A Perfect Day For Flying

The winds were not to bad today so I decided to test fly the F-27B Stryker (yesterdays picture) along with my P-47D Thunderbolt. (pictured on the left)

I never flew either plane but was confident in my ability to do it. Doubt always creeps in when you start thinking what mechanical failure can possibly go wrong? Well today the flying gods were smiling and all went well.

I first put the F-27 in the air. It took a low pitch at launch, but then recovered and took to the sky like a bird. I found the plane to be extremely fast but it looked awesome racing through the sky. I need to make a minor adjustment so the plane can barrel roll more smoothly, but other than that she's a keeper.

Next I decided to press my luck and see what would happen with the P-47. This time instead of a hand launch I would try a rolling take off seeing it had landing gear. The bad thing about taking off like this is if the plane is not trimmed correctly you have little time to recover after lift off. All the worrying was for not. The plane lifted to the sky as if it had done it a thousand times. After some trim adjustments once at altitude the plane flew really smooth. So what's left? Well I had to try and land it in a parking lot with out hitting the light poles. Again the flying gods were smiling. I made the perfect approach between the lights and it touched down perfectly. So it was a great day flying. I even put the Mustang in the air for two flights and managed to fly it for a while inverted. So it really was a great day.

When I got home I got a call that my T-28 Trojan was in. It's a Navy trainer from the 50's. It's also my largest airplane. I went and picked it up and put it together. I still need some electronics for it that will have to wait a couple pay checks, but it will be worth the wait. I'll post a picture of it on the right side of the blog. I'll close today's post by saying...."I think I'm ready to go fly combat missions in Iraq and I'll bring my own plane" lol.