Something for airplane geeks

[BikerGeek99]

Wow!

The T-28 is f'n cool. And knowing it's history makes even cooler!

If you're ever flying through central Ohio and want / need a stop-over, lemme know. Ohio State's airport (Don Scott Airfield) has a decent little diner-ish spot that has good breakfast food and typically crap-tastic service. We live in Union County (NW of Columbus). The Union County Airport is close to us - we can come pick you up and show you some local grub. Just let me know - it'd be cool to meet up with ya!

 

[dcarver]

GREAT report! and I like BIG pictures!

 

[Morecowbell]

I haven't updated this thread in quite some time. I tried adding some pics a few weeks ago, but Photobucket was having none of it that day. It seems to be working again, at least for now.

I mentioned earlier about the Warbird Weekend held back in April at the West Houston Airport. I recently found some photos taken by a visitor. He got a few good shots of the airplane.

Later that afternoon I went up for a training flight with our instructor/partner, John...the photographer got a pretty good shot here with the moon in the background, with John waving at the crowd. I had my hands full up front, no waving for me.

He also got a shot of us on the landing roll. It's so hot in that cockpit that we open the canopy ASAP after landing. The breeze is most welcome.

The next big event was taking the airplane to Oshkosh in late July for the big EAA Airventure show. John & John had already spent a day working on the airplane doing an oil change, which is a big job on an R-1820. During the oil change, one of the guys noticed an exhaust stack that had a large crack where the clamp holds it to the cylinder. That's a no-go item right there. Luckily, our mechanic buddy in SoCal found a replacement stack and shipped it overnight to Houston. I got to the hangar on Friday morning and we got to work. We installed the new stack and then replaced some crush gaskets on the front sump. Then it was time to put the cowling back into place. The three of us spent several hours fighting with the lower left cowl panel. We got it bolted into place but the pins on the other cowl panels just weren't lining up. We pulled it off and tried again, same result. Finally, in the evening, we gave up. Driving back to my brother's house, we were planning to leave the T-28 and just take his RV-8 to OSH instead. But during the drive, I racked my brain trying to figure out what was different from when we installed the cowls back in February. Then it hit me. COWL FLAPS! In Feb the cowl flaps had been closed. This time we were doing it with them open. It was a shot in the dark, but the only thing I could think of.

The next morning, we went back to try again. We closed the cowl flaps, and BINGO, the lower left panel bolted into place and the other panel pins lined up as they should. The problem was some interference with the oil cooler door (in the photo above, just above the nose gear door), which moves in conjunction with the cowl flaps mounted higher up on the cowling. We were quite relieved to get that problem sorted. We spent the rest of the day doing some small items, and then it was time to pull her out for an actual bath. Who knows how many years it had been since this thing has seen a hose and bucket. It was a lot of work, but with one guy on the brush and one on the spray nozzle, we got it done in about an hour. After that, John took it up for a short flight just to make sure everything was working properly.

Sunday morning, we pulled her back out of the hangar, topped off the fuel tanks, and launched around 0900 heading north. John took the front seat for the first leg. It was already warm and sticky on the ramp, so we climbed up to 11500 feet where it was nice and cool.

We had both spent a lot of time on the computer researching the best places to stop with cheap fuel and possibly chow nearby. We decided on Harrison AR. There wasn't much to choose from chow-wise, but we couldn't pass up the fuel price. At $3.49 per gallon, it was easily $.30-$.50 cheaper than anywhere else along the route. The biggest drawback with the T-28 at airports with self-service fuel (as opposed to a fuel truck) is that it takes up a lot of space near the pumps, and you can't push it out of the way for the next airplane in line. It requires another startup/shutdown/oil scavenge routine that is just a pain in the ***. Luckily the other pilots let us help them push their planes while we saved a start cycle. 

Oh yeah? Well mine is bigger than yours! 

