Retro Thing

Bargain of the Month: L-29 Delfin Jet Trainer

Here's your chance to pick up a cheap Czech-built L-29 Delfin Trainer Jet on eBay. This aircraft was built in 1967 and flew with the Romanian armed forces until 1999. It has just under 3000 hours on the airframe and the engine has 181 hours since its last major overhaul in 1990.

It was imported into the USA in 2005 but needs professional restoration to make it flight worthy. It apparently includes new landing gear, new front and rear canopies, new rubber and has been stripped to bare metal for repainting. The seller will even throw in a zero-time engine for an extra five grand.

In addition to a healthy bank account (this thing burns 150 gph, at a current cost of about $575), you'll need a fair amount of flying experience to qualify for a US type rating - a minimum of 1000 hours, preferably including aerobatic training and experience in high-performance aircraft. The L-29 has a reputation as a tough and forgiving workhorse, but the ground can come up and smack you in an awful hurry at a few hundred knots.

related:
Aero Vodochody L-39 Flight Training (Fly the L-29's younger sibling)
Me 262 Project: Resurrecting The First Jet Fighter

The Avro Arrow's Forgotten 50th Anniversary

Oh, Canada. I've been waiting for someone to write a tribute to the Avro Arrow. Alas, the fiftieth anniversary of her first flight came and went earlier this week without so much as a quiet sigh.

The CF-105 Arrow was Canada's ill-fated foray into the world of advanced jet fighter design. The delta-wing design was considered by many to be decades ahead of its time. The aircraft first flew for just over half an hour on March 25, 1958. By the time the Arrow program was canceled on February 20, 1959, five prototypes had flown a total of 70.5 hours. The design reached Mach 1.96 and 50,000 feet - impressive achievements in that era.

Although rapidly escalating development costs and Canada's integration into NORAD played roles in the Canadian government's decision to cancel the program, the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 greatly influenced the political landscape as well. The arrival of the Space Age foreshadowed the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles that were untouchable by even the most advanced supersonic interceptor.

The cancellation of the program in early 1959 caught Avro off guard, and the aircraft, engines, tooling and plans were ordered destroyed within weeks to avoid them falling into Soviet hands. All that remains of the $260 million program today is a single nose section and a couple of wing panels. It was an ignominious end for a once-promising aircraft.

The Avro Arrow [Diefenbaker Canada Centre Archives]

Fuel-Efficient Turboprop Airliners Stage A Surprise Comeback

I used to fly a lot. My least favorite aircraft was the DeHavilland Dash-8, a noisy twin-engine turboprop commuter plane that has the ability to transform a quick 45 minute jet flight into 90 minutes of stupefying rattle and hum.

I reacted to repeated Dash-8 exposure by becoming a huge fan of a regional airline that flew nothing but chunky 737 jets, even on half hour flights. I wasn't alone. By 2000, airlines around the world responded to customer demand by replacing shuddery turboprops with sleek new regional jets from Bombardier and Embraer. It looked like the turboprop era had come to an end.

However, the lowly propeller is set to make a comeback. Jet fuel prices have soared as much as 70% over the past 12 months. Suddenly, regional jets don't make economic sense on many short-haul flights. Turboprop aircraft such as Bombardier's 78-seat Q400 now have per-seat costs of around 30% less than comparable jets. That's a lot of money, especially in the perpetually struggling airline industry.

The result is renewed airline interest in turboprop designs out of economic necessity - passenger comfort be damned. Canadian manufacturer Bombardier is considering stretching its Q400 design to accommodate 90 seats, and French/Italian manufacturer ATR is looking into a larger design to follow up its successful 74-seat ATR-72-500 model. Steven Ridolfi, President, Bombardier Regional Aircraft, succinctly sums up the turboprop advantage: "At 360 knots, the Q400 airliner combines jet-like speed with among the lowest operating costs of any regional aircraft."

It will be interesting to see what the next few years bring. One thing's for sure: Propeller-driven aircraft aren't going to vanish anytime soon.

Hello 21st Century, Now Where Is My Jetpack?

Is there any more consistent image of science fiction than a flying man, propelled by a rocket jetpack?  As early as 1920's Buck Rogers comics, there have been many fictional takes on some sort of jet suit - and surprisingly several real ones.  Early German experiments started toward the end of WWII, but it wasn't until the late 50's that the idea became somewhat feasible.

