Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: earl1937 on September 08, 2014, 12:04:53 PM
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:airplane: As Paul Harvey used to say, "now, for the rest of the story"!
Now we have to settle down for the next 1290 miles or so, try to stay awake, keep a wary eye on engine #1 and keep "Knoxie" settled down. No center radars and ATC to keep track of us now, this far south of Texas, so have to do some position reports and I don't speak good Spanish, so after a couple of attempts of my own, I find out "Knoxie" is fluid in Spanish, so now he has something to keep him busy for the balance of the trip.
We now have 3 legs to complete, the one we are on, 1286 miles, the second from Guatemala to the Panama Canal, 1325 miles, the third to Pereira in Columbia, South America, 404 miles from the canal. Today we have to do 2611 miles or there abouts, so a lot of dull, boring holes in the sky, dodging around thunderstorms here and there and arriving in the canal somewhere around 3 in the morning, with a refueling stop in Guatemala.
The first leg out of KBRO roughly parallels the coast line of Mexico, but to be on the safe side, I ask "Knoxie" to keep me posted on the nearest airport on our route, just in case! So when we settled in at 12,000 feet, everything going smooth now, so just a matter of staying awake, looking up the airport at Guatemala City, La Agrora international, but back then, I think it was named after some president or somebody, can't remember, but approach not to bad looking, 7,000 foot runway as I remember.
Now I am checking on weather there and there has been a tropical storm which passed over the area during the night, but was supposed to be gone when we get there. It was and for the most part, ho hum approach, broke out about 1500 feet AGL, landed, refueled, got something to eat real quick and we were supposed to go on our way. Pretty nice little restaurant on the airport, so ordered only thing I knew how to in Spanish, 3 Taco's and beans! "Knoxie" is flirting with one of the waitress and said he would like to stay the night and I said OK, I will go on with out you, so can I have Gina when I get back to Atlanta? Oh no was a quick answer to that. Anyway, off we went again!
Uh, oh, AVQ55 has quit! lining up for takeoff, with a few rain showers around and a couple of fair sized hills somewhere just south of the airport, now is not the time to go rock hunting with a B-26, so off we went, "Knoxie" handling throttles again and this time, no problem with #1, but darn, in the soup at 1500 AGL again, but this time its more broken than solid, so have fair visibility ahead and we could see the two hills I was concerned about and as soon as we climbed through 8,000 MSL, I begin to relax. the airport we departed was 4951 feet above sea level, so we passed the first of the high elevation airports with no problems.
Now we have 1325 miles to Panama Canal and its getting darker by the minute, but with most of the trip now would be keeping awake, position reporting, checking fuel burn and etc and we had picked up a nice tail wind because of the back side of that tropical storm which had passed through last night. At 12,000 feet, we were clicking along at 290 knots ground speed, as best I could figure, but no DME equipment down in that area, so had to do the old E6B thing, but I think it was pretty close, as we were making our estimates pretty close, but as we got further and further away from Guatemala, our speed started slowing down because we were getting away from that nice tail wind we had and about half way down and 2 hours into flight, we now down to 230 knots.
I knew, from having flown in the canal area before that the thunderstorms, if any, would be over land at night in that area, so with out the help of radar, hopefully approach control into Tocumen field and sure enough, there was a few around, although scatted, so really was not a problem. Now for some sleep and rest and then the final 400 miles or so to our destination, Matecana international airport at Percira, Columbia.
Now comes the entertaining part of the trip! The airport elevation above sea level is 4116 feet, with a lot of hills around and nothing but a ADF approach down to 5616MSL, then if no vis on runway, missed approach. There are several mountains around, some as high as 9,456 feet on one of them so I hope it will be VFR when we go into there.
We took off the next morning with 6 hours of fuel on board, nothing in the tips, climbed out and settle down for last little bit of journey. Of course, you have to understand that "Murphy's" law is just not going to allow anything to run smooth, so about an hour out, #1 started acting up again and I tried every trick in the book to try to get it to smooth out, but no luck and I knew inside, but didn't say anything to "Knoxie", but knew it was a matter of time before I would have to shut it down again. The airport was reporting 2,000 broken, 4,000 overcast with a light chop reported by somebody, so I begin to think about what my options were and they weren't many. I wasn't going to come all this way and turn around and sit in Panama for no telling how long to get a fuel pump and get it installed, so someway, I was going to get this thing to the destination airport!
Sure enough, 20 minutes out, it, #1 finally started backfiring again, so we shut it down, retrimed for single engine ops. We were light now, with not much fuel on board, so climb out on single engine would be no problem, if we had to go around. The problem was the ADF, it acted funny as I tuned the station and I just figured it was because we were still a ways out, so didn't think about it much then.
