Roost Air Lounge => Aviation related topics => Topic started by: Rooster Cruiser on November 20, 2008, 10:36:45 AM
Title: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on November 20, 2008, 10:36:45 AM
Well, not quite... yet! I had a freight run to do so I took this pic of a nice looking Boeing 707 sitting on the ramp at Lanseria airport. The other two pics of the MFD are a giveaway as to where I'm at! Hehe. I'm here on a 2 month contract job. I expect to return home on Christmas Eve if all goes well.
The weather has been hot and dry, but the rainy season is upon us here and there have been a few showers in the area.
The Porter is sitting idle for now. I am flying the company PC12, and I will take some pics and post them here after I take Mr Big to a hunting lodge out in the Bush.
RC
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: chuckar101 on November 20, 2008, 06:24:11 PM
Africa huh ::loony:: ::loony:: Good luck
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Oddball on November 21, 2008, 08:10:14 AM
As long as you keep away from the Gongo chief.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on November 27, 2008, 07:15:06 AM
I flew into a little dirt strip in the bush yesterday. The strip was 800 meters long so it wasn't really a short strip but there was a 5 degree bend in the middle of it that made the takeoff a bit "Sporty" shall we say. Also the dirt was a little soft in the rollout area and I dug my wheels in a bit when I turned around to taxi back.
We shut down and transferred our gear to a waiting helicopter that was taking the stuff on to a hunting lodge. While we were doing that, the entire village came out to greet us! They don't often see an airplane on their strip, and I imagine having an airplane and a helicopter there at the same time was a very rare sight.
During the loading of the helicopter I noticed some large animal tracks that were left by something big. I asked the helo pilot what animal made them and he said, "Oh those are mouse tracks.... Hippo-Pot-o-Mouse!" South Africans have a curious sense of humor... ::) Having seen that, I will make it clear to management that leaving the PC12 on the strip overnight is NOT an option! I'd hate to come back in the morning to find that a Hippo destroyed a wing cause it wanted to scratch an itch on its back.
I am hoping to take an interpreter with me on my next flight. My Portuguese isn't good enough for communication and I need someone to explain to the villagers that they need to get off the runway when I start my takeoff roll! ::complaining:
More pics to follow in the next few days.
RC
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Frank N. O. on November 27, 2008, 10:29:23 AM
Nice pictures, and great description of how it's like there, also great to hear that humour is everywhere, that sure was a great one :D If there really are hippos there and they get close to the plane then I hope someone's got a camera reading, I think a picture of a hippo nudging a PC12 could be the new big thing after the classic picture of a string of lions resting in the shade from the wing of a plane :D
Frank
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on November 28, 2008, 02:13:24 PM
At the western frontier of Mozambique, the Zambezi river drains into Lake Cahorra Basa in a series of sand bars, mud flats, and swamps. Hippos and Crocodiles are abundant here.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on November 28, 2008, 02:25:19 PM
Top: The village of Zumbo is to the right in this picture, and the airstrip is the cleared area just beyond it and slightly to the left.
Middle: Aerial view of the "airstrip". To the left of the big river is Zimbabwe, and the land beyond the river with the sand bars is Zambia. Three countries come together right here!
Bottom: Short final at Zumbo. There is a section of strip directly under the nose of the airplane, but it is too rough to use. My landing zone begins adjacent to the trees on the left of the strip. Note there is a 5 degree bend in the strip!
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on November 28, 2008, 02:30:31 PM
Top two: Our usual welcoming committee awaits us. The villagers are drawn out by the arrival of the helicopter which lands before we do.
Middle: Transferring loads. Bottled water, Beer and groceries go into the helicopter... rock samples are brought to the PC12. Hardly seems like a fair trade... ::banghead::
Bottom: A view of the "Runway" ::eek:: ::unbelieveable::
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Oddball on November 28, 2008, 03:53:25 PM
::thinking:: that sort of looks like the field i fly out of R/C lol
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Mike on November 28, 2008, 05:33:57 PM
Awesome Pictures Rooster !!!
Looks like the set of "Air America" !!!
Do you carry a gun big enough for crocodiles and Hippos??
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Baradium on December 14, 2008, 10:42:54 PM
Well, not quite... yet! I had a freight run to do so I took this pic of a nice looking Boeing 707 sitting on the ramp at Lanseria airport. The other two pics of the MFD are a giveaway as to where I'm at! Hehe. I'm here on a 2 month contract job. I expect to return home on Christmas Eve if all goes well.
The weather has been hot and dry, but the rainy season is upon us here and there have been a few showers in the area.
The Porter is sitting idle for now. I am flying the company PC12, and I will take some pics and post them here after I take Mr Big to a hunting lodge out in the Bush.
The DC-8 has a more squared off engine (look at the rear of the engine)
Take a better look at the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer. RC call it right.