I took the front seat for the next leg, heading for Watertown WI. Our plan was to overnight in Watertown and fly the remaining 50 miles to OSH early on Monday morning. Watertown had a Holiday Inn Express a short walk from the FBO, and a brewery about a 10 minute walk up the street. It was a perfect plan. Until it wasn't. When we flew the overhead break to land, we saw that the ramp was almost full of airplanes, with not a lot of parking space left over. As luck would have it, OSH had been getting dumped on with heavy rains from several passing storms. Because the grass was so wet, any airplanes planning on parking on the grass weren't being allowed to land. All of the airports surrounding OSH were jam-packed with airplanes that were just waiting for the grass-parking areas to open up. So we landed (and I got quite a ****** landing, thank you very much) and taxied to the pumps. We topped off the tanks and pondered our next move.

We chowed down at the Taco Bell by the hotel as John made some calls. Airplanes parking on pavement at OSH were still being allowed in. The T-28s get special prima-donna treatment, only the finest paved parking. Should we press on and try to land and beat the Monday morning pandemonium? What about a place to sleep? The Hol Inn Exp said we could cancel with no penalties (they had a ton of dudes beating down their door for a room), and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh dorms could get us in one night earlier than we planned. So that decided it...we suited up for the last 50 miles. As we taxied out, I told John that I wanted one quick trip around the pattern for another landing, and he readily agreed. I didn't want my first-ever landing at OSH to be as ****** as the one I had just done. Big crowds, lots of eyes and cameras. No pressure at all. 

My second landing at Watertown was much better, and John didn't laugh at me. We then headed north towards Fond du Lac, Lake Winnebago, and the Gates of Hell that is the VFR arrival into OSH. I've been in the back seat of John's RV on the Fisk Arrival into OSH a few times, but this was my first time ever actually flying in. I sure was glad to have John in the back seat with the Arrival NOTAM in hand and calling out frequencies for me to use. But another prima-donna feature of the T-28 is that it's a warbird...and that means we get to use the Warbird Arrival, which is (in theory) much easier than the Fisk. We flew past FLD and continued up the shoreline while listening to the controllers. Normally you'd report over Warbird Island and they'd clear you in to a right base to land on 36. John was listening and picked up on the fact that the controllers were currently doing the Fond du Lac Diversion Procedure, which I was unaware of. It was a zoo...so many airplanes trying to get into 36, and one small guy slow to clear the runway causing the B-29 "Fifi" to go-around. I switched to another tower freq and held over Warbird Island for a few turns with a fighter of some sort already holding. I got a word in to the controller and was told to proceed up the shoreline, enter a left base for 27, follow that C-47 crossing the shoreline. Holy ****, it was really happening. I had to do some s-turns on final to make the controller happy with spacing, and he cleared me to land on the Orange Dot. I actually got a pretty good landing and it was almost on the assigned dot. John got a shot of my noggin while on short final.

Man, that was fun. The taxi in to parking took quite a while, but I didn't mind. Everyone either waved or pointed a camera at us; kinda makes you feel like a rock star while waving back at the crowd. We finally got to the T-28 parking area and I put it right on the line where the marshaller wanted it. I was happy with that. After shutting down and climbing out, I was so stoked. I gave John a big hug and thanked him for giving me the opportunity. Then I handed my phone to the nearest marshaller to take a shot...for Mom, of course. She loves stuff like that.

We put the plane to bed and headed for the beer tent. I think we deserved a few cold ones after a good day of T-28 flying. The next morning, we arrived to find our plane having been rearranged on the parking line. No big deal, since ours is easy to spot. It's the Cow Plane, after all. We broke out the cleaning supplies and spent a couple of hours wiping the oil and exhaust stains on the fuselage. Gotta make it look pretty for the crowd, don't ya know.

This year was the 70th anniversary of the T-28s first flight. The North American Trainer Association was having a special event in commemoration. They were going to park 8 T-28s on the ramp of Warbird Alley, along with 8 Beech T-34s (also celebrating it's 70th anniversary). They wanted at least one of every T-28 variant on display, and we had the only camo painted Fennec. On Monday evening it was towed over to join the flock.

In a strange coincidence, the red/silver unit parked behind the Cow Plane is the one previously owned by John and the other partners.

The airplanes spent most of Tuesday parked at Warbird Alley, being moved back to the regular parking line later in the afternoon. The orange-topped tower  had a web-cam allowing a pretty cool view of the whole display.

