? No worries, he would ride the smaller, secondary one till she quit and he had to bail it out in a field somewhere.

One time my dad's friend sent Sam to the local tire dealership he ordered his aviation tire stuff from. He specifically asked Sam to go and get a new tire mounted on the tail wheel and bring it back and put it back on the plane. He explicitly told Sam to get a aviation spec tire.

Well, old Sam goes to the dealership, sees the cost of the tire, says screw that and thinks he is going to save his boss some money.. Goes to another place and gets yes...a lawnmower tire that fit the rim mounted to the tail wheel. (Did I mention Sam was a little crazy?)

Well the first time he takes off with the thing, it works fine but when he came to land..BOOM, blown tire, tail digs in, rear of the tail gets ripped out. Plane goes all sideways, runs off the dirt runway and finishes wrecking.

Everyone rushes out to make sure Sam is ok. Old bastard comes out without a scratch. We heard the tire blow when he touched down. So my dad's friend asks Sam if he put the new tire on, or was that the old worn out one.

He was aggravated at the situation understandably, however when Sam tells him he put on a tire and where he got it from and what kind it was...well I've never seen a person so pissed off in my life.

I think if he could have somehow put Sam back in the plane and re-crash it harder at that moment to kill him, he would've tried. He was cussing so loud and fast that at one point it was just unintelligible angry gibberish. We had to physically restrain him from Sam.

SOMEHOW, he not only does not kill ole Sam, he rehires him down the road. After about 5 years, my dad's friend sells the plane. Once it was all yellow, but about time he sold the plane it was about 3/4's primered grey from all of the repaired/replaced fuselage repairs from Sam's antics.

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Here's a kit-built P-51 (3/4 scale) replica called the Thunder Mustang. This plane has a Falconer V-12 engine and has performance that is equal to, or better, than the actual P-51. You can own one for $300K!

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Can it fly to Berlin and back?

There's old pilots and bold pilots, but there ain't no old, bold pilots.

Best story I know about crop dusters.

I know a guy that flew them years ago. He was crop dusting a rice field in a Stearman. He’s going over the field really low and feels the airplane shudder for a second, but figured it was a little turbulence. He makes his turn and goes back over the field in the opposite direction, then turns again and is making another pass and notices this big round black thing on the levee. As he passes by it, he sees that it’s a tire, stuck in the levee. Then it dawns on him. He pulls the plane around for another look and realized it was one of his main gear.

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what's that little thingy sticking out of the nose?

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prop.

Perspective.

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when I learned to fly taught never to do touch and goes in a retractable gear airplane.

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My instructor always made me do full stop taxi backs because you actually got to log your landings. This also gave you more experience dealing with the tower and ground control.