The engines varied quite a bit in the 707/DC8 era.
Bonus Question The original 707 aircraft used a special additive to achieve sufficient takeoff thrust. What was this additive that was injected into the engines?
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Baradium on December 15, 2008, 02:35:57 AM
The DC-8 has a more squared off engine (look at the rear of the engine)
Take a better look at the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer. RC call it right.
The engines varied quite a bit in the 707/DC8 era.
Bonus Question The original 707 aircraft used a special additive to achieve sufficient takeoff thrust. What was this additive that was injected into the engines?
water
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Fabo on December 15, 2008, 02:33:55 PM
Damn you beat me to it.
BTW another giveaway is front windows, these are boeings haped.
Title: Great Answer
Post by: Ragwing on December 16, 2008, 05:09:59 AM
Baradium, Fabo, You two are good aviation historians. You both get an A plus. ::bow:: I thought it would take a little longer. In spite of the fact that many of the flyers on this forum use water to fight fires. ::whistle::
Title: Re: Great Answer
Post by: Baradium on December 16, 2008, 09:25:05 AM
Baradium, Fabo, You two are good aviation historians. You both get an A plus. ::bow:: I thought it would take a little longer. In spite of the fact that many of the flyers on this forum use water to fight fires. ::whistle::
Sorry, I just happened to know the answer already. ;)
Regarding the windows... pulled up both pictures and looked for a while. I'd decided it was a factor of the angle.
At least I think the 707 was one of the few the russians didn't have a clone of. ;)
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Oddball on December 16, 2008, 09:45:33 AM
::thinking:: got to check on that Bar I know they did copy the VC-10 at one time.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Fabo on December 16, 2008, 10:50:43 AM
Why would Russians do it when Americans did it already? B707 vs DC8.
By the way, at about that time, Russians were intodrucing Tu-114, very interesting turboprop, that I am not sure if it did not even outnumber 707s.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Baradium on December 16, 2008, 11:33:41 AM
Why would Russians do it when Americans did it already? B707 vs DC8.
By the way, at about that time, Russians were intodrucing Tu-114, very interesting turboprop, that I am not sure if it did not even outnumber 707s.
Same reason they made a clone of the B-727 and some others?
They especially loved to not have to reinvent the wheel. If there was a successful design, they didn't care about stealing plans or getting ahold of an actual airplane and reverse engineering.
Was it a B-29 that they captured and then later built their own of? Whatever the aircraft, they were so faithful to the original that they built it with repair patches that the captured plane had.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Oddball on December 16, 2008, 02:15:27 PM
the russians copied concorde (concordski) the plans where actually stolen but the brit/french designers changed it by adding canards and even had a version of the DC-3/C-47/RB-3 that had a turret above the cockpit. they did copy the B-29 but was a failure.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Fabo on December 16, 2008, 06:25:39 PM
Well for one, you obviosly did not get a joke-like attitude in my first sentence. My bad, should have used smile.
Li-2 is officially licensed version of Dakota, no copy or whatever you may think.
And I have no idea what plane could be copy of B-727 on Russian side. I am not sure about other designes that may have been "stolen" as you can not really come to totally different outcomes for one purpose using given technology. And "inspiration" sure was profiting for both sides.
And Oddball, I am puzzled, Concorde never had any canards?
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Oddball on December 16, 2008, 06:44:43 PM
thats what they changed about concorde they added canards onto the plans
Title: Re: Great Answer
Post by: Ragwing on December 17, 2008, 03:53:14 AM
At least I think the 707 was one of the few the Russians didn't have a clone of. ;)
The Russians did not. But the Chinese did. One of the 707's that were sold to China during President Richard Nixon's administration was disassembled and copied. It was a failure.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: spacer on December 17, 2008, 08:41:05 PM
Why would Russians do it when Americans did it already? B707 vs DC8.
By the way, at about that time, Russians were intodrucing Tu-114, very interesting turboprop, that I am not sure if it did not even outnumber 707s.
Same reason they made a clone of the B-727 and some others?
They especially loved to not have to reinvent the wheel. If there was a successful design, they didn't care about stealing plans or getting ahold of an actual airplane and reverse engineering.
Was it a B-29 that they captured and then later built their own of? Whatever the aircraft, they were so faithful to the original that they built it with repair patches that the captured plane had.
...and ended up with the same engine heat problems, too. ::rofl::
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on December 17, 2008, 09:01:27 PM
I can see that I need to post a few more pics to get back on subject... >:D
The rainy season has arrived in southern Africa in force, I am afraid. I attempted to fly to Zumbo this morning, but a line of severe thunderstorms blocked my way and I had to turn back. Probably a good thing. I spoke to a rotor-head this evening that overflew the strip today and he said it was unusable for a PC12. Not only was there standing water on the strip, there were no less than three sinkholes in the runway!
