RevJim 0 #51 March 6, 2010 Quote Man, I watched that thing take off and knew I was not getting on it. The take offs were interesting, that's for sure. I landed in it once. That was enough.It's your life, live it! Karma RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSpenceFLY 1 #52 March 6, 2010 When I saw the rate of climb I said no way in hell. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #53 March 6, 2010 Quote Fat Annie, the WFFC Carvair, remains inactive at Sherman TX. You mean in Denison, TX at Grayson County Airport (the old Perrin air base)? There's a guy that runs an old ball scrapped large plane business there, or at least there was when I lived in Sherman over a decade ago.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
377 22 #54 March 8, 2010 Quote Man, I watched that thing take off and knew I was not getting on it. Yeah, I declined that ride, waaaay too hot which means a lot less engine power and less lift, a very bad combo for an old plane with piston engines that for sure don't deliver the same power they did when new. Dean, the WFFC air boss, who I think is also an FAA ATC when he isnt flying jumpers or skydiving himself, said Fat Annie cleared the trees by less than 10 feet on that infamous takeoff. Believe it or not that plane is fairly close to max gross weight with 80 jumpers and enough fuel to haul them to 12 or 14K. The FAA Flight Standards "plane cops" saw that TO and didn't like it at all, but just told them to use the longer runway next time and didnt ground the plane. I guess no rules were broken, just bad judgment. I took my Carvair ride on cool day in the evening, the last flight it made at WFFC. It got off the ground just fine with a full load and plenty of runway left. We jumped at about 6000 ft as I recall, but the tickets were really cheap ($28) for what was supposed to be only a hop and pop dues to low clouds. The clouds broke and they generously gave us extra altitude It was a kick watching the jumpmasters relay info to the pilots via a ladder built into the fuselage wall and leading upstairs to the cockpit area. That plane was so rare that a few plane nuts (non jumpers) travelled all the way to Rntoul from the UK just to see her fly and shoot photos. 3772018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