On Wednesday evening, all was quiet on the warbird ramp. Even the Cow Plane looks pretty good in the waning daylight.

On Thursday morning, it was time to head back to Texas. I figured that since I flew the plane in, it was John's turn to fly it out. But he actually told me to take the front seat. To get the whole Oshkosh Experience, he said, you have to fly both the landing AND the takeoff. What a helluva nice guy! A passing photographer got a shot of me strapping in, with John on the left wing about to climb aboard.

After about 5 minutes of idling to allow the oil to warm up, we started taxiing, but quickly got caught behind a line of RVs waiting to get into the homebuilt parking area. That took a while, but at least the oil was plenty warm when we got to the runway!

John got another shot of my noggin while we taxied out. Still felt like a rock star waving back at anyone that waved at us. As we approached the Aeroshell T-6 Aerobatic Team parked along the taxiway further south, I saw a familiar guy beside the taxiway waving at us. It was Mark, the Designated Examiner who gave me the AEA rating back in June. He's one of the Aeroshell pilots. It was cool to see him again and return a salute.

After takeoff (always a thrill in a T-28, but even more so in front of the OSH crowd. Don't do anything stupid!) we headed southeast for a few miles to clear the airspace and avoid the inbound traffic; we then climbed up overhead into uncontrolled airspace and took one final departing shot. That is a whole LOT of people and airplanes down there!

We headed south for the cheap avgas in Harrison AR again. We saw a few other planes there fueling up at the same time, all heading to or from OSH. The FBO manager lowers the fuel price quite a bit during the week of OSH, knowing that what he loses in price per gallon will be made up in volume pumped. Pilots are notoriously cheap *******s, much like FJR owners. Once we got back to West Houston, it was back to the usual routine of fuel/tug/hangar/wipe, wipe, wipe. It was a really great trip.

That's all for now. Now that Photobucket seems to be working, I have a few more pics to post. I took the ship to the small airshow in Burnet TX, followed by a small EAA chapter fly-in for a buddy in Granbury TX, followed by the big Houston airshow last weekend. 

 

[BigOgre]

[A]nd then it was time to pull her out for an actual bath . . . .  After that, John took it up for a short flight just to make sure everything was working properly.

I know nothing about flying but this thread is definitely most enjoyable!  Thanks so much for letting us fly along

And as far as that bath, it sounds like the ultimate "air dry".

 

[dcarver]

Morecowbell, thanks for posting this wonderful read. I've sent this link to many motoheads who also enjoy airplanes.

 

[Morecowbell]

After the trip to Oshkosh, I didn't see the airplane again until mid-September. That was fine with me...like with motorcycles, I generally don't want to be outside messing with anything mechanical during the sweaty month of August. And flying the thing is more than just the sweaty manual labor of getting it in and out of the hangar...I also have to travel from Palm Springs all the way to Houston to do it! Since we moved it to Houston in February, I've commuted to Houston NINE times for flight training and then some airshow trips. During the summer there's no nonstop service, so I've had to connect in Phoenix, Denver, and Los Angeles. That's a lot of time sitting around airports trying to get to and from and hoping to get a seat on an airplane. Ok, enough whining about that. 

In mid-September, I commuted to Houston to take the T-28 to the small airshow in Burnet TX. On Friday afternoon, John and I drove up to Conroe to pick up the Beech 18 that he was scheduled to fly in the show. We pulled it out of the hangar and took off for a short flight down to West Houston. Once there, we went through the usual routine of getting the T-28 pulled out and ready to go. I'd be flying solo in the T-28, and John would have one passenger on board the Beech. It was just an overnight trip, so we didn't have too much crap to drag with us.

We taxied out together, and John took off first. I gave him a bit of a head start and then I took off and caught up with him pretty quickly. The Beech 18 is a rather quick airplane once it levels off and accelerates, but it's no match for a lightly loaded T-28. I had to keep the power pulled back, do some s-turns, pop the speed brake, and generally do whatever I could to kill time and speed while John was climbing to cruise altitude. Once he was level and up to speed, I was able to set a low power setting and settle into a loose 'formation' for the one hour trip to Burnet. While keeping my distance, I was able to snap a pic of the Beech.

