Warbird Information Exchange

Mike,

I had to fly on a fire near John Day,Oregon over the weekend and I'm just getting a chance to get online.Here are the map co-ordinates from your map:

For the Skyfox:

42 22 32.17N 122 52 41.74W

42.375603,-122.878261

For the F-16:

42 22 31.37N 122 52 39.19W

42.375381,-122.877553

In this picture,the X on the left,nearest to the tanker base is Skyfox,the other is the F-16's current location



As for the pictures,would you prefer the full high-def versions or would the Photo Net size that I use for this sitework better for you? If any particular pics would be preferable,let me know.You are certainly welcome to use any pictures that I post here....LK

I was watching PV-2 and DC-7 airtankers load up with retardant this evening at the Medford Airtanker Base and noticed that "SkyFox" was conspicuously missing.

Does anyone have a heads up?

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Keep your PDI centered!

I'll ask around, but I'm pretty sure that it's hiding somewhere on the airport. Medford Air went out of business last September and they handled the tie-down rentals on the ramp by the tanker base.

I thought the Skyfox was a neat looking jet when it first flew. Still looks cool and hope someone can put her back in the air.


Chappie

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Brrring. Dispersal? TWO SECTIONS SCRAMBLE!!

Larry, which one are you flying this summer?

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Keep your PDI centered!

I'm still flying T62 on a State of Oregon contract based in Medford. We've been intermittently busy with fires out of Klamath Falls, Redmond, Medford and La Grande. When Erickson Aero Tanker took over Butler Aircraft's DC-7 tanker operation last year, they changed the way the pilots are paid and my flight pay of almost $100 per revenue hour was eliminated.

Since then, I seem to fly almost every day compared to once per 10-15 days in the past. That was irritating until I figured out that being on a salary year round works out better. T66 is on the other ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) contract based out of Redmond and our 3rd DC-7 (T60) is on a CalFire (State of California) contract based out of Chico and Paso Robles.

All three DC-7s have flown about 50 revenue hours each, so far and it looks like another long and active fire season in this part of the world at the moment.

Glad to hear that you'll be getting a regular paycheck year round even if it does hurt short term. I've been seeing pics of you and 66 on the Fire Bombers group over on Facebook and it sounds like most of the guys over there, both crews and enthusiasts are happy to see the Butler birds getting regular work this year.

What was the story on T62's feathered outboard starboard?

By the way, that was a sweet landing Saturday night!

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Keep your PDI centered!

We had to shut down #4 engine after a sudden drop from 175 BMEP to 150 while climbing out of Medford for the Oregon Gulch fire south of Ashland. The loss of a cylinder or a PRT results in a 12 BMEP drop with the same manifold pressure as before. In this case our climb power is 2400 rpm and 175 BMEP or 36" manifold pressure. If you match the BMEP with a dead cylinder, it takes an additional 2" of manifold pressure.

A quick check of the ignition analyzer indicated a double-shorted secondary in the #9 cylinder. This means that both of the spark plugs in that cylinder have stopped firing. That could be caused by the failure of the booster coil that increases the low tension voltage from the magneto and distributor to high enough voltage to fire the spark plugs. There is one coil bolted to the top of each cylinder.

It could also indicate oil fouled spark plugs or that some foreign object, such as a valve seat insert is rattling around inside the cylinder that has peened the spark plug electrodes. A double-shorted secondary is usually cause for a precautionary engine shut down. So, we shut down #4, jettisoned the retardant and returned to Medford.

We had an upper ring land failure on the piston in the #9 cylinder. Pieces of the rings damaged the #1 PRT on the way out through the exhaust. We would normally change the engine, rather than change a lower cylinder on the airplane, but it was decided to try a cylinder and PRT change in this case. It took several mechanics about 36 hours to get us up and going again. With an engine change, assuming everything is set up and ready to go, the average time from start to finish is 5-7 hours.

We flew a maintenance test flight following the work and later flew a load to Oregon Gulch and #4 looks good (knock wood). I have a few pictures of the work in progress that I'll post here when I get time to upload them to Photo bucket.