Now, a single engine approach in most twin engine aircraft, if you trim like you should, is not a big problem, as long as you don't have to execute a missed approach, but I had to relie on "Knoxie" for positive station ID from the commercial station which I was going to use as cross reference to airport position. Shooting a NDB approach is no big thing, but do they keep this station calibrated like they do in the U.S.? Good question!
Well, we were committed now as I reduced power on good engine and started down. We are now down to 7,000MSL and something caught my eye off to the right just briefly and I asked "Knoxie", what was that? A mountain top I think, he replied, so I pushed up the good throttle, declared a missed approach to somebody, can't remember who, and said, we going somewhere they got radar!
Nearest big airport was Bogota, Columbia, 127 miles away, which I knew should have radar and an ILS system, so talked to somebody, again, don't remember who, because "Knoxie" was doing the talking in Spanish, to make sure everyone knew what was going on. Slowly we climbed back up to 11,000 feet, as we are now Eastbound and as we got closed to Bogota, the Omani range started coming in and then about 40 out, they even had a DME, which made us feel a lot better.
I said, lets try to restart this engine again. Again, it fired right up, ran smooth as silk, cancel my emergency and flew VFR the rest of the way as we had cleared all clouds but a few high ones. Landed, no problem, except for that jeep full of armed guards who pulled up and then I really started getting nervous.
As soon as we got out the aircraft, ole "Knoxie" earned a bonus, because he was talking and gesturing towards the aircraft and the guy who seemed be in charge, flashed a big toothy grin with a couple of "gold" teeth, waved us into the jeep and left his two guards to guard the aircraft.
He took us to the terminal building, walked us into a room and there was 2 "shady" looking guys in suits and ties, both with a little thin mustache on their upper lip and I thought, "Tater" you might be in a world of you know what now!
After much explaining by "Knoxie" and smiles all around, everything turned out OK, except I don't know to this day who wound up with that B-26. I got the impression later from someone who was supposed to know that the Columbian government confiscated it for their own use. I just know I got my $1200.00 dollars and "Knoxie" got his $600.00 dollars.
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Wow Earl, they sure sent you down in a lemon of a plane! For such a long trip, seems like they would have at least replaced the fuel pump. Do you think that was causing the entire problem on engine #1? And what about the AVQ55, Did it ever work again?
Did you guys have any sort of autopilot or did you have to manually trim the aircraft for level flight?
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Great stuff, as usual, Earl! :salute :cheers:
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Wow Earl, they sure sent you down in a lemon of a plane! For such a long trip, seems like they would have at least replaced the fuel pump. Do you think that was causing the entire problem on engine #1? And what about the AVQ55, Did it ever work again?
Did you guys have any sort of autopilot or did you have to manually trim the aircraft for level flight?
:airplane: Unfortunately, most of the delivery services back in those days where just getting their feet on the ground and they cut expenses any way they could. In defense of them and my man who hired me, they didn't know about the fuel pump problem and truth be known, I should have refused to fly it and they would have replaced it, but with time frame that I had to deliver it in and I wanted the 1200 bucks, a lot of dough back then in 66 and after the test hop, I felt like I could make it OK and I did, but with a few little problems thrown in for good measure.
If you are a "free lance" contract pilot back in those days, if you were a "whinner" about every little thing that was wrong with the aircraft you had contracted to deliver, pretty soon you wouldn't have any work, so unless it was a real big issue, I generally did what I thought was best, but, had no qualms about turning down an aircraft that I felt was un safe to fly. I've looked at log books, had compression checks run on the engines and have turned down aircraft because of what I found out!
I don't think the fuel pump was the total problem with the left engine, but since it didn't work in high, don't see how it worked on low, but it could have been something wrong with the carburetor, which I suspected was the real culprit anyway. I have shut down engines in flight just because I could never get it to run smooth or couldn't get the prop sync to match up the engines because one was running a little rougher than the other, but ferried it to where it was supposed to go, then fired it back up for landing. The real problem in ferrying aircraft are the single engine ones! You either have a good running engine or you don't, and if it quits, you then become a "home sick" rock! So always check out the engine real good on single engine aircraft!
The AVQ-55 never did fire back up and I suspect a circuit breaker on that, but it was not a problem, so didn't worry about it. The only weather we had was just that little line of "boomers" just SW of Brownsville and it was working fine then and kept me out of the main cells until I punched through it.
For what ever reason, I didn't have the NDB approach plate to Matecana, so I got a local pilot in Guatemala to make a copy of his on a copy machine and it was up to date. I have made to many NDB approaches down there in VFR conditions, just to see what it would be like if IFR and some of them are scary to say the least. I still to this day, wonder what that dark shadow was that passed off our right wing! Was it a mountain top, did I come that close to killing me and ole "Knoxie"! Was I distracted because I had the left engine shut down? I don't know, but I had a rule back in those days, delivering aircraft to strange places: AT THE FIRST SIGN OF "UN-CERTAIN THOUGHTS" ENTER MY BRAIN, GO AROUND AND START OVER".