Since the air was really smooth, I was able to creep up a little and close the distance. I haven't flown formation in over 25 years, so I wasn't trying to get too close. I told John to hold'er steady and I moved to within 100' (maybe?) of his wingtip. His right-seater got a shot of me puttering along out there. It was really fun to practice something I haven't done in so long. The airplane is so easy to fly...just three fingertips on the stick, slight power adjustments now and then, and occasionally pop the speed brake if I started to outrun them.

John and his right-seater did the navigating and I just followed my leader. As we descended into Burnet, I flew a loose echelon formation with the Beech as we flew over the field for an overhead break. John called my break and I entered the downwind and landed with John touching down less than a minute behind me. I taxied in and shut down on the flight line next to the CAF Tora Tora Tora planes. That's the group that does the Pearl Harbor attack re-enactments during airshows all over the country. The 'bombers' are modified T-6 Texan trainer forward sections, with BT-13 tail sections bolted on. They look weird, but with Japanese paint, they're convincing enough for an airshow crowd.

I was thoroughly exhausted after landing. It hadn't been a long day of flying, but I hadn't eaten enough that day, and the heat and humidity really kicked my ***. Once I got to the hangar and signed some paperwork, I had to sit down for a bit. A slice of pizza and a cold soda really helped; felt a lot better after that. We got the airplanes secured for the night and went to the hotel. Dinner and a couple of beers with John and several of the other airshow crews was quite entertaining.

We got out to the airport fairly early the next morning. I opened up the canopy and did a preflight inspection to make sure the ship was ready to go. Then it was time to meet for the airshow briefing with the Air Boss, the guy who runs the show. I was a little nervous, since this was my first time flying in an airshow. Luckily it was a small show with less potential for shenanigans. I sat next to John and took a few notes. After the main briefing, the trainer pilots separated into a group briefing. John was 'volunteered' to be the Trainer Lead. We divided the different airplanes into stacks based on speed. The slowest trainers would stay low, with each higher layer being just a bit faster. The T-28 was the fastest of the group, but I would easily fit into the top stack at 1000' with John in the Beech 18 and our buddy Chris in his U-3B (Cessna 310 twin).

I refueled the airplane just before the show actually got started. Then it was a matter of waiting and keeping an eye on the clock and watching what act was currently flying. It's easy to get distracted during this portion, because you bump into people that will just talk your ears off. As our time approached, I grabbed two bottles of Gatorade to take up with me. Then another quick preflight inspection, climb into the seat, strap in, and wait. 

I've got the Tora ships to my left:

And the Trojan Phlyers to my right (a two T-28 aerobatic act not flying in the trainer flight):

Finally it was time for engine start; after a warm-up, I taxied out behind John in the Beech 18 and Chris in the U-3B. The T-34s, T-6s, Stearmans, etc., followed us out. Air Boss launched John first, with Chris and I departing in quick succession. We climbed up to 1000' and settled into the routine of flying the 'roundy-rounds', as air show guys call it. The T-6 and T-34s were at 750', with other airplanes in the 500' and 250' stacks. It was fun...fly down the show-line staying at the required distance from the crowd, and at the end of the line crank a turn to enter the downwind and stay in the show box. It was really hot and sweaty...on the downwind leg, I had a few seconds to trim for hands-off flying, chug some Gatorade, stow the bottle and then it was time to turn back into the show line. I forget how many laps we flew. And even though I was having fun, after about the 4th lap I was thinking I was ready to be done. Finally the Air Boss started landing the guys in the lower stacks, and we got stepped down a bit lower as each stack emptied out. After John and Chris landed, I was the last guy of the trainer flight to land. Popping the canopy open on the landing roll provided a delightful breeze. As I taxied past the crowd heading for my parking spot, they were waving so I was busy waving back. Then it was time to shut down the engine, ditch the stinky flight suit, and chug a couple more bottles of Gatorade! I met up with John a few minutes later; he congratulated me on my first show, and with no ***-chewing from the Air Boss!

