Flight Sim Blog ala Paul (P-12C): Aviation

P-12C Engine Run Yesterday

Mon, 26 May 2008 15:12:58 GMT

After watching Scott Dixon win the Indianapolis 500 yesterday, we rolled out the P-12C for an engine run. After all of the issues and problems we had last time, my Dad installed a new and different fuel pump closer to the fuel valve, finished the wing tank and plumbed it in with new lines, ripped out all of the existing plumbing for the belly tank and rebuilt it for the new pump placement, and put in new wiring as well.

All of this work paid off as the engine started right up, and with regular blips of primer fuel I was able to keep it running until it was warmed up and able to sustain itself. The carb was dry, so it took awhile to get to the point where it would idle smoothly. There must have been bubbles in the fuel lines as periodically the engine would stop firing completely for about a half second then roar back to life again.

On the first run I couldn't get the RPM over about 1500 so we suspected the prop governor was mis-adjusted. Even so, pushing the throttle up to about half is a bit scary, and quite loud too.

Unfortunately we have a bit of an oil leak, so we have oil all over the firewall and accessories, and down the belly of the aircraft. All of the oil lines seem okay, and we suspect the alternator has a bad seal that is throwing oil all over. We also found out the right mag isnt' firing at all. Dad will be investigating those issues this week.

While investigating the oil leak, Dad adjusted the prop governor. That adjustment did the trick as the engine easily ran up to 2100 RPM at about 22 inches of manifold pressure but I was afraid to push it any farther than that. Althought the tail is firmly attached to the truck, and a safety rope is holding it as well, when the power goes up the tail lifts lightening the spring load on the tailwheel, and it's a bit disconcerting. It feels like I'm riding a cat arching it's back just before a cat fight. Honestly if it weren't attached to the truck I would be scared spitless to run up the power to full for a takeoff run!

The feeling in the cockpit is quite nice with the torque rocking the fuselage and the engine and prop pulses vibrating the airframe. The windscreen works quite good protecting me from the propblast as well. You do get a bit of exhaust in your face, but I'm guessing that when flying this will be lessened compared to the amount of clean air passing by.

I closed my eyes for a little while and visualized taking off and landing, rehearsing with the stick and rudder pedals, and in my head it's not scary at all...

It was awesome fun sitting in the cockpit for the run.

My uncle Roger shot some pictures and video, so when I get those I'll post some.

P-12C Engine Run

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:17:08 GMT

Last Saturday, we had beautiful weather and we decided it was a good day to bring the P-12 out into the sunshine, park it in the front lawn and start her up. The intention was to test the various systems in place on the fuselage. We know the engine will run because we've run it several times on the test stand, but we haven't done that with the systems we have now.

Brandon came out to the house for the event and to see the airpark, and he brought his camera. He took some nice shots and many of them are embedded here in this post, but they are duplicated with a few more in the P-12 photo album.

The brakes are installed in the aircraft, but the brake fluid hasn't been put in yet. Plus the tail feathers aren't on the fuselage yet, so there is no way to hold the tail down. To solve this my dad modified a trailer tongue receiver to bolt around the tailwheel and hooked onto the truck hitch. I wasn't completely comfortable solely relying on the hitch so I added a safety rope "just in case."

My dad pumped the pre-oiler lever to get some oil into the engine, then pulled the prop through a few revolutions to make sure we didn't have a hydraulic lock and that the oil was well circulated.

Now it was time for me to get into the cockpit and get ready to start this beast. The engine is started with compressed air which is injected into the cylinders in sequence pushing the pistons down one at a time and rotating the engine and prop. The engine hasn't been run for several years, so the carb is pretty much dry although the electric fuel boost pump should have the fuel readily available.

It's a bit of a squeeze to get my knees under the instrument panel and up to the rudder pedals, but it isn't too tough. Might be a bit harder with a warm jacket and a parachute though... Before starting we turn on the master switch to power the electrical systems, run the fuel boost pump, then hit the primer switch which allows fuel to flow directly into the intake system bypassing the carburetor. Then we let it sit for a little bit and turn the prop through again to circulate the fuel vapors. Once the vapor is well circulated, the engine should be ready to start.