As you'd imagine, many of these early experiments had military objectives.  The concept was less about flight, and more about propulsion-assisted leaping in a single bound over minefields or unbridged rivers.  Jetpacks are difficult to control.  Since most of us are not equipped with naturally sprouting ailerons or other First Class amenities of flight, without motive force we tend to not so much fly as plummet.  Jetpacks operate below minimum parachute height, so safety and control are major concerns.  The other major problem is fuel.  These devices consume tremendous fuel, limiting flights to about a minute.

This has relegated jet packs mostly to entertainment.  As a kid I remember seeing a jetpack in use in the James Bond "Thunderball" movie, TV's "Lost in Space", even an oddball Saturday morning sci-fi show called "Ark II".  I was old enough to mistakenly think that these devices were being simulated through the movie magic of special effects - who would image that what I was looking at were filmed flights of real jetpacks!

I'm no daredevil, but I'd love to take flight using a jetpack (one hidden under my clothes for quick escapes, of course).  I'd just want them to be safer for an amateur control, and stay in the air for more than a minute.  I've seen plans for jetpacks on the internet, but it's hard to believe that anyone would build and fly such a thing.  There's a reason that there are only five known working packs in the world today.

So when will get to see an actual regular everyday kind of Rocket Man?  Quoth the Bard Sir Elton John, "I think it's gonna be a long, long time...".  Okay, 21st Century, get to work.

Hire a jetpack pilot for your next event
A terrific site all about jetpacks & rocketbelts

Related:

Build your own personal helicopter
Another kit copter

43 Years Ago Today: The SR-71 Blackbird Takes Flight

The inaugural flight of the SR-71 took place on December 22, 1964, becoming the most impressive Christmas present ever to slip out of Lockheed's Skunk Works facility at Burbank airport. Amazingly, the SR-71 took to the air less than 17 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier.

On paper, this titanium-skinned monster was capable of Mach 3.2, although pilot Brian Shul has since admitted that he once pushed a Blackbird to Mach 3.4 in his haste to leave Libyan airspace well in advance of looming surface-to-air missiles. He reported that the aircraft seemed to fly smoother than ever at those unbelievable speeds, cruising at well over 80,000 ft.

Propulsion came from a pair of Pratt & Whitney J58-P4 engines that produced a total of 65,000 lbf of static thrust and operated on afterburner at all times. The Sunkworks team had initially played with the idea of using liquid hydrogen for propulsion, but were unable to figure out how to cram the storage tanks into the airframe. They settled upon a much safer fuel known as Jet Propellant 7, which featured a high flash point of 60 C that reportedly couldn't be lit with a match (convenient, since the SR-71 leaked fuel like a sieve while on the ground ).

The SR-71's skin was subjected to extreme heat due to the friction generated by flying at Mach 3+ for extended periods of time. The designers settled on a Titanium-composite alloy that revolutionized high-speed design. The shadowy monster flew her first operation sortie in early 1968, and a total of 32 aircraft were built before the tooling was ordered destroyed. They remained in and out of operation with the USAF until the last three aircraft were formally retired from military use in 1998, although several SR-71s were flown by NASA until the final flight of the SR-71 on October 9, 1999.

Almost a decade later the Blackbird remains the stuff of legends. No other aircraft embodies the essence of raw speed and technological might to such an impressive degree. Unfortunately, modern advances in digital satellite imaging have probably ensured that the United States Air Force will never again be able to unleash such an impressive and untouchable reconnaissance vehicle.

related
The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and Kelly Johnson's rules
The SR-71 Flight Manual

Book Your Flight On A Zeppelin NT

The 75 meter long Zeppelin NT (New Technology) made her maiden voyage on September 18, 1997.

The modern Zeppelin NT is filled with helium, and the airframe is constructed from aluminum and carbon fiber. The entire lifting structure weighs approximately 1000 kg (2200 lbs). It requires only a 3 person ground crew for normal operation and the enormous vehicle can carry a total payload of 1900 kg (4180 lbs). The cabin comfortably seats 2 flight crew and 12 passengers, and the three Textron Lycoming IO-360 engines can propel the craft at up to 125 km/h (77 mph). The Zeppelin NT has a maximum endurance of approximately 24 hours with a range of up to 900 km (559 miles).

The Zeppelin name is synonymous with rigid airships, and a total of 119 of these beautiful craft were built between 1900 and 1938. The most successful was the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, which managed an astounding around-the-world journey in October 1929. LZ 127 went on to cover a total distance of about 1.7 million miles over the course of 590 flights, including regular transatlantic service.

