Warbird Information Exchange

Bad weekend in NJ.
http://www.nj.com/southjersey/index.ssf ... plane.html
Rich

I saw that on Fox 29 tonight- It has been a BAD weekend for aviation locally... I heard the names, but did not recognize them, although the picture of the pilot/owner of the L-29 looked familiar, so I may have seen him around at local airports...

Robbie

Not to stray off topic but is it just me or do the L29s have a poor safety record?

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Cheers,
Peter

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Do you have specific examples Peter? I can't think of many L-29 accidents in recent years.

Records really reflect the amount of flights vs accidents. To say I know of a few accidents really doesn't give an accurate response to a safety record.
At least 1 seemed to be an aircraft re-engined but had a weight and balance problem not recognized.
Rich

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_i ... 6977&key=1

only one in the data base since 1990

Are you thing of the L-39 maybe? I think there have been several more L39 than L29 accidents in recent years.

And most of those have been due to pilot error (usually doing aerobatics), not mechanical failure.

The L-29 accident at Tillamook was pilot error. The pilot was the museum curator ( can't remember his name) and he also was a retired Navy CDR A-6/F-14 pilot. They were doing slowing turning circles to try and shot the FM-2 right next to the blimp hanger when he stalled and spun in from 500' right in front of us all. Tillamook never has had good luck with any events they've put on
BTW I remember this a/c was black and was modified with a large engine type unknown to me. P & W maybe

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Don't touch my junk!!

It was probably a rolls royce Viper. That is a fairly common engine swap for the L-29.

clicking on the link Matt provided both out this tidbit
retrofitted with a Pratt & Whitney J60-5 engine
glad to see my memory isn't totally gone

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Don't touch my junk!!

What's the old saying about strapping a Pratt and Whitney to a paper airplane......

Two were done with engines out a T-39, they climb very fast, Bob Yance built them at K falls

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Has any one hear from n5151? Doesn't he fly one of these? Hope he is alright.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Again, we have misinformation on a crash. This time either by the FAA or the reporter. I hope it was the reporter that screwed up. At least BIGFRANKT caught it. Aside from that, My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the two men lost in this accident. I have two friends that fly L-29s and neither has had any type of problem with them. They feel that they are one of the safest planes they have ever flown.




The aircraft, an L-29 Delfin, crashed at 8:03 a.m., about a half-mile north west of the airport, said Holly Baker, a spokeswoman for the FAA.The plane was an experimental homebuilt model, Baker said.



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COMMENTS (1)Post a comment
Posted by bigfrankt on 06/23/08 at 8:29AM
The L-29 is not a home built aircraft. It was introduced in 1961 as a jet powered trainer aircraft by Czechoslovokia and adopted by the Eastern Bloc military as the standard fighter pilot training aircraft.Approximately 20 countries operated it in either trainer or fighter configuration most notably Egypt which used them in the Yom Kippur War.

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The more I learn about aircraft, the more I realize I still have to learn.