Time to start... The cockpit is setup so that one hand is on the air control lever just behind the throttle and the right hand is on the mag switch. The mags aren't hot enough to supply enough power when the engine is turning slowly to spark the plugs, so my dad built a mag booster using an old VW distributor with all but one lobe ground off. The distributor is attached to an electric motor with spins the distributor and creates a continuous pulse of electricity from the coil directly into the mag. This in turn creates a pulse of energy strong enough to light up the plugs and ignite the fuel/air mix. To start the mag booster the key is turned to the start position after the air has turned the engine over through a few blades. Once the engine catches I can reach the primer switch with a free finger on my right hand and inject more fuel if necessary.

As you can see from the shots above, we did get combustion, but we needed more fuel to keep it going. I held the primer on, but the engine wouldn't catch. We pretty much used up the air in the on-board scuba tank, so my dad went to get the spare scuba tank full of our back-up air and topped off the on-board tank.

We burned through another tank full of air but still no start and no combustion at all for that matter. Now it was time to do some investigation.

While I sat in the cockpit thinking this might resolve quickly, dad and our friend Phil started looking for the cause of the fuel pump not delivering fuel to the engine. It obviously did initially as we had a little bit of combustion at first, but now we had nothing. Soon we went from checking out the mechanicals to checking out the electrical system. It was time for me to get out...

We took out the boost pump switch and tested that which of course worked fine. We messed with the fuses to see if they were okay, and they were fine, and we were starting to think that maybe the fuel pump just gave out. This would be a bummer as it is mounted partially in front of the oil tank and isn't particularly easy to get to. It was becoming obvious that we weren't going to get it fixed in the front yard, so we pushed her back into the hangar where it would be a bit easier to work on the problem.

As it turned out, the fuel pump works find when connected directly to 12 volts, but something about the wiring was the culprit. My dad rerouted the wiring and hooked it back up, and now we just wait for good weather again. It's not likely to happen this weekend considering it was snowing all afternoon and is expected to snow off an on most of the weekend. We may have to wait for summer at this rate!

Reno Air Races 2007

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:47:18 GMT

Well I'm a little late with my account of the races last year. However it was a very memorable year, so I can recount it pretty well.

I've created a new photo album with photos taken by Brandon Seltz and Susan Ashlock for you to check out. They are both excellent photographers so I hope you will take a look. There are pictures of aircraft as well as shots of the Flight Simulator X Acceleration displays and races.

This year was different for me because this was our launch event for Acceleration. Considering our focus on air racing, it seemed an appropriate venue for our debut. We had two display areas. One was in the public area near the control tower where the team ran multi-player races every hour (with a full field of eight racers) and another display in a hangar in the pits which was our VIP area.

The public area was always very crowded and the hourly races had crowds of people standing around watching the races. There were several die-hard air racing and aviation fans that would sign-up for the races well in advance and practice on their own between heats. Some of these guys were getting pretty cocky about how good they are, so we decided to plan a race pitting the best of these guys against Brandon and I, the designers of FSX Acceleration.

The build up to the race and the actual race were really amazing. The Six Cat T-6 team were in attendance to offer support and cheer on their racer, Ryan Leeward had his family (owners of Cloud Dancer) cheering him on, and of course I had my family there as well!

I felt very confident that I could beat all of my opponents, as I knew what their best times were (Mike was keeping track of them) which were slightly slower than my best time. But it's easy to make a mistake and cut a corner or even clip the ground when racing hard, so I had to be careful and aggressive at the same time.

The race went perfectly as I just barely nosed out Brandon in the race with Matt (the fastest of the challengers) in third. Most of the race we were bunched so closely together that Mike watching from the course cameras would see us as basically one aircraft. The race was a rush and one of the most memorable events of the week, and definitely the most entertaining. I know we took a screen shot of the results screen and if I can find it I'll add it to this post. Be sure to check out the pictures of the event in my Reno album.

Later on in a separate race, Matt did beat my best time and speed, and I have to bow down to his expertise as a pilot and a gamer.

The "real" races were amazing as well, in more than one way. They were amazingly upsetting with the tragic loss of several pilots in many aircraft accidents. I don't think there has ever been a year of racing that has had so many tragedies in one week. The FAA shut down the races completely on one day and it wasn't clear if the end of Reno Air Racing was upon us. The mood in the pits with the racing teams was very strange. The ex-military pilots that have been in combat were handling it in stride, but I know several of the civilian racers were pretty shaken up. Thankfully nobody on the ground was injured in any of the accidents. If someone in the crowd had been hurt, or any property or people in the neighborhoods around the course had been hurt, I don't think the races would have survived. As it turned out the FAA agreed to let the races continue, but as far as I know the future of Reno is still in question.