Pics to follow...
RC
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on December 17, 2008, 09:06:34 PM
Top: The Savi river in Mozambique. This river has its sources in Zimbabwe and is known there as the Saba. It is a typical braided river with a large bed and a trickle of water in the dry season. Once the rains begin in earnest I'm certain it will fill the riverbed. Note the clearings of the bush in the foreground. Each has a collection of mud huts where people live and tend to cattle or goats for their livelihood.
Middle: The Saba river flows out of Zimbabwe to become the Savi.
Bottom: Maputo is the capitol of Mozambique. It is a city of about 2-5 million people along the Indian Ocean.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on December 17, 2008, 09:10:51 PM
Last but not least, here is an aerial shot of the city I am based at. Its a frontier town, but not a bad place to be.
RC
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: gibbo_335 on December 18, 2008, 04:16:40 AM
R/C sweet pics mate!! 8)
Whats your next adventure frontier?
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on December 18, 2008, 04:25:47 AM
Oh that's easy Gibbo. Home by Christmas (I hope), where I'll try to survive a wife and two kids smothering me with affection after having missed me for the last two months! Hehe.
Here's to Christmas with the family, and to surviving the smothering attempt! ::drinking:: ::drinking:: ::drinking:: ::drinking:: ::drinking:: ::drinking::
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Oddball on December 18, 2008, 09:48:08 AM
where did these pics come from? ::thinking:: .........i thought we where talking about Russina aircraft desgin in this thread (sorry R/C ;D )
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on December 26, 2008, 02:24:48 PM
Well, I made it home safely, but it took me 41 hours to get back to SoCal from Mozambique! ::eek:: ::unbelieveable:: Flew FQTT-FAJS by PC12, then hopped aboard Delta Airlines for the long trip back to Atlanta via Dakar. 19 hours onboard the 767 including the fuel stop in Dakar where they forbid anyone to deplane! Now I know what its like to be in a coccoon for an extende perioud of time.
If I ever get the time to figure out how to post videos to YouTube, I'll get some of my more memorable videos there and share them with you all here.
Sure is good to be home!
RC
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Chopper Doc on December 26, 2008, 03:22:06 PM
Glad to hear you made it home in time, RC. Also nice to hear that you're back in the skies again.
Great pics, great posts. I'm looking forward to the movies once you figure how to post them.
By the way, early Bell JetRangers were powered with an anemic C-18 which required water injection to make full power. In those days the engines were the limiting factor in the power train; later upgrades would see the engines become more powerful until the transmission became the limit, then the tranny guts would get changed up, accepting a more powerful engine and making the input driveshaft the new limiting factor... and so on. But thankfully, there is no longer anyone using water injection to get more power from a turbine.
And now we return to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Mike on December 26, 2008, 06:04:09 PM
I actually got to fly a Long Ranger 4 years ago for a couple of flights (well, "got to" is an over-statement, more "had to") that still had water injection. I remember how surprised I was since I never heard of that sort of thing prior to getting into the aircraft. Can't say it was the most comfortable feeling to inject water into a turbine while taking off from a rooftop at max gross . . . I am sure it was alright but it still seemed strange since I grew up flying transmission limited aircraft. The ship has since been upgrated to a L1 and the injection went away and I've never seen one since.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Chopper Doc on December 26, 2008, 08:44:39 PM
The LongRanger started out with a straight C-20 - it needed all the help it could in that airframe.
A more common and useful engine was the C-20R (the Soloy "LR" conversion). It made the LongRanger into a good lightweight utility machine with excellent fuel endurance, but was temp limited and not much use hot/high.
The L1 was heavier, the C28 burned more fuel and was still useless hot/high - not much of an improvement. The L3 used a C30P which still burned lots of fuel and had acceptable hot/high performance, but was once again torque limited (in a hover you don't dare think about left pedal).
The L4 is a good machine: the engine, transmission and drivetrain are well-matched to provided good performance, it has acceptable endurance, good useful load, and a cabin layout well-suited to longline or internal cargo carriage.
If I had to make up a good utility fleet I'd choose LR's for the light jobs and L4's for intermediate use. Good machines, easy to maintain, simple and relatively cheap to operate.
And you don't need to use a "steam engine" to make them fly.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: G-man on December 26, 2008, 09:47:55 PM
The L4 is a good machine: the engine, transmission and drivetrain are well-matched to provided good performance, it has acceptable endurance, good useful load, and a cabin layout well-suited to longline or internal cargo carriage.
However, the High altitude T/R with Tracs is a MUST. Makes it possible to do this @ 8K..