The Zeppelin name is also synonymous with the fateful crash of the Hindenburg at Lakehurst, New Jersey in May 1937. The aircraft was engulfed with flames in a mere 34 seconds, a disaster that may have been caused by leaking hydrogen from a torn gas bag combined with an inflammable outer coating.

Ironically, the Hindenburg disaster was caused by politics, rather than technology. The original design called for the craft to be filled with nonflammable helium, but a US export embargo prevented the Germans from obtaining the gas. Politics also led to the end of the original Zeppelin line. The Nazi regime regarded airships as having limited military capabilities, and the Luftwaffe grounded the remaining fleet at the outbreak of WWII. The aircraft were destroyed for parts in 1940.

The company founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin still exists today, having diversified into a multinational automotive supplier that employees more than 53,000 people in 25 countries.

I've saved the best news for last, of course. The 2008 flying season starts on March 15th, and a 30 minute flight over Friedrichshafen is priced at 200 euros ($300). Longer trips are also available, including an unforgettable loop over Lake Constance in southern Germany.

Visit the official Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH site
My First Zeppelin Flight [with great photos]

Rotorway A600 Talon Helicopter Kit

RotorWay had been manufacturing recreational kit-built helicopters for forty years. They moved into a brand new manufacturing facility in Chandler, Arizona earlier this year and recently unveiled the A600 Talon, their latest homebuilt kit. The Talon is no toy - the company has sold over 800 helicopter kits and this design incorporates dozens of improvements to the company's proven Exec 162F model.

The 2-seat A600 Talon has a cruise speed of 100 mph, a service ceiling altitude of 10,000 ft and a two-hour range. Customers can choose between two RotorWay-built power plants: the standard RI 600N (147 HP) or the supercharged RI 600S (167 HP). RotorWay lists a minimum build time of 300-450 hours, but expect the process to take longer than planned.

This machine is a complete redesign that incorporates a state-of-the-art glass cockpit by MGL Avionics, Kevlar skid shoes, inertia seat belts, a reinforced tail boom with shaft driven rotor, and a next-generation FADEC electronic engine control system with full component redundancy. In the event of a malfunction, a redundant system is engaged automatically. Useful load is 535 lbs, including a 100 lb baggage compartment. The new aircraft also boasts a larger landing gear that offers easier access to the optional accessory pod.

The introductory price for the A600 is $97,500. The machine is sold as four sub-kits, allowing you to spread the purchase across months or even years. RotorWay also offers excellent on-site flight training to ensure that your first flight isn't your last.

Visit the RotorWay International site for more information

Helisport Mosquito - Build your own personal helicopter

Early 20th century visions of the future usually showed cheerful citizens zorching around the sky in personal aircraft; usually little airplanes or blimps, but also helicopters. It's a good thing that particular future never came to pass, because rush hour accidents would be spectacularly lethal and even a massive SUV can't compare to a helicopter's excessive fuel consumption.

Still, the future has arrived... sort of. The $28,500 Helisport Mosquito XE ultralight helicopter is an amazingly cool little single-seat aircraft. It's a mere 20 ft long and weighs only 298 lbs. It's powered by an MZ202 2-cylinder 2-stroke engine and has a maximum speed of 75 mph and the ability to hover in ground effect at 8,000 ft (estimated). The Mosquito is built from a kit that's delivered in five sub-groups: airframe and construction plans, control system, drive system, engine system, and rotor system. An information pack is available from the manufacturer for $25 (Canadian), including a DVD, sample drawings and specifications.

The company gives a $2000 rebate to builders who complete flight training before purchasing the rotor system kit - this is an excellent idea from a safety perspective, since teaching yourself to fly a helicopter would probably be a messy experience. To get an idea how nimble this little vehicle is, check out the video (and yeah, I find it slightly scary).

More on the Helisport Ultralight Mosquito Helicopter

Darth Vader's Disembodied Head

It struck me this afternoon: Star Wars now qualifies as Retro sci-fi.

Oddly enough, this came as a complete surprise because the film was - for better or worse - one of the defining moments of my childhood: I couldn't believe the stunning special effects or the otherworldy sets and creatures. I was awed by the medieval romance of lightsabers and tempted by both sides of the force. I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of Star Wars action figures. The film made the cheesy special effects in Doctor Who harder to watch than ever. Heck, I wasn't even old enough to realize that the dialog was exquisitely hokey (especially Luke's wamprat-like whining).