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I had a rule back in those days, delivering aircraft to strange places: AT THE FIRST SIGN OF "UN-CERTAIN THOUGHTS" ENTER MY BRAIN, GO AROUND AND START OVER".
Always a good thought, even for familiar places.
- oldman
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Earl, were you in the clouds when you saw the dark shadow on your right wing?
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Earl, were you in the clouds when you saw the dark shadow on your right wing?
:airplane: yes and hvy rain shower, but could still see something, scared the dickens out of me, that's why I declared missed approach and headed for somewhere with a ILS system! I don't think the ADF was working quite right, but I had checked it in Panama and it seemed OK, but I had a doubt, so when in doubt, DON'T!
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Wow Earl, they sure sent you down in a lemon of a plane! For such a long trip, seems like they would have at least replaced the fuel pump. Do you think that was causing the entire problem on engine #1? And what about the AVQ55, Did it ever work again?
Did you guys have any sort of autopilot or did you have to manually trim the aircraft for level flight?
:airplane: Actually, it had an old FD-104 by Collins and it worked really well! A long flight like the legs of that trip, a auto pilot or a very young co-pilot is a must.
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ET,
Excellent story!!!
And Wow! I was born in 1966. Even when you think you're old, there is another adventure that happen before you.
If you have more stories like this, I can't wait for your book. :aok
HiTech,
The B-26 has been on the design block as long as I have been a subscriber to Aces High. What a remarkable game that we all enjoy. I can't think of any greater honor to give Earl and opportunity to fly that B-26 in combat one or a hundred times. ET37 is an accomplished pilot with airframe checkouts that most of us dream of. What say you bump up the B-26 to the top of the new aircraft list for a real mans pilot. :aok
Earl,
I have read many flying stories, from WWI to Vietnam. Your account was so entertaining, I was really expecting more. Please finish your book. If I can't get the first copy, then I want number two or three.
Big :salute
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Great stuff as usual, Earl! :aok. ADF, definitely an emergency procedure in the weather. :x
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Great stuff as usual, Earl! :aok. ADF, definitely an emergency procedure in the weather. :x
:airplane: ADF approaches were still fairly common in South America and many other foreign countries, as most didn't at that time, see the importance of aviation to their businesses and the value to improving the quality of life of its citizens!
NDB's were cheap, so to speak, didn't require a lot of work to maintain and did serve the purpose, to some degree, of providing a "all weather" airport! The problem comes from the transmitting signal itself, which, as a pilot, you know that the signals can and are "warped" by weather interference. I used to use the ADF to "back" up my ILS approaches by tuning 1 to the outer marker, and 2 to inner marker, just to double check localizer accuracy when shooting "tight" approaches into strange airfields. Of course, now days, most of the pilots flying today under the age of 40 would have to be retrained if they suddenly had to use the systems for approaches which were in use in the 50's and 60's, as now its all about GPS. I j just wonder how many flying today for the airlines, for example, could "nail" the "doughnut" on an approach down to 1600RVR?
Anyway, getting back to the ADF stuff, for those of you who are not familiar with that radio system, the radio itself had a 2 in 1 instrument on the panel somewhere, which you could tune 1 needle to one NDB and the other to a commercial station, to use as a cross reference to airport location on the approach. It looked very much like the compass which we use in this game in the B-17, only it had 2 needles instead of one.
The problem really came into focus when you had to shoot an approach in a cross wind! Its easy, if no wind, just put the needle tuned to the NDB, on the "0" and follow it to the station and you should see the airport, if weather permitted. But, lets say you had a cross wind, coming from your "2" O'clock" position, relative to the aircraft, of a reported 15 knots at the surface of the airport. Now, your needle is going to have to point at, roughly 350 degrees on the ADF instrument, because the aircraft will have to be turned into the cross wind,, in order to make a straight line on the ground, which is what you are trying to do! A lot of it is and was "guess" work, but after a little practice, you could handle it OK.
You have to remember the NDB approaches were NEVER designed to be a precision approach procedure, it was just something to get you below the clouds, in the vicinity of the airport. However, you can fly a full NDB approach: approach the NDB, fly over it and intercept the outbound bearing, make a procedure turn, fly back to the NDB on the approach bearing, cross over the NDB again and fly the outbound bearing to the published minimums you can fly any approach with confidence.
This statement is not designed to be disrespectful to any current or pass instrument pilots who might read this, but: with all the modern navigational aids which assist the pilot in landing in bad weather, the "REAL" instrument pilot were those guys who flew during the 30's and 40's, when all they had to work with was low frequency ranges, which they had to listen with their ears and determine where they were at.