There was still a lot of show remaining, so we tried to find some shade and drink a lot of water. By mid-afternoon, the show was winding down. Eventually the ramp opened back up and some airplanes were already heading for home. We went through the hassle of refueling both planes again (had to get as much of our free show fuel as possible!), and eventually we departed and headed back to Houston. As during the previous day, I was doing everything I could to stay slow as John climbed up to altitude. We got up to 8500' and it finally cooled off enough to allow my sweaty flight suit to dry out a little. Then we landed at West Houston, fueled/hangared the T-28, wiped the oil as best we could...and then we still had to fly the Beech 18 back to Conroe, wipe it down and get it put back into the hangar. We were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got back to John's house that night. Warbird flying is hard work! Oh yeah, and then I had to commute home the next day. Awesome.

 

[Morecowbell]

Two weeks later, I commuted back to Houston. A buddy of mine from many years ago lives on an airpark south of Granbury TX, at Pecan Plantation. There's an Experimental Aircraft Association chapter there that has an annual fly-in and car show on the field. My buddy thought it would be really cool if I brought the T-28 for display. Somehow I got the days off (days that I'd normally be using for a big fall moto-tour, but that wasn't happening this year) to attend. I was concerned about the parking situation at this little airport. The runway is paved, but there's very little paved parking available. Most airplanes at the fly-in would be parking on the grass. I told my buddy that I didn't like the idea of parking on grass. At 8000 pounds, it might sink a bit into the grass, and breakaway thrust to start taxiing might damage any objects in my propwash. He said he would make some calls and see what he could do. With a week to go, he assured me that the Air Boss for the event really wanted me to bring the airplane, and they would absolutely have a paved spot for me to park. I might have to taxi on a few yards of grass to get to the spot, however. 

On Saturday morning John and I pulled the plane out as usual and got it ready to go. John had to work that afternoon, but I sure was happy to have his help getting it ready. Cranked up and airborne at 0900, I headed north towards Pecan Plantation. As I got closer, I could hear a lot of traffic for the airpark on the radio. It sounded quite busy, but I was hoping it would quiet down a bit when I got there. When about 10 minutes out, I could hear the Air Boss directing traffic. I checked-in with him on the radio and told him I'd orbit overhead until he had a spot for me. With a crowd of people on hand, it would be really fun to do a low pass to announce my arrival...but everybody has a camera these days, and somebody might get video evidence of me doing something stupid. Instead, I decided to set up for a normal landing, with a go-around towards the end. Nothing illegal about that! Air Boss cleared me into the pattern for a landing, and on about a mile final I announced I was doing a go-around. I poured the coals to it, started cleaning up the gear & flaps for a pass a few hundred feet above the runway. I eased to the right around a Piper that was climbing out; then I wondered why I wasn't accelerating as well as I should. Oh yeah, it really helps to retract the damn speed brake! I asked around later, and nobody saw me do it. I still felt pretty stupid, though. Finally I swung around the pattern again and landed. Most airplanes exited the runway and taxied back on the grass, but Air Boss, as planned, had me taxi back on the runway to a designated paved taxiway where I would park. It was really narrow, not much wider than the gear track of the -28. The EAA chapter had a photographer on hand to catch shots of the various activities. There's no way to make a subtle arrival in this thing.

After swinging around on a large patch of smooth grass, I reached my parking spot.

Then the photographer wanted me to pose for a pic in front in the ship. I hate posing for pics...like Ricky Bobby said on Talladega Nights, I don't know what to do with my hands.

It was definitely the biggest plane on the field...it sure attracted a lot of attention. I got a LOT of questions from people after I climbed out. After I ditched the flight suit, I blended into the crowd a bit better and didn't get asked quite as much.