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Chopper Doc on December 26, 2008, 11:25:58 PM
I've rappelled from medium Bells in the past, and even done longline rescue work from beneath a Hughes 500, but I've never rapped from a LongDog (not even an L4). Don't get me wrong, I like the 'Dogs but just never had the chance.
Here in the Canadian Rockies they use Alpine's 407s for longline rescue - lots of power in a very stable, zippy platform.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: G-man on December 26, 2008, 11:47:54 PM
Here in the Canadian Rockies they use Alpine's 407s for longline rescue - lots of power in a very stable, zippy platform.
The 407 is nice and stable---but we can outlift it in an L4 at certain altitude/temp conditions..
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on December 27, 2008, 06:15:36 AM
Uhm...
Lemme see...
Yep, this is the thread I started about Bush Flying! Wow, it kinda gets lost in the mix, don't it? ::complaining:
Ok. Here come the promised videos as posted on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCVPOgc0KCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-40wJVhVFis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwD4P0JGZY0
I posted them in the order they were made that day, so I recommend you watch them in that order. Afraid these are the only decent flying videos I have from my Bush Flying experience. Hope you enjoy them.
RC
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on December 27, 2008, 06:41:45 AM
Now, the rainy season was already in force for about a month before I made these videos. I have seen thunderstorms, I have seen typhoons, and I have seen plenty of winter weather. But I have never seen weather like this! The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (or ITCZ) decended upon Mozambique, and flooded it with low clouds and very heavy precipitation! Just check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqMPR1VA8Qo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzjdefnlwis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQRP-T-83Ws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkFpssm72QA
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Chopper Doc on December 27, 2008, 05:09:26 PM
I guess we did hijack the thread (only a bit) but we were just marking time until you got around to posting those videos you promised.
The flying vids are a little unnerving when the prop image sincs with the video frame rate. Makes me kinda jumpy to be that close to the ground with the fan not turning. Nice neighbourhood in the second set, by the way, RC. They look like an African Venice or something.
Happy new year, RC.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on December 28, 2008, 07:02:34 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8NlCMtAV4I
During my time in Mozambique I made several trips out of the Bush to Johannesburg South Africa. I spent one night in Johannesburg at the Southern Sun Hotel near Tambo International airport. As I was checking out that morning, a group of Hotel workers came out of an employee area, assembled in the Hotel Lobby, and began singing and dancing! They sang two complete songs before I remembered that I had my camera in my pocket and got it out to take this video.
I have no idea what the song is about, but I was told they were singing in the Samba language. This is not a language that is well known to Americans. Quite a memorable performance.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Chopper Doc on December 28, 2008, 07:33:27 PM
Cool. Lucky you.
I get to visit interesting places in the arctic and watch the locals drink themselves stupid. Not as enriching, watching that.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: G-man on December 28, 2008, 07:40:13 PM
I have no idea what the song is about, but I was told they were singing in the Samba language. This is not a language that is well known to Americans. Quite a memorable performance.
Based on the other videos you posted, and analysing the words in this song--me thinks it was an anti- "WATA" dance. Too much "wata" in the streets an all.. ::thinking:: ::thinking:: ::whistle:: ::whistle::
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Frank N. O. on January 27, 2009, 05:07:05 AM
A very (very) delayed welcome back and thanks for the videos, I'll take a look at them asap, although I better read/reply to the threads here I missed first.
I must say, that was quite the thread-jacking indeed, even for this place! |:)\ ::rofl::
Frank
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Frank N. O. on January 28, 2009, 07:40:28 AM
Just saw the videos now, and wow! I thank you very much for taking the time to record and upload them, it's probably the closest to seeing Africa I'll ever get. We get floods over here, more exactly on the westcoast, but that flood was wild, and that driver must've gotten driving-lessons here in Denmark!
Those first videos so much made me want to fly again but no place I've seen will give a intro flight lesson if you weigh more than 100kg (220.4 lbs) and I'm still above that so no flying for me in a long time, if ever :'(
Frank
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: spacer on February 03, 2009, 03:14:37 AM
Where ya trying to fly, Frank? I'm over 300 lbs right now, and while it costs a bit more, I'm taking my training in a Cherokee 180.
Losing weight, though. Down about 12 lbs in the last month.
Title: Re: Bush Flying
Post by: Frank N. O. on February 03, 2009, 10:17:15 AM
Right now I just wanted to make sure I hadn't developed air-sickness and maybe give me even more motivation so I was looking at flying schools here in Denmark that offered a introcution flight lesson which usually concists of some theory and then some flying where you'd be in the left and if possible control the plane during all phases of the flight. But some of the places I've seen listed max. 100kg weight however I haven't made a list of what plane was used but I can try and look some more. I know some of the flight schools use Cessna 172s, another use a Grob 115A/C, another use a Piper PA38 for initial training then a PA28R for complex/IFR.