All of this is a rather roundabout attempt to justify this post. It's a hot air balloon shaped like Darth Vader's helmet, designed by a team headed by Belgian Star Wars fan Benoît Lambert. It was inflated for the first time on March 8, 2007 -- although a few tweaks were required to make it look just right. It measures 26 m (86 ft) high, weighs around 260 kg (640 lb) and accommodates two passengers and a pilot. Let's hope he doesn't follow up with a gigantic Jabba the Hutt dirigible.

The 'official' Darth Vader Balloon Site

Schweizer 1-26: Birth of the One-Design Sailplane

Paul Schweizer's sailplane designs have introduced thousands of pilots to the sport of soaring. My favorite is the little 1-26 single-seat glider. Its short wingspan makes it wonderfully nimble and truly fun to fly and it offers adequate performance and safe handling for low-time pilots. The intent was to create a "one-design" class, much like in sailing where yachtsmen compete in more-or-less identical craft. The prototype was completed in early 1954 and offered either as a $1465 kit or fully assembled for $2150. The aircraft proved popular, with seven hundred 1-26's manufactured over the course of a quarter century.

The one-design philosophy was successful, spawning the birth of the 1-26 Association and annual championships. While the aircraft is easy to fly, it offers moderate performance and demands considerable skill from the pilot to complete lengthy tasks, especially in comparison to the new generation of carbon-composite sailplanes that seem to stick to the sky.

The 1-26 is almost Soviet in its rugged simplicity: a fabric covered tube fuselage with detachable aluminum wings is designed to be assembled from its trailer in a mere half hour (although you'll need a handful of people and a few wrenches). The design encourages gentle landings, because if you hit the ground hard the entire airfield hears the wings flex with a sound not unlike dropping a pair of oil barrels. It's also a good aircraft to reinforce the importance of a tight five-point harness: I'm just under six feet tall and there's only an inch or two of clearance between my head and the canopy - a little turbulence is enough to bump my noggin unless I'm well cinched down. Many 1-26's are still in the air at soaring clubs around the world and I heartily recommend taking one for a spin (literally).

Paul Schweizer recalls the development of the 1-26
Learning to Glide
Soaring Society of America
British Gliding Association
Soaring Association of Canada

Lockheed-Martin Skunk Works

In my career I can't say that I've worked on anything as crucial as a military jet or anything else typical of the Lockheed-Martin Corporation, but I have been on teams sometimes referred to as a "skunk works".  I knew that this meant we were working on a project that was secret from the rest of the company (mostly to keep our work from the prying eyes of the marketing guys looking for something new to sell), but I never knew the true origin of the term.

The nickname "skunk works" came from the Li'l Abner comic strip, referring to a secret still churning out moonshine whose chief ingredients were ground up boots and dead skunks.  The staff at Lockheed-Martin must have felt kinship with the bootleggers of this roadkill-based homebrew, and adopted the name for their unconventional secret projects within the firm.

Back in the 40's Lockheed-Martin had a design group that were autonomous within the company.  They had control over their own budgets, staff, procedure, and were able to jet through the bureaucracy that plagues any large organization.  Through this radical approach, this secret group within Lockheed-Martin was able to deliver essential technology faster than ever.  They continue to operate to this day.

We've all had to deal with the rules and regs of a large organization.  My experience has usually been that these often random edicts throw more roadblocks before the creative process than the actual challenge of the project itself.  It's an enlightened company that shakes things up by creating a radical splinter group within the enterprise charged with actually getting work done.

Over time, Lockheed-Martin's Skunk Works established some great rules for how to run a project, and many of them are still useful today.  See if you agree by reading the rules after the jump.

Brand new Soviet-era military training aircraft

Richard Van Luven dropped us a line recently to share one of his discoveries:

"While wasting my time looking through vintage aircraft information (a new habit of mine for which your site is entirely to blame) I came across some information on the Yakovlev Yak-52, a Soviet trainer from the 1970s.  The nifty thing about this particular piece of aerospace engineering is that it is still available for sale, nearly unchanged from the original (it is produced out of Romania by Aerostar). 

The plane has apparently become so popular within the export market, that a 'westernized' variant is now in production, very intelligently tagged the Yak-52W.  While it may be a new aircraft, retro-features include a radial 9-cylinder engine, a wood and glass-fibre prop, an optional tail-dragger configuration, and styling typical of the Yakovlev name.  Aerobatic features and equipment have also been included.There is a used one in the US that is asking $95,000, so I would imagine that this plane new falls between 'small air force budget' and 'if you have to ask, you're not worthy'."