After that, I met up with my buddy and chatted for a while, putting away a hot dog and cheeseburger in the process. I thought I deserved a Dr Pepper as well! He was then busy running the grill, so I stayed busy looking at airplanes and some of the classic cars (and a few classic motos) on display. After a while, I secured a bench in the shade and just watched the planes coming and going...the people-watching was fun too. The crowd started to fade in the late afternoon, and I took my buddy up for a brief ride not long before sunset...I think about 25 minutes or so. It had to be a short ride since I was keeping a close eye on my remaining fuel. I needed to keep enough on board to hop up to Granbury the next day and top off with their cheap fuel. There was a pot-luck dinner in the hangar that evening, and then I crashed at my friends' house after visiting with he and his wife for quite some time. 

On Sunday morning his wife made breakfast and we all chatted for quite a while. Then it was time to get going, so we headed over to the plane. A crowd gathered while I preflighted. A 13 year old neighbor kid was poking around asking questions, and my buddy asked if the kid could ride in the back seat up to Granbury. As long as his parents didn't mind, I was okay with it. And somebody else would have to chase us up there to bring him back! I gave the kid a quick briefing and strapped him in. I climbed in, started up and departed to the south. The kid was having a great time back there. I figured we'd make one high pass before departing the area, so I came back over the field at 500'. With climb power still set, we were hauling ***. I did a pretty steep pitch up and rolling turn at the far end of the runway. When I rolled level and looked back, the runway was waaaaay down there. I thought the kid was going to **** his pants from being so excited. After that, it was time to start slowing down to enter the pattern at Granbury, just a few miles away. We landed and taxied to the gas pumps, and I pumped about 130 gallons on board. Ouch! After that, I talked to another pilot and his cute wife for a little while. This is quite common with this airplane. Nothing happens fast because everyone wants to look at it or ask about it. 

So there I was on Sunday at 1pm...and I had until sunset to get the airplane put away in Houston. What to do? My mom lives near McKinney TX, on the opposite side of the D/FW area from where I was. Only 85 miles. A 40 minute flight. So I called Mom. Got any big plans? Of course not. If she'd pick me up at the airport, I'd buy her lunch. So I saddled up and headed that way. It was still hot and sweaty...luckily the fuel guy at Granbury gave me a few water bottles for the trip. I chugged two of them on the way. And then, as usual, somebody snapped my pic as I taxied off the runway at McKinney. I find shots like this later on Flikr and whatnot. It was really cool to land at McKinney again...John and I learned to fly there back in 1985, and we were both flight instructors there back in the 1987/88 time frame. 

As I shut down, Mom came walking out from the terminal building. I gave my phone to the ramp agent to take a pic. Mom was really happy for the surprise visit.

I ditched the stinky flight suit in the lobby and enjoyed the air conditioning of Mom's car as we drove to lunch. I told her that it would have to be quick...I still had to fly back to Houston and put the ship away, and then clean it! We spent about an hour and a half catching up on the latest family stories. And then it was time to get back to the airport, suit up, and head south. Mom said I had an audience in the terminal building watching me take off. And of course the same photographer caught me climbing out:

I climbed up to 9500' where it was a comfortable temp, and relaxed for the 1:15 flight back to West Houston. Getting closer to Houston sucked because I had to descend back down into the heat. I landed and then began the usual ritual of fuel/tug/hangar/wipe wipe wipe. Then I headed to John's house to eat his food and drink his beer so I could commute home the next morning. In a little over two weeks, I'd be back here again for another airshow weekend.

 

[RossKean]

I climbed up to 9500' where it was a comfortable temp, and relaxed for the 1:15 flight back to West Houston. Getting closer to Houston sucked because I had to descend back down into the heat. I landed and then began the usual ritual of fuel/tug/hangar/wipe wipe wipe. Then I headed to John's house to eat his food and drink his beer so I could commute home the next morning. In a little over two weeks, I'd be back here again for another airshow weekend.

That final picture is GREAT!!

Really enjoying this thread.

 

[Morecowbell]

That final picture is GREAT!!

I agree! I really thought it was neat to find that pic. The trees in the background are blurred just a bit so you can actually get a sense of motion.

I've been a lazy *** recently; it's taking me forever to get these pics posted.

I commuted back to Houston in mid-October to take the plane to the Wings Over Houston airshow at Ellington Field. John and John were both busy flying the B-17 for the show that weekend, so I was the only partner available to bring the T-28. We had a contract to bring it to the show with a small appearance fee and a small allotment of fuel. I'm just glad I was able to get the days off work to be able to attend.

