[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves]
I can’t open the link either, but assuming it’s the familiar picture of the guy hand-propping a J-3 in midair, that’s Roland Maheu of Lewiston, Maine, a stunt pilot who did it to get into “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” in 1946. The clip is on the wall of the diner at KLEW even today.
[/QUOTE]
Wow - thanks for providing that info. Could you elaborate any? Did he actually re-start the engine? Was he alone in the plane?
[QUOTE=Scruloose]
Wow - thanks for providing that info. Could you elaborate any? Did he actually re-start the engine? Was he alone in the plane?
[/QUOTE]
I found this:
And here is Bill Larkins’s webpage.
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”]
Not quite right. If there’s a passenger then both seats are occupied and it makes no difference which one is the pilot. With no passenger, having the pilot in the back moves the CofG aft. So the reason can’t be to move the CofG forward. More likely, with just the front seat occupied, the CofG is too far forward.
Later cubs weren’t designed like this. I flew a PA18-100 (100hp Rolls Royce engine) and it was flown from the front.
[/QUOTE]
Unless the plane is designed so that it is balanced with one person in the back seat. Which is the case for the cub and most tandem planes.
With one person in the front seat, it is too nose heavy. With two passengers, it is a little nose heavy.
As I re-read your post, you are pretty much saying what I did - in different words.
[QUOTE=brewha]
Unless the plane is designed so that it is balanced with one person in the back seat. Which is the case for the cub and most tandem planes.
With one person in the front seat, it is too nose heavy. With two passengers, it is a little nose heavy.
As I re-read your post, you are pretty much saying what I did - in different words.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah I think I might have.
Keep in mind that in a biplane you have a better all round view from the back as it’s not obstructed so much by the wings.
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”]
Keep in mind that in a biplane you have a better all round view from the back as it’s not obstructed so much by the wings.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, because it’s so important to be able to see the tree after you fly through it. :rolleyes:
Seriously, that was probably my biggest complaint about the airplane, after the ground handling - how hard it is to see where you’re going.
I’ve flown a tandem airplane designed for solo flight from the front seat, and seen a couple others. It’s not impossible to design them that way, though perhaps there are some technical issues that make it harder
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”]
To be fair, the commentators asserting it is fake are clearly idiots. I’m not sure why they think it is fake, there is nothing particularly unrealistic about it.
[/QUOTE]
False or unfounded cries of 'Obvious Photoshop!" happen a fair bit on the web and it’s really annoying.
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
False or unfounded cries of 'Obvious Photoshop!" happen a fair bit on the web and it’s really annoying.
[/QUOTE]
As was seen in the link of the crash I posted. I poked around and found ‘real or fake’ debates about it, and people were really getting worked up about it. I wonder why that is?
I have a feeling that if people didn’t see it on The Nooze, then they think it must be fake. (Notwithstanding NBC’s infamous ‘exploding Chevy trucks’ exposé where they used model rocket engines to get an explosion.) Or perhaps they think that in spite of the millions of video cameras floating around, nobody can happen to be on-scene when tragedy occurs. Or they can’t come to terms with the fact that sometimes the feces hits the rotating oscillator and in real life people die. Or they hold themselves out as having ‘Special Knowledge’ that makes them superior to others. ‘What a dolt! Are you too stupid to see it’s fake?’ Or they’re trolling.
In the case of the photo in the OP, it seems ludicrous to some that someone would crawl out of an aircraft in flight. Ergo, it must be fake. However in this case we have the name of the man outside, the name of the pilot in the back seat, the year and location of the photo, and the name of the photographer who is still alive. (I didn’t have that information in my first post, which is why I said it’s not necessarily real; however I hope it was clear by my reasons that it could be real made it clear I thought it was.)
[QUOTE=Broomstick]
Yes, because it’s so important to be able to see the tree after you fly through it. :rolleyes:
[/quote]
Yeah it’s no better for forward vision (though only slightly worse) but from the back of the biplanes I’ve flown you have a much better view of other air traffic, the general scenary and so on when compared to the front seat.
The problem with the Steerman is that not only is it a taildragger but it has a radial engine so it’s wide and not so easy to see along the side of the fuselage. Something with an inline engine, like a Tiger Moth, you can open the door, stick your head out, and get a good view forward
Aside from the J3 Cub, all of the tandem aircraft I’ve flown from the back have been biplanes and all the ones I’ve flown from the front have been monoplanes. I’m not sure if it is then related to the vintage of the aircraft or if someone decided it is best for the pilot to not be sitting directly between the wings of a biplane.
It is especially annoying when people have already posted clear evidence that the footage/photo is real.
[QUOTE=Broomstick]
It’s not just the early Cubs that were flown solo from the back seat, a number of planes from that era are the same, including the Stearman I got to fly. I’m not sure why they balanced them out that way, but they did.
[/QUOTE]
I understand the original Cub, and its Taylor and Piper relatives, has the fuel tank behind the engine, so a solo pilot has to sit in the back for balance. The new Legend Cub LSA has the tanks in the wings, in the middle of the CG range, and can be flown solo from the front.
A ‘crawling about on the outside of a flying aircraft’ story that is almost beyond belief. Except that it is 100% true. This guy redefines the meaning of the word ‘courage’ (as well as the word ‘loony’) :eek:
[QUOTE=FairyChatMom]
As for a caption: “OK, it’s righty-tighty, lefty-loosey, right??”
[/QUOTE]
You really are an engineer, aren’t you??? 
Righty Tighty Lefty Loosey works for almost all things and when I hit something reverse-threaded it drives me insane. The bolt for a circular hand-held saw is the reverse because of the blade direction.
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse]
Righty Tighty Lefty Loosey works for almost all things and when I hit something reverse-threaded it drives me insane.
[/QUOTE]
This is why my wheel hubs have arrows on them with ‘UNDO’ next to them. 
Damn those chrome wires look good!
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”]
Aside from the J3 Cub, all of the tandem aircraft I’ve flown from the back have been biplanes and all the ones I’ve flown from the front have been monoplanes. I’m not sure if it is then related to the vintage of the aircraft or if someone decided it is best for the pilot to not be sitting directly between the wings of a biplane.
[/QUOTE]
This may be linked to the original design of the aircraft (like the Stearman) as a military trainer, with the instructor seated in the rear cockpit.
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.]
This is why my wheel hubs have arrows on them with ‘UNDO’ next to them.
[/QUOTE]
See?? You’re a wise man, Johnny. Nice tires, too.
[QUOTE=Bookkeeper]
This may be linked to the original design of the aircraft (like the Stearman) as a military trainer, with the instructor seated in the rear cockpit.
[/QUOTE]
The instructor would be seated in the front wouldn’t they?
No, in tandem aircraft the instructor sits in the rear.
I’d thought the student would sit in the pilots seat (front or rear depending on the aircraft) as this is where they’re seated on any solo flights.
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/tigrmoth/flying.htm
and,
http://www.stearmanflyin.org/pt17.htm
however,
http://www.tuskegeeairmenlachapter.org/tuskegee_aircraft.html
On the other hand:
http://www.cebudanderson.com/jerome03.htm
http://www.constable.ca/harvard.htm
Unless you’re talking specifically about Stearmans, in which case I’ll defer to Broomstick who has actually been in one. It makes sense that a student pilot would be seated where visibility is greatest. Although in an aircraft designed to be flown solo from the rear seat it makes sense to put the student there.
