sandiego89
1st Sep 2021, 15:33
Great to see Art Nalls getting Sea Harrier XZ-239 back into the Air after a 22 month hangar period.
Planning a booze run with the 190 gallon tanks! I know a few of our SHAR pilots on the forum have some experience with the the big tanks- but likely not with Bourbon on board!! Wonder how the Pegasus would respond if the feed were selected......
https://artnalls.com/team-shar-is-alive/After 22 months of undisturbed rest in the hangar, the Sea Harrier completed it annual conditional inspection and was once again airborne for a post-maintenance check flight!
Art took the airplane around the patch to make sure everything worked and that we still have a flying Harrier. After all, 22 months of being a ‘Hangar Queen’ is enough to make things a bit sluggish. Things rust…
But the airplane sprang back to life, and all systems worked perfectly. There were only few – and I mean few – very minor discrepancies. The landing light was burnt out, the canopy bungees were weak, and the nose tire developed a flat spot. All minor and fixed in the following few days.
Actually, the LSO comments from our experienced LSO, Joe Anderson, were that two of the landings were very nice. Unfortunately, I did THREE landings. One landing, appeared just a bit untidy, with a bounce. Not unsafe, just not crisp and sharp. I think I was wearing my reading glasses and mis-judged the actual touchdown and had a late idle. Oh well. I logged two landings on that approach. All in all, the airplane is still up and appears to be reusable….
A week later, I flew another flight. This time with our modified 190-gallon drop tanks installed. It was a captive carry flight for our next, high-speed flight. I easily reached 475 knots (approx. 525 mph) in our aerobatic box, but didn’t have enough room to get full-speed. I wasn’t even at full throttle. This is in preparation for a charity event this Saturday, 28 August.
THE 700 MPH BOURBON RUN!
For the past two years, Nalls Aviation, in close association with The Tobacco Barn Distillery in St. Mary’s County, MD, have planned to take some local distilled bourbon up as fast as we can get it in the Harrier. The bourbon is then specially bottled and sold for the benefit of the Semper Fi Fund. It’s ALL for charity. We anticipate bottling and distribution just in time for the Marine Corps Birthday, November 10th, a known uptick and spike in consumption date…
But Covid-19 put everything on hold. Now that we’re coming back to life, we’ve received all the approvals, the airplane is ready and we’re scheduled this flight for Saturday, August 28th, 2021 from St. Mary’s County Airport (2W6). Special tickets are still available, as of this post. We’ve received our FAA waiver, the BATF has approved, as well as the Maryland Comptroller. There are other agencies as well, this close to Washington, D.C., and they’ve all approved.
We’ll have our LSO, Joe Anderson, on the radios and watching us on the ground, while Charlie VandenBossche will be safety chase in the L-39. A photographer will be riding in the trunk of the L-39.
Now, I know many of you are questioning how we plan to do this. Our 190-gallon drop tanks are rated and cleared to hold 190 gallons of jet fuel, though the limits of the approved envelope. We removed only the internal plumbing and electrical wires – – 27 lbs in total. All the baffles and key structure are still intact. Our load for the flight is two, new white oak barrels, in each drop tank. A total weight – bourbon and oak barrels combined, of 496 lbs internal load. Less than half of what would be fuel. And since I’ll limit the G-loading as well, we should not have any issues on structure at all.
Although we call this “The 700 MPH Bourbon Run” that is merely the name, not a pass / fail mark. What we’re doing is for charity and a good story. A good story always goes well with bourbon. In fact, bourbon is often the source of a good story, so let’s make sure we raise a ton of money for this very worthwhile charity.
So check out The Tobacco Barn website. Get your orders in and your wallets out!
Wish us all luck!
Art
Planning a booze run with the 190 gallon tanks! I know a few of our SHAR pilots on the forum have some experience with the the big tanks- but likely not with Bourbon on board!! Wonder how the Pegasus would respond if the feed were selected......
https://artnalls.com/team-shar-is-alive/After 22 months of undisturbed rest in the hangar, the Sea Harrier completed it annual conditional inspection and was once again airborne for a post-maintenance check flight!
Art took the airplane around the patch to make sure everything worked and that we still have a flying Harrier. After all, 22 months of being a ‘Hangar Queen’ is enough to make things a bit sluggish. Things rust…
But the airplane sprang back to life, and all systems worked perfectly. There were only few – and I mean few – very minor discrepancies. The landing light was burnt out, the canopy bungees were weak, and the nose tire developed a flat spot. All minor and fixed in the following few days.
Actually, the LSO comments from our experienced LSO, Joe Anderson, were that two of the landings were very nice. Unfortunately, I did THREE landings. One landing, appeared just a bit untidy, with a bounce. Not unsafe, just not crisp and sharp. I think I was wearing my reading glasses and mis-judged the actual touchdown and had a late idle. Oh well. I logged two landings on that approach. All in all, the airplane is still up and appears to be reusable….
A week later, I flew another flight. This time with our modified 190-gallon drop tanks installed. It was a captive carry flight for our next, high-speed flight. I easily reached 475 knots (approx. 525 mph) in our aerobatic box, but didn’t have enough room to get full-speed. I wasn’t even at full throttle. This is in preparation for a charity event this Saturday, 28 August.
THE 700 MPH BOURBON RUN!
For the past two years, Nalls Aviation, in close association with The Tobacco Barn Distillery in St. Mary’s County, MD, have planned to take some local distilled bourbon up as fast as we can get it in the Harrier. The bourbon is then specially bottled and sold for the benefit of the Semper Fi Fund. It’s ALL for charity. We anticipate bottling and distribution just in time for the Marine Corps Birthday, November 10th, a known uptick and spike in consumption date…
But Covid-19 put everything on hold. Now that we’re coming back to life, we’ve received all the approvals, the airplane is ready and we’re scheduled this flight for Saturday, August 28th, 2021 from St. Mary’s County Airport (2W6). Special tickets are still available, as of this post. We’ve received our FAA waiver, the BATF has approved, as well as the Maryland Comptroller. There are other agencies as well, this close to Washington, D.C., and they’ve all approved.
We’ll have our LSO, Joe Anderson, on the radios and watching us on the ground, while Charlie VandenBossche will be safety chase in the L-39. A photographer will be riding in the trunk of the L-39.
Now, I know many of you are questioning how we plan to do this. Our 190-gallon drop tanks are rated and cleared to hold 190 gallons of jet fuel, though the limits of the approved envelope. We removed only the internal plumbing and electrical wires – – 27 lbs in total. All the baffles and key structure are still intact. Our load for the flight is two, new white oak barrels, in each drop tank. A total weight – bourbon and oak barrels combined, of 496 lbs internal load. Less than half of what would be fuel. And since I’ll limit the G-loading as well, we should not have any issues on structure at all.
Although we call this “The 700 MPH Bourbon Run” that is merely the name, not a pass / fail mark. What we’re doing is for charity and a good story. A good story always goes well with bourbon. In fact, bourbon is often the source of a good story, so let’s make sure we raise a ton of money for this very worthwhile charity.
So check out The Tobacco Barn website. Get your orders in and your wallets out!
Wish us all luck!
Art