On Friday afternoon, John and I did a very detailed preflight inspection while still in the hangar. We popped open the cowls to poke around a little and I added a few pounds of air to each tire. Eventually John hit the road for the drive to Ellington, and I waited a bit to kill time and allow the Ellington airspace to reopen after the USAF Thunderbirds practice session. With a Houston Wing cadet in the back seat, I eventually departed West Houston for the 25 minute flight across town to EFD. I took the long way around to avoid some complex airspace and really tall radio towers. I got parked at the end of a long line of T-6 Texan trainers. This was the only T-28 to show up.

I was only on the ground for about 30 minutes, however. Another CAF pilot had just flown the Twin Beech from Hobby to Ellington, and he needed a ride back to his car parked up at Conroe, a 67 mile drive. That would have been an awful (and expensive) Uber ride on a Friday evening, so we jumped into the T-28 and I flew him up to Conroe and dropped him off. After a 10 minute stop I fired up and headed back to Ellington, arriving just as the sun was setting. While I was doing the Conroe round-trip, John was out flying the B-17 doing a photo-flight with Sean Tucker in his famous aerobatic biplane.

Sean Tucker was flying his last solo routine in that biplane that weekend, after which it would be retired and soon on display at the Smithsonian museum at Dulles in Washington DC. Sean will continue doing airshows in an Extra monoplane with a new team partner.

Saturday morning we arrived at the airport early. As I did at Burnet, I opened up the canopy and did a preflight; then it was time to attend the Pilot Briefing. This was a much, much larger show than at Burnet, however. There was a huge group of pilots, and my goal was to keep a low profile and don't do anything stupid. During the Trainer Briefing, another pilot was designated leader of the Trainer Flight; he would be flying a Twin Beech. Since I was in the only T-28, the fastest of all the trainers present, I would be the first ship to taxi out and lead everyone to the runway, and the first to take off. Lead would be right behind me in his Twin Beech. Wonderful...no pressure there to not screw up.

After the briefing, I had time to fuel the plane and then wander around waiting for the show to start. I visited with the B-17 crew for a little while, and helped pull the props through before starting. Then the crowd was cleared from the flight line as the B-17 and CAF Tora flight prepared to start the show. Ever since John and I started attending airshows as kids with our dad, we always had to move back behind the crowd line...now I actually get a Hot Ramp pass, allowing me to remain out with the airplanes. That is just so cool. It only took 35 or 40 years.

I wandered back to the plane and found it to be quite popular with the police officers on bicycles. The T-6s sit way too low to the ground to provide any meaningful shade.

Keeping an eye on the show schedule, the clock, and whatever act was currently flying, I preflighted again and suited up about 30 minutes prior to engine start time. Then I strapped in and waited. I was quite a bit more nervous compared to the Burnet show. This was a much bigger deal and I had to taxi out first. I didn't want to be the guy dicking around while everyone else waited on me.

I finally saw the Trainer Lead start his engines, so I fired up as well. I only needed about five minutes for the engine oil to warm up, but we actually sat there idling for about 15 minutes. The oil was plenty warm when the Air Boss finally called for the Trainer Flight to taxi. I got marshalled out and found my way out to the runway where Lead and everyone else followed me into the line-up for engine run-ups and a launch call from Air Boss.

After the previous show act landed, Air Boss cleared us onto the runway, and I kept rolling forward as the rest of the flight filled up the runway behind me. Finally Air Boss said, "T-28, you and your flight are cleared to go." I poured the coals to it and off I went.

Airborne, kept it low and retracted the gear, built up some speed, then a climbing turn to fly the racetrack pattern at 1000 feet with the Twin Beeches staying behind me. I leveled off and set cruise power and started my turns. The other trainers were at 750', 500', and 250'. It was really fun looking down at the crowd line before yanking into a tight turn to join the downwind leg. After quite a few laps, Air Boss started landing the trainers from the lower stacks. As each stack emptied out, Boss would step me and the Twin Beeches down a level. The last two laps were down at 250', which was really fun. The crowd was *right there*, and it was fun yanking and banking at low level.

