Sopwith Camel
DeHavilland Mosquito
Hawker Siddeley / British Aerospace Harrier
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk
Learjet 45
Ultranomad wrote:
No, even at takeoff power it’s only about 280 In level flight at MTOW (5250 kg), cruising speed is 95 kts and fuel consumption is about 155 lph. At 4000 kg, it’s 80 kts and 120 lph. One can also slow down to ~70 kts at ~100 lph.
Well, as I said, it’s a long time. 1993. For para drop flights that is what I remembered being told and about 150 in cruise, we are not that far apart. Ours had 5.5 t MTOW (Agro and Paradump versions, not sure about the passenger version. The AN2 M (Single Pilot) was yet different but I only flew that one once). Be aware, there are different subtypes of engines, even if you have to look carefully. Ours were running on Russian Oil for starters and for export needed a massive change. I remember a Hungarian AN2 which came to grief because they filled the wrong oil. I’d also wagger the exemplars now in circulation in Western Europe are maintained to a very high standard, while what I used to fly was maintained to what they could afford. That could explain the subtle differences.
Yes, in Cruise you can vary a lot, but i don’t think you win much by flying that slow, would have to calculate out the range. Most I ever did was close to 5.5 hours, I think we landed with about 200 liters remaining. With Paradrop flights we would need fuel once a day. Thinking about that, it’s a wonder how this radial coped with that kind of abuse of up to 10-15 cycles a day.
For me it would have to be…
Beaver on floats
Douglas DC-3
Lockheed Tristar
VC-10
Vulcan
The first two are probably possible but I doubt I’ll ever get to fly the others
Think if I had to pick 5 I’d love to fly…
Cessna 414AW
Helio Courier
Jungmeister
Yak 18T
Twin Bee
Mooney_Driver wrote:
consumption is about 300 lph plus some liters of oil too
No, even at takeoff power it’s only about 280 
In level flight at MTOW (5250 kg), cruising speed is 95 kts and fuel consumption is about 155 lph. At 4000 kg, it’s 80 kts and 120 lph. One can also slow down to ~70 kts at ~100 lph.
5 types Ive always wanted to fly:
F-8 Falco
TB-30 Epsilon
Vans RV, preferably an RV8.
SF-260.
F-4 Phantom (the phabulous phantasy pick!!)
DeltaKiloHotel wrote:
Antonov AN-2. Have flown in one, but never taken it off or landed it
I did a full type rating (as was required in the days) in Bulgaria in the 199ties for a very low price at the time and it was the best thing I ever did. Lovely airplane, multi crew (in that operation at the time with either two pilots or one pilot/one FE). Can only recommend the experience, if you ever get the chance.
If I had the means, I’d get one and fly it. It is lovely to fly, can get in and out of just about anywhere and has plenty of space for family baggage. And some also have a loo
Engine management is a handful. Separate cowl flaps for oil cooler and the engine itself, lots of dials to watch, careful application and reduction of power, keeping it within temps. But it has auto-mixture for most regimes. Best learnt during para dropping flights, on long haul it’s easy. Ah yea, enroute consumption is less, about 150 lph in eco cruise.
If not heavily loaded it can take about any grass strip I can think of. Usually it is airborne by the time you finish setting take off power, which on longer runways you don’t even need, you can go with nominal power right away. Fully loaded you would want about 600 m of grass. And it does not have to be mowed to golf green standards either…
Unfortunately not too cheap to run… consumption is about 300 lph plus some liters of oil too. Fill up a 1200 liter fuel tank and a 100 liter oil tank might sting a bit ever time you do it. Apart from some funny moments as if you tell the fueller you need oil and when he hands you a 1 l bottle tell im, “thanks, can I have 20 more of those?”. Also landing fees for 5.5 tons MTOW can be a bit eye-watering. For maintenance, you need a bunch of folks who know this plane in and out, best operated in one of the countries which are used to them. Guy I knew who had one here hired a mechanic from Hungary to live in full time with him. Downside may also be that as per POH this is a 2 crew airplane. I know that there are some people who have authorisation to fly it with one pilot though, in BG this was only allowed with the AN2 M, which had some controls relocated to do that. Don’t know how that is handled in Germany and elsewhere. Personally I would prefer to fly it two crew, at least with a flight engineer who can operate the engine and help with ground ops.
Only thing one needs to be really careful with is wake turbulence. If you operate this thing into a normal GA airfield, make sure those behind you know they’d rather wait 5 minutes after your departure before they take off in their small planes.
For me, it will probably remain the only public transport airplane I ever flew in command. But I don’t regret one cent i spent doing this rating, even if I never used it again after that wonderful time in Krumovo and Benkovski. If the chance arose to fly it again, I’d jump at it.
@Silvaire of great use, thank you. The S-2A is quite sprightly even on a warm day and damp grass, and requires a fair amount of right rudder as power applied, gently, on take off. It tends to fly off, and you relax back pressure early to look after the tailwheel spring, so not much by way of gyroscopic effect. Tracking the faint white runway markers on grass, and keeping straight, with no visibility ahead is always an art requiring some astrology in certain light conditions.
Interesting comment on the flat bottom wing. Over the threshold is around 85 MPH IAS which is probably on the front side of the drag curve, and hold off is minimal for a tailwheel type. Then the ‘fun’ starts, especially if the landing surface is nice and undulating…not!
RobertL18C wrote:
@Silvaire have not flown the S-1S or T, is it more of a handful than the S-2? Have only flown the S-2A on grass runways, I expect on narrow tarmac quite a challenge.
I’ve never flown any Pitts, except for rides and flying some aerobatics in the front seat of an S-2C… which was BTW awesome. In other words I’ve never done any Pitts takeoff or landing.
If its of any value (you decide) the ex-owner of the S-1T told me this repeatedly, and also the guy who crashed it twice: the S1-T is a challenge mainly because of its very high power (200 HP angle valve engine) in relation to its small size and weight, you have to lead with the correct control inputs before and during takeoff or it heads off into the bushes quickly. On landing he says keeping the S-1T straight is not difficult in comparison with other Pitts he’s flown, and he thinks that was because it is a factory built plane with a accurate construction in terms on wheel placement and alignment versus some of the homebuilt planes.
He also says that an S-1T with the symmetrical wing is a different and less gentle plane to fly on approach compared with an S-1C with flat bottom wing. I suppose that comparison may also hold true in relation to a flat bottom winged S-2A.
Hope that is of some use. All of the above would be on wide tarmac.
