Valdez STOL 2011

That is amazing. I've been told but don't know if its accurate that these planes are super modified meaning that they aren't " regular" bush planes, that these pilots tweak out their planes like someone might tweak a low rider car. Anyone know if this is true or if these are infact planes used every day in the bush?
 
I believe in the super modified class they typically have huge engines hung on them, and other modifications like VG's and other STOL modifications. Climb props, etc. Stuff that didn't come standard...

There's also a stock category, and videos of that can usually be found on YouTube. I find the stock category is more "interesting" just to see what good pilots can do, but the takeoff runs are significantly longer. (Still ridiculously short by most folk's opinion, but about 150'...)

Weight is also a huge penalty in a contest like this, so they're all utterly stripped... and flown with very little fuel on board for these things. Or so I've heard...
 
Are these competitions one and done or average of three or some other means?

Some of these landings seem to be hard to repeat consistently....

Also, the takeoff runs immediately raise the tail, then drop it right before t/o. Is the prop blast so great the lift can't be countered with elevator?
 
dmccormack said:
Are these competitions one and done or average of three or some other means?
Click to expand...

I've seen online discussions that they're a "best of 3" type of thing, with most videos being edited to remove their other two landings, but I can't find the rules to prove it.

The whole event is part of a larger fly-in...

http://199.238.132.174/events/flyIn/flyIn.html

dmccormack said:
Some of these landings seem to be hard to repeat consistently....
Click to expand...

Yeah, if you dig up more videos on YouTube of previous years, you'll be surprised though -- some of these guys up there, this is the kind of flying they do year-round, so they're pretty practiced at it and fairly consistent.


dmccormack said:
Also, the takeoff runs immediately raise the tail, then drop it right before t/o. Is the prop blast so great the lift can't be countered with elevator?
Click to expand...

From what I've read, they're purposely lifting the tail to keep from having the additional friction of the tailwheel on the ground, but then you do eventually have to haul aft on the elevator so the tailwheel is going to hit.

There's also some online discussion that they are purposefully "banging" the tail down to try to "bounce" the main gear off the ground, since the judging is done on where the mains leave the ground, not the tailwheel. I think. Like I said, I can't find the official rules. (Found some of them published for different categories, in years past, but not this year.)

Plus, I "are not" a tailwheel rated pilot. I'll leave the debates about what works and what doesn't to those folks. :D

You see one guy trying to get his mains flying sooner by using aileron to lift one and then slapping it back down to bounce the big tundra tires in that video also. That technique never seems to work, but there's always someone who tries it... every year. ;)

I just get a kick out of watching 'em try... some of them are pretty good sticks... other's you're just waiting for the crunch of the nose-over or the broken gear... heh heh... you gotta love a State where 1 out of every 3 people has a pilot's license... it means there's always someone crazy enough to enter competitions like this in that large of a pilot population. :popcorn:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top