Global Aviation Magazine : 60 Years of the Hercules
Hmm, with due respect to many of the illustrious posters on the thread, surely, STN 245 aft was where the GE was required to be during a flight, forward of that was for the important people. I knew my place, and, was happy to take Chf Techs pay for operating my hammock on long duration flights. I once managed a few minutes on a Lyneham/Aldergrove trip. Though, I must say I didnt get my usual top of the drop CW2 !! As I trusted the pilot to be capable of flying the aircraft, I always understood that the trim of the aircraft was in the hands of the Loadmaster, and I'm damn sure I never met one that couldn't do the job, I'm still here aren't I?
Smudge
Smudge
FS0
I think I was told that FS0 was on the wall at Marietta. That was the datum where the jigs were referenced when building the fuselage.
Slight thread drift but may also be folk lore. When the Belfasts were built at Shorts the tide level had to taken into account when setting up the jigs!
Anyone know the truth?
1066
Slight thread drift but may also be folk lore. When the Belfasts were built at Shorts the tide level had to taken into account when setting up the jigs!
Anyone know the truth?
1066
The 30 inches in front of the nose datum is the Manufacturer's Datum Point (MDP). This was known as Station 0 and all the other references are from this point. The Trim Datum was at FS 527. This was the datum used for weight and balance purposes.
Whilst looking for something else this came to light.
It shows the ORIGINAL 'K' trim envelope with restriction imposed when fuel was in the externals. It does not show the forward and aft airdrop extensions.
So you can see that the MAC is 164.5 inches (all in 'old' money !) long and Lemac is 487.4 inches aft of the MDP. Cof G runs from 15 to 30 percent of the MAC but is also a function of the a/c weight.
I think that is quite enough for now ! My brain hurts.
Whilst looking for something else this came to light.
It shows the ORIGINAL 'K' trim envelope with restriction imposed when fuel was in the externals. It does not show the forward and aft airdrop extensions.
So you can see that the MAC is 164.5 inches (all in 'old' money !) long and Lemac is 487.4 inches aft of the MDP. Cof G runs from 15 to 30 percent of the MAC but is also a function of the a/c weight.
I think that is quite enough for now ! My brain hurts.
Brian,
this Pavlovian dog could not resist it ! Today's excuse is that Coffman wanted something along these lines I think. I promise to skulk at the back of the class for a while at least !
this Pavlovian dog could not resist it ! Today's excuse is that Coffman wanted something along these lines I think. I promise to skulk at the back of the class for a while at least !
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AA62 ...
I don't mind taking the wrap old chap ... But I'm hoping one of you Gentlemen Loadmasters will turn up a K Load Sheet at some point. Sad I know ...
I don't mind taking the wrap old chap ... But I'm hoping one of you Gentlemen Loadmasters will turn up a K Load Sheet at some point. Sad I know ...
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Aft Air Drop Extensions
If it happened that the DZ winds were out of limits for Para-Wedge it sometimes occurred that the sortie was ordered to go ahead with wedge only for practice. There then was a frantic installation of heavy rubber "railway sleepers" for ballast which were moved again after the drop to trim the aircraft. Always a source of endless fun amongst Loadmasters.
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Priceless Drop Sequence
The best ever intercom call on a para-wedge drop from a student Nav would only have been made worse by interrupting and it was a long DZ.
"RED ON, no, there's a five second gap between RED ON CUT and GREEN ON, Oh sh*t DUMMY RUN, DUMMY RUN"
Loadmaster- "Load gone"
The troops stayed on board but all their weapons and bergens drifted down on the lone chute.
It would take a heart of stone not to crack a smile.
"RED ON, no, there's a five second gap between RED ON CUT and GREEN ON, Oh sh*t DUMMY RUN, DUMMY RUN"
Loadmaster- "Load gone"
The troops stayed on board but all their weapons and bergens drifted down on the lone chute.
It would take a heart of stone not to crack a smile.
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Clunk, similar to the Scottish co, who as we ran in to the DZ with the B4 AE ready (safety line removed) , announced over the intercom " visual with the DZ, 12 o'clock 3 miles Red roofed building with the green field behind it." So tempted to manually release the extractor!!
Some of the non 'K' readers may not know the SOP for airdrop. It was to drop on the lights (red/green) and if no lights then drop on the intercom calls that were concurrent with the lights.
If no intercom no drop. Thus the Loadmasters who dropped on the calls from the flightdeck were carrying out the correct procedure. Hence ksimboy's temptation to use the extractor parachute manual release handle and let the load go. On training sorties an experienced Loadmaster could sift the intercom chat but on an op drop the organised chaos down the back did not usually afford such luxury.
If no intercom no drop. Thus the Loadmasters who dropped on the calls from the flightdeck were carrying out the correct procedure. Hence ksimboy's temptation to use the extractor parachute manual release handle and let the load go. On training sorties an experienced Loadmaster could sift the intercom chat but on an op drop the organised chaos down the back did not usually afford such luxury.
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Some of the non 'K' readers may not know the SOP for airdrop. It was to drop on the lights (red/green) and if no lights then drop on the intercom calls that were concurrent with the lights.
If no intercom no drop. Thus the Loadmasters who dropped on the calls from the flightdeck were carrying out the correct procedure. Hence ksimboy's temptation to use the extractor parachute manual release handle and let the load go. On training sorties an experienced Loadmaster could sift the intercom chat but on an op drop the organised chaos down the back did not usually afford such luxury.
If no intercom no drop. Thus the Loadmasters who dropped on the calls from the flightdeck were carrying out the correct procedure. Hence ksimboy's temptation to use the extractor parachute manual release handle and let the load go. On training sorties an experienced Loadmaster could sift the intercom chat but on an op drop the organised chaos down the back did not usually afford such luxury.
What the ????
I responded "2 minutes - removing restraints" and waited a second before commencing.
I had no idea of the chaos going on up front and we ended up flying around for 20 minutes with an unrestrained load as we were apparently "lost"!
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Going back to the days of PRT and the ASRA drop, we flew off the Cornish coast on a beautiful Summers day with the doors open. The Sqn Captain, universally unpopular, failed to say he was briefing the procedure. On instructions from staff ALM every time the word mark was said out went the flame floats, Staff Captain commented on the pretty lines of smoke drifting across the oggsplash, with no penny dropping in LHS. Preparing to enter search area, staff ALM informed Captain we couldn't do the training as we had nil stock of flame floats left! Captain was suitably chastened for at least 5 minutes as we dropped the ASRA kit anyway (not just the containers but rope box and baseboard ) to give the simulated survivors something to occupy them till rescue !
I wonder, if I may ask, if someone could describe the procedure for the drivers airframe through the OCU, both as a prospective complimentary pilot, and the further training to the left hand seat. I'm sure that Albert wasn't an easy piece of kit to fly, and there must have been some points in training where our future Captains thought they might not "make the grade" . There's a lot of stuff about airdrop, precision etc on the thread that seems to assume that the two winged master race had a simple job, hardly worthy of mention. Come on pilots, give us the gist of moving from METS to Albert.
Smudge
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Brian ...
So that would be the Prince Albert Dover then ...
Where I had my first beer many years ago ... Strange but true
Excellent shout Smudge on the next topic
So that would be the Prince Albert Dover then ...
Where I had my first beer many years ago ... Strange but true
Excellent shout Smudge on the next topic