It looks more dangerous than it really is. You are in the "ground" effect and whoever has flown that low can tell that you really feel the terrain...so if you touch the water in this case with the main wheels, and if you have it well trimmed, the feeling is more than noticeable and the pitch is very easy to maintain. Of course these particular aircrafts are not light as a PA11 but the physics of flight are the same though...
ThinkingManNeil wrote:
Those are amazing photo's, but I don't think stunts like that are very clever or helpful to aviation. All it would take is for one of those guys to sneeze and they'd be a stain on the intrument panel, and a perfectly good warbird would likely be destroyed in the process.
And taking passengers along is none too bright either; I wonder if he knew they were going to do this?
Skilled, professional aerobatics is one thing; this was a dangerous stunt with less than no room for error that easily could've ended in tragedy and a blackeye for the warbird movement.
N.
Well, not exactly correct...
This is one of those tricks that looks far worse than it actually is. It's been done many many times before, using lots of different types of aircraft (Cubs, T-6s, a Skyraider would be cool but the aircraft type really doesn't matter as long as it's convention gear). As for skill, well it's a wheel landing so I guess you have to be able to do one of those. Give yourself a decent run in, arrest your sink rate and skim her on. Once on the water you cannot push the plane in. It's just like being on concrete. There's a great stretch of the Missouri River near Kansas City that's seen this done more than a few times.
Cool that it's a 4 ship, but again not the hardest trick in the book. Basically a 4 ship section landing. Once on the water all you need is rudder and power to maintain position in the flight.
Sorry Neil, a sneeze wouldn't have guaranteed a crash, just like a sneeze during takeoff or landing is not a guaranteed crash. The risks shown here are no greater (and substantially less) than during a normal 4 ship formation flight, and MUCH less than during a 4 ship aerobatic routine.
Just wish I had thought of it first. The four ship element is SH.
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Thanks for the explanation Mr Patterson. That would be the coolest, seeing a Skyraider doing it.