The best race that I was able to watch was the Unlimited Gold Final. The F8F Bearcat Rare Bear had just been rebuilt, and had been fighting gremlins all week, so nobody really thought they would be strong in the race, and the Sea Fury September Fury had been very strong all week and seemed invincible. Of course there was also the Super Sea Fury Dreadnought and the light and nimble Yak 11 Czechmate in the hunt as well.

The race started with Mike Brown in September Fury in the lead and from what I heard, he was up over 500 mph on the back stretch during the race (which is very fast, especially for a large Sea Fury). Bob Button in Voodoo was the only P-51 in the mix and he called a mayday on the pace lap and landed safely. It wasn't more than a couple of laps before John Penny in Rare Bear was passing him on the front stretch to the delight of thousands of screaming fans (including me). That was an amazing sight with a tight grouping of these aircraft flying all out. On one of the laps I held my breath as Czechmate got caught in the wake of the Sea Fury's and banked out of control on the front stretch. Sherman Smooth was able to regain control very quickly and pulled high on the course. I thought he was going to quit and pull off the course, but he rejoined the race after about a half a lap.

Mike kept September Fury right on the ass of John in Rare Bear lap after lap. Just as they were rounding the pylon onto the front stretch, the Bear's trailed some white smoke for just an instant, and you could hear the engine sound change. Immediately after that the Bear started streaming black smoke (Brandon got a great shot of the Bear trailing smoke). The crowd gasped and I'm sure everyone thought it was all over for Rare Bear. Soon the black smoke cleared and the Bear was back at it. All of this took about 4 seconds and apparently what happened is that some aerodynamic filler (bondo) broke off the cowling and was sucked into the wing root intake spit out of the engine. That was the white smoke. Then John powered back slightly to troubleshoot and I guess the black smoke was just the engine running very rich. That was a totally amazing sight! But the excitement wasn't over yet.

Mike in September Fury is a hard core competitor and he was still pushing hard. Unfortunately on the last lap he had to pull off the course in a mayday with his aircraft on fire. Steve Hinton in the T-33 pace plane was on him quick to assess the situation. Mike had to shut her down or risk loosing the aircraft and then he made a safe emergency landing. Apparently what happened is that a hole in the exhaust was blowing super hot gasses onto the inside of the engine cowl which scorched the paint off and lit some oil on fire. He was very lucky the fire was limited as this kind of event can be catastrophic. John in Rare Bear shot across the finish line as the winner with Matt Jackson in Dreadnought in second and Sherman Smoot flying Czechmate in third.

The mayday calls weren't over yet though. John's throttle was stuck and he couldn't power back to land. Steve in the T-33 formed up on him immediately and the crowd listened to the radio conversation between them on the PA. John decided to burn off most of what little fuel he had left and go for a deadstick emergency landing. Keep in mind that Rare Bear has no flaps, has clipped wings, and a prop that is too long to do a true wheel landing. It stalls at around 150 knots! Add to all of this that the wind was blowing pretty good so he had to perform this landing in a strong crosswind. He circled around for awhile, entered the traffic pattern, shut down that big old R3350 and put her down exactly where he planned to without incident. John Penny won the race and due to a penalty levied against Matt Jackson, Sherman Smooth placed second in the giant killer Czechmate.

This was by far the best unlimited air race I have ever seen with the race where Skip Holm smashed the course record in the P-51 Dago Red a close second.

I look forward to the 2008 races and I hope you can attend too!

Check out the forums on Warbird Aeropress and All Aviation Flightline Online for more stories about the 2007 races. There are also some cool photos and videos of air racing aircraft and warbirds at this air racing site.

Current Again

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:37:11 GMT

I am very happy to say that I have completed my Bi-annual Flight Review (BFR) and I am once again legal to fly aircraft and carry passengers. Due to time and finance issues I had let this slip for several years and only flew in the right seat of other people's aircraft. Now I can be pilot in command again.

I completed my currency training at Northway Aviation at Paine Field (KPAE) in Everett Washington. I flew an analogue gauge Cessna 172R for some air work and landings, then their G1000 Cessna 172S on a cross-country flight down to Olympia (KOLM) and back. Last night I flew the G1000 Cessna 182 to get my high-performance endorsement, finish out the BFR with some IFR hood work, and qualify myself to rent from Northway when flying at night.