And then it was our turn to land; Boss wanted us to land long and take the turnoff towards the far end of the runway. I flew down the runway with a little power and got a squeaker of a landing down near the crowd; even rode a victory wheelie for a bit.

Somebody got a shot of me taxiing in...and like an *****, I forgot to retract the speed brake after landing. I had one job to do: don't do anything stupid, and I blew it. John signaled that the brake was extended as I taxied into the warbird parking area. After shutting down it was time to chug a lot of water and then head out in search of lunch!

Later that evening, another photo mission had been set up. There was a photographer in the back seat of a T-6; the photo subjects were the T-28 with John flying and me in the back seat, and the blue Twin Beech. They did a semi-formation takeoff and then headed east over the bay.

The photographer got some really cool shots.

And then it was time to put the plane to bed for the night.

Sunday was pretty much an exact duplicate of Saturday. Early Brief, wait for showtime, fly in circles. I didn't get any laps at 250' on Sunday though, but at least I remembered to retract the speed brake after landing. It got interesting on Sunday evening when trying to leave Ellington to head back to West Houston. I had another cadet in the back seat, the 13 year old daughter of another Wing member. The engine ran beautifully on the run-up. Departed runway 17R; on the initial climb before the first power reduction, I did my normal scan of the oil pressure, temperature, and Chip Detector Light. Holy ****, the Chip Light was on. That's a really bad light to see on a big radial engine. I started an immediate turn to enter downwind for runway 22; but then I looked down and the Chip Light was out. I rolled out of the turn and continued south for a moment. Maybe the light was just a momentary glitch? I very briefly considered continuing on to West Houston, but then the Light came back on again. Nope, that's it, I'm heading back to land immediately. I called Tower and told him I needed an immediate return for landing. He offered a downwind to land on 17R, but I declined and said I wanted a short downwind for 22. Much shorter flying time that way. I briefed the girl in the back seat, told her we were returning, and to lock her shoulder harness just in case the engine quit and I had to put it into a field. Power back, gear & flaps coming down, tight base turn. Smooth touchdown, engine still running smoothly. Whew! We were airborne for about four minutes. I stopped on a taxiway and texted John to not start driving to IWS just yet! I parked and shut down, and John climbed up to see what the problem was. He wasn't happy to see that red light either! But at least the engine kept running and we made it back to the airport and I didn't have to explain to the kids' father why we landed in a pasture. 

We returned on Monday with tools and work stands and got busy. We weren't sure what to expect, but we hoped to find no big metal chunks in the oil. That would require a $60K engine overhaul, and I just can't afford my share of that right now.

We pulled, cut open and inspected the oil filter. No metal to be seen, so that was very good. We removed and cleaned the oil screens; no chunks of metal, just a few tiny bits of carbon that are common to see. The front sump magnetic plug looked good, just a few tiny shavings stuck to it. Finally we found the smoking gun. John removed the rear sump plug (a very messy and oily process), and there was a *tiny* piece of metal...it actually looked like small safety wire...that was on the magnet, just long enough to complete the circuit for the Chip Light. We cleaned it up, switched on the ships power and the Light was out. We had an experienced warbird mechanic observing, and he was happy with what he saw...he recommended a 30-45 minute ground run and check the rear plug again. We put everything back together and John ran the engine for 30 minutes; ran smoothly, no Chip Light. The following week, John & John checked the plug again and it looked great, no metal or fuzz to worry about. This engine sat idle for eight+ years, and now that it's getting a lot more exercise, little bits are getting flushed out of the engine with the fresh detergent oil getting circulated. I guess it's doing its job? It sure scared the crap outta me to see that light come on, though. I hope to never see it again. It took a few weeks, but the guys finally got the plane moved back to home base at IWS. 

I'm not sure when I'll fly it again. It might be a couple of months.

 

[lonerider]

 I've seen numerous references to the T28 in use by our USAF FACs in the "secret" war in Laos in the late '60s, also in use by the Laotian AF as a ground attack platform in the same war.