Pretty much. Dad’s 1970 Skyhawk was 84573, and one in this state is 84823. I’ve noticed that other 1970 Skyhawks have ####G. The K-model was made in 1969 and 1970. I’m guessing that the manufacturers reserve blocks of N-numbers for a production run.
They just had an interview with the pilot of the 150, including radio communication. He said he had a drop in oil pressure; so that would explain why he had to ditch, and why the underside of the aircraft was covered in oil.
PBYs played a key role in the 1942 Battle of Midway, conducting recon and rescuing downed aircrews, and are mentioned prominently in the book Shattered Sword by Anthony P. Tully and Jonathan Parshall, which I’ve been reading lately.
I saw this looking over some Oshkosh material and thought it interesting. It’s a recuperating turbine engine for small aircraft. They claim 15 % gain in efficiency by recirculating heated air back to the compressor. It raises the air temperature without adding fuel.
I have to wonder how much pressure is put on the heat exchanger.
Elvis left the building in it.
I actually looked up the tail number. It shows up in the civil aviation regiater in 1967, but I’m guessing the airplane was decommissioned or crashed or something, because N6340 was reassigned to a Cessna 310 in 1972, then cancelled in 1975. That’s the last record for that N number in the FAA database.
Lots of those airplanes, particularly crop dusters, became parts birds. My dad bought a Stearman in about 1970. Which supposedly had never been a crop duster. A couple years later it needed an overhaul / recover.
Upon complete disassembly the fuselage showed no signs of ever having had a hopper and chute in lieu of the front cockpit, but the wooden wing structure was utterly sodden with pesticide residue and smelled like RAID inside. The tail structure is all-metal, but it too stank inside.
We basically built new wings from scratch using the old ones as a template. There was no evidence in the maintenance logs of how these rotten wings or stinky tail ever got connected to that clean fuselage.
Lots of hermaphrodites out there in the scruffier corners of aviation. Even if N6340 crashed thoroughly, any hunk that was still even potentially useful was probably salvaged.
We got to know a guy out near Apple Valley who had bought a gigantic cache of Stearman parts in around 1960 and did a good business keeping others airborne. His warehouse contained a LOT of semi-mangled aluminum. Ostensibly to use as a pattern, but I bet more than one of those crunched tails or whatever was beaten more or less flat, had doublers riveted over the cracks, then been covered and installed on something.
Looks like the Cessna crashed (non-fatal) in Alaska in 1974. I didn’t see an NTSB report for the Stearman.
I just checked. Dad’s Stearman still belongs to the guy who bought it from us / Dad’s estate. Who was a protege of Dad’s. The other airplanes in Dad’s final fleet are all over the place.
My own Twin Comanche has changed hands at least once since I owned it.
Of the two PA-31s I flew regularly in the Grand Canyon, both N-numbers no longer belong to them. One was exported to South Africa (!) in 1991 just a couple years after I got done with it.
The other went to Alaska at about the same time but was deregistered in 2018 presumably scrapped. It had been in a significant accident in 2009: NTSB Report
The simultaneous deregistration of both PA-31s is circumstantial evidence that the (very half-assed) tour operator I flew with shut down about then.
Any thoughts on the pilot who jumped or fell from a damaged skydiving plane?
CBS News August 2, 2022
NTSB investigating after mysterious death of co-pilot who exited plane in mid-air in North Carolina
- The pilot made an emergency landing at the airport Friday afternoon after reporting that one of the wheels had come off the landing gear of the CASA 212-200 airplane.
The only thing that makes sense is he tried to look at the starboard side wheel from the open ramp in the back of the plane.
Skydiving plane? I heard it was a cargo plane.
It’s odd that how the copilot fell out is a mystery. You’d think the pilot could shed some light on it.
It was a cargo/troop carrier with a rear door for loading and skydiving.
"His co-pilot jumped out without the parachute so he might have impact to the ground.”
Um…
WRAL News is working to determine what the two pilots’ mission was on July 29.
This is a weird story. First, you’d think that they would know, and that it would be reported, what the pilot said. Second, why can’t they determine the mission?
RED Aircraft is to supply its A03 engine for the powertrain Ampaire is developing to convert Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft to hybrid-electric propulsion…
According to Ampaire, the converted Grand Caravans will consume 70 percent less fuel on shorter trips and 50 percent less on longer flights with corresponding reductions in CO2 emissions. The Eco Caravan is expected to be able to carry 11 passengers or 2,500 pounds of cargo on flights of up to 1,100 nm.
" The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has this to say on the subject of flying. There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams
This has the feel of “Co pilot accidentally existed aircraft while dumping drug bales in preparation for emergency landing”
Neither the pilot nor his employer are talking to the news media. That’s why. What FAA or NTSB knows is something else again.
This one got one got a raised eyebrown from me as well:
Lynch said from the few years he’s known Crooks, it feels out of character for him to jump from a plane without a parachute.
Well, it’s not like it’s something that becomes an observable habit.
Y’know, some times people just feel the need to say something rather than leave a lull in the conversation. That is usually exactly when you should not.
There’s obviously some ESL here. It’s not all just folks who’re products of the NC public school system. Whether the issue is with the other pilot, the news story author, or some spokesperson someplace, someone in the chain of info getting to us has a real shaky grasp of idiomatic US English.