I was very impressed with the C-182 and what a big difference the extra 45 horsepower made in the takeoff run and climb when compared to the C-172. It feels much heavier, especially in the flare for landing, and when dropping flaps the nose pitches up significantly. I really had to work to keep from climbing in the pattern when dropping the flaps, and the control pressures were much stronger than in the C-172. The C-182 also drops like a rock when descending with full flaps and idle power at 65 knots. There is a lot of drag with the prop in low pitch/high RPM.

I'm really glad I spent the time and money in the C-182 as it will help me gain proficiency in general and to eventually fly the P-12C which has 285 horsepower in a lighter airframe. I also plan to fly with Will Allen in his Super Decathlon at Flip Side Aerobatics to get my taildragger skills back to where I want them and do some aerobatics training with him, then I hope to get checked out in a Pitts S2B with Steve Wolf at Wing Over Aerobatics in Creswell Oregon. If I can safely fly the Pitts, I should be able to fly the P-12C.

My instructor has been Milen Lazarov and he was a pleasure to fly with. Here we are standing next to the G1000 172S following the short cross-country. Thanks Milen!

Back in the Saddle

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:38:34 GMT

I am so excited to be back to real flying again! I've done some flying of some very interesting aircraft over the years, but I haven't been a current private pilot for quite a while. I've either been short on money or time for a variety of reasons, but as of today I've started flying again at Northway Aviation to get current. I flew with Milen, who also works at Microsoft and instructs at Northway part-time. I really enjoyed having him as an instructor as he was patient and very knowledgeable.

I chose Northway mostly because I know Milen and because they have the nicest aircraft around with very new Cessna 172S and 182S aircraft (some with the G1000). I figured I would rather rent a new aircraft than a training aircraft that has been beaten-up by student pilots for years! I think my family deserves the peace of mind that comes with good equipment and state-of-the-art avionics. I've been reading the POH for the 172S with the G1000 and noticing all of the features we don't support in Flight Simulator. Overall though I think we've done a good job with it though.

Today we just did airwork such as slow flight, steep turns, stalls and an engine out scenario. For the later we were near the strip I live at, so I obviously opted to land there, but I kind of botched it by approaching too high (I was too conservative). I would have made it with some turning maneuvers, but it could have been planned better. I suppose it's better to have excess altitude rather than not enough! After that we shot several landings back at Paine Field. I feel really good that my stick and rudder skills are still in-tact, and I probably owe that to using Flight Sim so much.

Next weekend we will take a short cross-country flight to Olympia to shake some of the cobwebs out of the brain when it comes to planning a cross-country. I haven't done that for at least 15 years. I'll have to practice the flight in FSX a few times to improve my odds of nailing it next weekend.

I meant to take a picture to go along with this but totally forgot in my excitement to be flying again. I'll try to do that next time.

Old Aviators and Old Planes

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:42:34 GMT

Occasionally I get chain letters via e-mail and sometimes they are interesting and most are just spam, but I received one recently with the same title as this post that I really enjoyed. Maybe you've already read it and it's old news, but then again, maybe not.

I tried to find out who the author is because I was genuinely moved by the story, but I wasn't able to find them. Considering they gave permission to send the story via e-mail to our pilot friends, I figure I can post it here without any negative repercussions. If the author reads this and disapproves I will happily remove it.

Reading it reminded me of the first time I stood by the runway when a P-51 Mustang took off and performed a fly-by, the first time I attended the Reno National Championship Air Races, and my first and only Mustang ride. All good memories and this story brought it all back for me. It's probably not an accurate account of what actually happened, but memories, especially childhood memories rarely are. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"This is a good little story about a vivid memory of a P-51 and its pilot by a fellow who was 12 years old in Canada in 1967. You may
know a few others who would appreciate it.

It was noon on a Sunday as I recall, the day a Mustang P-51 was to take to the air. They said it had flown in during the night from some
U.S. airport, the pilot had been tired. I marveled at the size of the plane dwarfing the Pipers and Canucks tied down by her. It was much
larger than in the movies. She glistened in the sun like a bulwark of security from days gone by.

The pilot arrived by cab, paid the driver, and then stepped into the flight lounge. He was an older man; his wavy hair was gray and
tossed. Looked like it might have been combed, say, around the turn of the century.

His flight jacket was checked, creased and worn - it smelled old and genuine. Old Glory was prominently sewn to its shoulders. He
projected a quiet air of proficiency and pride devoid of arrogance. He filed a quick flight plan to Montreal (Expo-67, Air Show) then
walked across the tarmac.