I did a bit of digging, and it appears that the Yak-52W retails for a more-or-less reasonable €155,000. That's not bad for an aerobatic vehicle with a 400 HP radial power plant and the feel of a classic warbird. The taildragger variant is known as the Yak-52TW.

The Aerostar Yak-52W product page
Their Australian dealer

The Hummel Bird: Here am I sitting in a tin can

Futurists in the mid-twentieth century loved to dream up worlds filled with incredibly convenient personal aircraft. If that vision had come to pass, I suspect vehicles like the Hummel Bird would have been manufactured by the millions.

This tiny 13 1/2 foot long aluminum homebuilt aircraft is often powered by a modified VW bug engine (once plentiful, inexpensive and conveniently air-cooled). With a 37 hp engine the aircraft cruises at  slightly more than 100 mph (161 kph).  It requires only 300 ft (92 m) for takeoff and weighs a mere 300 lbs (136 kg) empty. There's only room for a reasonably slim pilot in the compact cockpit.

Morry Hummel worked in the Curtis Wright experimental department during WWII. He learned to fly after the war and his first design was based on the Windwagon by Gary Watson. Hummel purchased a set of plans in 1979 and set about modifying it as a taildragger with larger bulkheads and a full canopy. The aircraft was completed in 1982 and dubbed the "Hummel Bird" in a Sport Aviation article. The name stuck.

In 1999, four years after a serious aircraft accident, 84 year-old Hummel set about designing the Ultra Cruiser - an all metal ultralight aircraft. It first flew in 2000. Plans and parts for the Hummel Bird are available from the Hummel Aviation website, along with parts and kits for his popular Ultra Cruiser. I can only hope that I have such a productive retirement!

The official Hummel Aviation site
The images are of Dave King's aircraft [Holobrook Ultralight Club, Australia]

Mikael Carlson Flying Machines

Swedish 737 pilot Mikael Carlson grew up building aircraft. He started by crafting model planes and moved on to build his first full-sized machine - a replica of a Swedish 1919 Tummelisa military biplane - at the age of 23. It took seven years. Instead of taking advantage of advances in technology, he used the original engine and authentic materials.

His most remarkable machines are his two genuine Bleriot XI monoplanes. Louis Bleriot made the XI famous by flying it across the English channel. Carlson reminds us that is was also the first airplane to cross the Alps and fly a loop. The little Bleriot was quite popular and was used as a flight trainer in Sweden between 1913 and 1919. Carlson found his first Bleriot in the late 1980s - disassembled in a barn. He restored it to original flying condition and it flew again in 1991. Both aircraft are equipped with original 1908 Gnôme-Omega 50 hp rotary engines, which develop a then-massive 50 HP. They cruise at a sedate 42 knots (78 kph).

Mikael Carlson Flying Machines

de Havilland Comet: The Dawn of the Jet Age

Most of us take massive jetliners for granted, but the ability to zorch from one continent to another is only about 50 years old.

The four engine de Havilland Comet (named after their 1930s racing aircraft) first flew on July 27, 1949, ushering in a new age of sleek and speedy transportation. The aircraft entered commercial service in January 1952 and quickly became a favorite of elite travelers, capable of cruising at over 400 mph (twice the speed of propeller driven aircraft).

The original design could seat a maximum of 44 passengers and carried a cockpit crew of four (pilot, co-pilot, navigator and engineer). Alas, the aircraft started to experience inexplicable in-flight failures in May of 1953. It took several more crashes before investigators were able to pin the blame on metal fatigue: the design required an extremely thin metal skin to compensate for the low thrust generated by the four Ghost 50 Mark I turbojet engines. The fuselage surrounding the Comet's large rectangular windows proved susceptible to cracking after many thousands of pressurized flights. The end result was explosive cabin decompression that led to rather nasty structural failure in mid-flight -- definitely not a good way to earn repeat business.

The design problems were eventually resolved and the Comet 4 entered service in 1958 with round windows, a strengthened fuselage, and high output Rolls-Royce Avon engines that dramatically increased cargo capacity and speed. Sadly, the damage to the Comet's reputation was irreparable and the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 went on to dominate the airline industry throughout the 1960s.

Chasing the Sun: The de Havilland Comet [PBS]
Photos are from the British Airways Museum Collection