TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
From a Lee Bottom Airfield email I received, this cool news and video of this rare plane, beautifully restored, that took her wings again yesterday, February 17th:
To see a video of the flight, download the video from this link:
http://www.hangarbuddy.com/downloadfile.aspx?file=Boeing40_firstflight640.wmv
Note: It's 48mb but worth the wait to download. It is viewable in Windows Media Player 9 or higher.
The Boeing Model 40C pictured above flew yesterday (February 17, 2008) for the first time in 80 years. A big heartfelt congratulations goes out to Addison, his family, and their friends that helped put this wonderful machine back in the air.
The following words about the flight are from Addison.
"The airplane is very pleasant to fly the only squawk on the 20 min test flight yesterday was that we have to hold about 3-5 lbs of right rudder in cruise which can be fixed easy with fin adjustment.
The test flight this weekend went perfect. As you can see from the pictures I was able to fly the airplane hands free within 2 min of flight. The trim provides 3 degrees up and 3 degrees of down as shown in the pictures with the blue tape on the side of the fuse for the chase plane. In all flight configurations I never used more than 1 1/2 degree of trim change including slow flight at 55MPH. Cruise was dead center with the 29% MAC. The airplane I believe after the flight yesterday has a much wider CG envelope than first thought. The airplane is very controllable and pleasant with excellent ground handling, good elevator and rudder, and heavy but effective ailerons. The visibility is very poor but not difficult. The overwhelming surprise is stability!!!!!!!!!!
Like a rock and speeds much higher than we would have ever imagined. I had to really work to keep the airplane under 110 which was our limit for ride 1. I had to really pull the power back. I am sure I have a 125 MPH airship here and a 115 economy cruise ride."
Rich talked to Addison today and he says he could really hear the excitement in Addison's voice. Apparently the plane flies much nicer than expected and the flight to the East Coast and back will be that much more enjoyable because of it.
To see a video of the flight, download the video from this link:
http://www.hangarbuddy.com/downloadfile.aspx?file=Boeing40_firstflight640.wmv
Note: It's 48mb but worth the wait to download. It is viewable in Windows Media Player 9 or higher.
The Boeing Model 40C pictured above flew yesterday (February 17, 2008) for the first time in 80 years. A big heartfelt congratulations goes out to Addison, his family, and their friends that helped put this wonderful machine back in the air.
The following words about the flight are from Addison.
"The airplane is very pleasant to fly the only squawk on the 20 min test flight yesterday was that we have to hold about 3-5 lbs of right rudder in cruise which can be fixed easy with fin adjustment.
The test flight this weekend went perfect. As you can see from the pictures I was able to fly the airplane hands free within 2 min of flight. The trim provides 3 degrees up and 3 degrees of down as shown in the pictures with the blue tape on the side of the fuse for the chase plane. In all flight configurations I never used more than 1 1/2 degree of trim change including slow flight at 55MPH. Cruise was dead center with the 29% MAC. The airplane I believe after the flight yesterday has a much wider CG envelope than first thought. The airplane is very controllable and pleasant with excellent ground handling, good elevator and rudder, and heavy but effective ailerons. The visibility is very poor but not difficult. The overwhelming surprise is stability!!!!!!!!!!
Like a rock and speeds much higher than we would have ever imagined. I had to really work to keep the airplane under 110 which was our limit for ride 1. I had to really pull the power back. I am sure I have a 125 MPH airship here and a 115 economy cruise ride."
Rich talked to Addison today and he says he could really hear the excitement in Addison's voice. Apparently the plane flies much nicer than expected and the flight to the East Coast and back will be that much more enjoyable because of it.
