Airshow Favorites
Now Featured in Popular Mechanics
Well the 2010 airshow season is finished and in the can. Not the toilet, but the film can.
We received GREAT photo coverage this year and were the subject over several magazines and articles. One of the biggest will hit the news stand on January 15th of 2011. Popular Mechanics is featuring us and has some spectacular air-to-air photography and some sunrise photos. Look for it at your news stand.
We did have a few “issues” during the season. We had another hydraulic failure during the second performance of the day for the 4th of July at St. Louis and aborted. The crew worked well into the night and most of the next day, but by the end of the day, the airplanes were up and ferried successfully to Oshkosh from St. Louis. The crew did an outstanding job!
Our second failure to launch was at the final airshow at Culpeper, Virginia. We had been plagued with spurient fuel system lights. Advanced warning that SOMETHING was not quite right, but nothing actually failed. Then on the photo flight for Popular Mechanics, the starboard fuel boost pump failed completely. It failed so completely that it caused a fuel transfer failure during the flight. The pump is supposed to allow fuel to bypass part of the pump, but it did not. Fully half of the fuel on board was not usable at all.
That problem was traced to a blown fuse. Simple enough, if we had an extra fuse, which we didn’t. We did have a spare GR-3 airplane back at home base, so during the show I flew back to home base with a mech in the trunk of the L-39 and the fuses were identical. Fifteen minutes later, we were on the way back to Culpeper, with two fuses.
As soon as one good fuse was installed, the pump made a horrendous sound, much like a college kid asking his parent for money, and the fuse blew again. Obviously a bad pump, so there I was again – flying back to home base for a spare pump, which we had.
In the meantime, we had a crowd waiting to see the Harrier fly, this time by Joe Anderson. Joe had patiently waited his turn for a show, and Culpeper was going to be his show. His family was there, some having come all the way from Atlanta. But with a known bad boost pump, a fuel transfer failure, and spares available, we made the decision to cancel the show. I know there was no one more disappointed than Joe and the crew, but this was absolutely the correct and safe decision to take. Joe started the airplane and taxied, but the crowd was told the reason we weren’t going to fly. I know they were disappointed, too, but again, safety is the most important criteria.
Joe ran the engine at idle power for over an hour, not once complaining, to run the SHAR out of fuel. The boost pumps, as one would imagine, are at the lowest point in the fuel system, actually inside of a feed tank. We had no defueling capability at Culpeper, so the quickest and easiest method was to run the airplane until the engine quit. It was also comforting to learn that the fuel gages are extremely accurate. All our low-level warnings illuminated right on cue and when the fuel gage read zero, the engine quit. There’s no slop in the system. Not even a little, as in your car.
The crew worked well into the night to replace the fuel pump and early the next day, Joe flew a post-maintenance check flight to make sure everything was fixed. The fuel system was perfect, so Joe flew a mini-demonstration for his family. His wife, daughters, grandchildren and inlaws all got a private viewing. It’s just a shame that the crowd the previous day did not.
All in all, we missed two performances. I’m happy with that record. Even the Blue Angles, Thunderbirds, and Marine Corps Harriers miss a performance now and then. Considering we’re just some guys from St. Mary’s, we’ve done well and I’m proud of our record.
Now, the airplane is back in the barn, on jacks. During the winter, we’ll rework all the hydraulic accumulators and they should be fine for another 15-20 years. We will have confidence that our hydraulic systems are as good as we can make them.
Also, both the airplane and PILOT are down for a right landing gear. We’ve had some issues with the starboard outrigger, so it’s been sent out for rebuild. But I’ve been having some problems with my right knee and decided this was the time for a total knee replacement. I should be completely fit and ready for flight by spring.
I will pass on a few comments about physical therapy, which is the worst part of a surgery such as knee replacement. It’s quite painful. When a doctor tells a patient, “it’s going to be a bit unpleasant,” one can bet it will hurt like hell. No exaggeration here, it hurts!
I thought the North Vietnamese training certificate on the wall was a joke, but apparently my therapist takes some pleasure in my pain. When she wrenches my leg back to angles never intended by nature, I tend to scream a bit. Not a whimpy poot, but a SCREAM. She casually asks, in broken English, “did I hurt you?”
Sign the papers, old man…
Anyway, nothing good comes without pain, so this spring I should be able to kick Superman’s butt and we’ll be ready for another season of airshows.
As soon as we sign contracts, we’ll post our schedule on our website. Stay tuned, and look for Popular Mechanics in a few weeks.
Art