After taking several minutes to perform his walk-around check the pilot returned to the flight lounge to ask if anyone would be
available to stand by with fire extinguishers while he "flashed the old bird up. Just to be safe."

Though only 12 at the time I was allowed to stand by with an extinguisher after brief instruction on its use -- "If you see a
fire, point, then pull this lever!" I later became a firefighter, but that's another story.

The air around the exhaust manifolds shimmered like a mirror from fuel fumes as the huge prop started to rotate. One manifold, then
another, and yet another barked — I stepped back with the others. In moments the Packard-built Merlin engine came to life with a
thunderous roar, blue flames knifed from her manifolds. I looked at the others' faces, there was no concern. I lowered the bell of my
extinguisher. One of the guys signaled to walk back to the lounge. We did.

Several minutes later we could hear the pilot doing his pre flight run-up. He'd taxied to the end of runway 19, out of sight. All went
quiet for several seconds; we raced from the lounge to the second story deck to see if we could catch a glimpse of the P-51 as she
started down the runway. We could not.

There we stood, eyes fixed to a spot half way down 19. Then a roar ripped across the field, much louder than before, like a furious hell
spawn set loose—something mighty this way was coming. "Listen to that thing!" said the controller. In seconds the Mustang burst into our line of sight.

Its tail was already off and it was moving faster than anything I'd ever seen by that point on 19. Two-thirds the way down 19 the Mustang was airborne with her gear going up. The prop tips were supersonic; we clasped our ears as the Mustang climbed hellish fast into the circuit to be eaten up by the dog-day haze.

We stood for a few moments in stunned silence trying to digest what we'd just seen. The radio controller rushed by me to the radio.
"Kingston tower calling Mustang?" He looked back to us as he waited for an acknowledgment.

The radio crackled, "Go ahead Kingston." "Roger Mustang. Kingston tower would like to advise the circuit is clear for a low level
pass." I stood in shock because the controller had, more or less, just asked the pilot to return for an impromptu air show!

The controller looked at us. "What?" He asked. "I can't let that guy go without asking. I couldn't forgive myself!"

The radio crackled once again, "Kingston, do I have permission for a low level pass, east to west, across the field?" "Roger Mustang, the
circuit is clear for an east to west pass." "Roger, Kingston, I'm coming out of 3000 feet, stand by."

We rushed back onto the second-story deck, eyes fixed toward the eastern haze. The sound was subtle at first, a high-pitched whine, a
muffled screech, a distant scream. Moments later the P-51 burst through the haze. Her airframe straining against positive Gs and
gravity, wing tips spilling contrails of condensed air, prop-tips again supersonic as the burnished bird blasted across the eastern
margin of the field shredding and tearing the air.

At about 400 mph and 150 yards from where we stood she passed with the old American pilot saluting.

Imagine. A salute! I felt like laughing, I felt like crying, she glistened, she screamed, the building shook, my heart pounded.

Then the old pilot pulled her up and rolled, and rolled, and rolled out of sight into the broken clouds and indelibly into my memory.

I've never wanted to be an American more than on that day. It was a time when many nations in the world looked to America as their big brother, a steady and even-handed beacon of security who navigated difficult political water with grace and style; not unlike the pilot
who'd just flown into my memory.

He was proud, not arrogant, humble, not a braggart, old and honest, projecting an aura of America at its best. That America will return
one day, I know it will.

Until that time, I'll just send off this story; call it a reciprocal salute, to the old American pilot who wove a memory for a young
Canadian that's lasted a lifetime."

New Photos Added

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:54:18 GMT

I just posted a bunch of photos to the "my World of Aviation" album. Most of the images I took on my various travels, but several were taken by others that frequented the same destinations. There are far more where these came from, but I don't want to be kicked off the server for uploading too much stuff! Not that I really will be... Plus I have some videos I want to share in the future as well.

I'll do some separate posts to talk about the various photo shoots we have been on for Aces, many of which are represented in some of these shots. I took an average of about 1500 images of each aircraft we were gather source on, so I just picked a few I thought you might find interesting. Of course not all aircraft we captured source for have been created in 3D and shipped in a Flight Sim product, but you never know when the source material might come in handy. Usually we are able to get exterior and interior images, and when you're doing that in Florida in the summer, it gets really hot in the cockpit!