Albatross Betting
2022年1月7日Register here: http://gg.gg/xh46r
Created by Maj Russ Erb, reviewed by Rich Sugden
*Harry Higgs’ incredible albatross leads Shots of the Week. Leaders in driving from Safeway Open. Highlights and one-liners from Phil Mickelson’s season debut at Safeway Open.
*Today we discuss how I managed to get banned from sports betting, but we also discuss how to implement arbitrage betting strategies to make you money!Arbitra.
NOTE: This page has extensive large graphics, as the primary target audience is the students at the USAF Test Pilot School, who have a high-speed Internet connection to view it with. Anyone is welcome to look at this page--just be patient if you a viewing this over a modem..
اخبار پاداش ها راهنما. ورزشی زنده کازینو بازی ها کازینوی زنده پنالتی.
Introduction
Cockpit and Fuselage
Aerodynamics and Flight Controls
Propulsion
Landing Gear
Water Adaptation
Other Cool Stuff
Your HostIntroduction
The Albatross, the fifth amphibian built by Grumman Aircraft for the military, was designed in the late 1940’s for Air/Sea search and rescue, air ambulance, antisubmarine patrol, cargo, and transport. The first of about 450 aircraft built entered service in 1949. The Albatross served with the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and the military services of 17 foreign countries. The last aircraft left Navy service in 1976, and some Albatrosses are still in service abroad.
The Albatross usually carried a crew of seven, including pilot, co-pilot, radio operator, radar operator, navigator and two crewmen. The search radar was said to be sensitive enough to spot a liferaft on the open ocean. During the Korean war 900 airmen were rescued by Albatross crews. It has a wingspan of 85 feet, a length of 62 feet and weighs 22,000 pounds empty. It can carry 1700 gallons of fuel in its main, float and drop tanks and has a range of over 3,000 miles. It has two nine cylinder supercharged Wright 1820-76 radial engines that produce 1450 horsepower each and give it a cruise speed of close to 200 mph and a service ceiling of over 25,000 feet. N3HU is an ’A’ model Albatross. The ’B’ model was designed later, has a longer wingspan, that gives it a greater range and service ceiling, but slightly slower speed. A ’tri’-phibian version with skis was designed to operate off the ice and snow in the polar regions.
Grumman Albatross, USN Bureau Number 131906, was delivered to the Seven Rivers Naval Air Station, Annapolis Maryland on June 23rd, 1953. It subsequently served at NAMC R&D in Philadelphia, FASRON 110, N.A.S. Kwajalein, N.A.S. North Island San Diego, N.A.S. Pensacola, N.A.S. Trinidad, and finished its operational duty at N.A.S. Key West, Florida. On May 9th, 1968 it was ferried to Davis Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona for mothballing and storage. It, along with 29 other Albatrosses, was traded for by a Florida aviation enthusiast in the 1980’s and Dr. Sugden selected and purchased it in 1993. The aircraft had only 3500 hours of flight time, and underwent complete inspection and replacement (IRAN) overhaul only 700 hours prior to her retirement. It was restored to flying condition by Chuck Wooten of Specialized Aircraft Maintenance in Tucson, ferried to Aerocrafters Aviation Inc. in Santa Rosa California in 1993, and the restoration process was largely completed by the spring of 1995. With the exception of modern avionics and instruments, the interior and exterior were generally restored to original condition and configuration. The original medical stretchers are used as bunks. A marine lavatory replaced the spartan Navy head and a small galley was added.
The aircraft will be used for exploring lakes and territories in the far reaches of Canada, Alaska and eventually the owner hopes to return her to the South Pacific. N3HU is based in Driggs, Idaho and spends many of the summer months on Lake Pend Oreille outside of Sandpoint, Idaho. Cockpit and Fuselage The aircraft is entered through a hatch (no doors-this is a Navy bird) on the left side of the fuselage. Since the hatch has to be above the water line, it requires climbing this ladder to get in. I guess you could try to jump up there, but using the ladder looks much less silly.
The door is split horizontally (’Dutch Door’). Opening just the top half provides a higher freeboard in rough weather to keep the waves out. A rescue platform can be attached to the bottom door sill to assist pulling in people from the water.
Just to the left of the door is a retractable step (at the bottom of the black line, above the window) that is used for climbing up to the top of the fuselage.
Just inside the hatch, looking forward, we see the passenger/cargo compartment. This picture does a poor job of relating how big this compartment feels. On the left are four original litters, retained for use as crew rest bunks. Forward on the right are four seats. The hatch at the front of this compartment leads into the cockpit.
Moving to the front of the passenger/cargo compartment and turning around, we see the hatch leading to the lavatory and ’head,’ which can be very important on those 16.5 hour sorties.
Looking through another Navy style hatch into the flight deck. The walkway is a the same level as the deck (Navy for floor) in the passenger/cargo compartment, but the flight deck on either side is about kneecap height. Pilot and copilot seats are where you’d expect them, with an additional seat behind the pilot and another behind the copilot.
View of the pilot’s side of the instrument panel. A complete set of primary flight instruments is installed on each side of the cockpit. It’s a good thing too, since looking cross cockpit is a loooong way away.
On top of the left end of the pilot’s yoke is a coolie hat trim switch which was installed by the current owner. Fore and aft movement controls the left elevator trim, much as you would expect. Left and right movement controls the rudder trim, NOT the aileron trim as in many other installations. You’ll probably find that this was a good idea, since you’ll need rudder trim a lot more than aileron trim as you change your power settings.
A closer view of the pilot’s instruments.
Engine instruments, fuel quantity, and gear and flap position instruments are located in the center of the panel between the pilots.
All trim tabs are electrically controlled. The original trim switches for elevator, rudder, and aileron trim located on the center console, along with indicators for the current trim position. The coolie hat switches on the yokes are simply connected to the same circuits as the left elevator and rudder switches shown here. The left and right elevator trim tabs are independent systems, giving redundancy in the pitch axes.
Note also in this picture that the primary engine controls (throttle, mixture, etc) are located on the overhead center console. This was presumably easier to implement since the engines are located on the high wing.
Copilot’s flight instruments.
The overhead center console contains the primary engine controls. The throttles and mixture controls are levers as you would probably expect. The propeller RPM is electrically controlled and hydraulically actuated. The two toggle switches are pushed forward to increase RPM, and pulled backwards to decrease RPM. These switches are spring-loaded to center, so you must hold them in the appropriate position until the desired RPM is reached. To learn more about the general operation techniques of these engines, check out the Beech 18 procedures, which are similar.
The supercharger control changes the gear ratio of the engine-driven supercharger. Other than checking operation before takeoff, expect to leave this control in the ’Low Blower’ position for the entire flight. The low speed setting is sufficient at low altitudes to provide the required manifold pressure. At high altitudes, where the ambient pressure is lower, the high speed setting is engaged to additionally compress the air before it goes to the engine. At low altitudes, when the low speed setting is sufficient to supply the maximum manifold pressure, engaging the high speed setting actually reduces the power available by the amount of power required to drive the supercharger faster, with no usable increase in manifold pressure, since the manifold pressure is already at the maximum allowable value.
The throttle friction lever can be easily moved to change the friction on the throttle levers. Typically you would want lots of friction in cruise flight, much less for taxi, takeoff and landing where many small throttle movements are required.
The flap control is simply pulled down until the desired flap setting, printed on the side, is visible. Choices are 15, 30, and 40 degrees.
Fuel management is accomplished by turning the fuel selector handle to the desired tank. Expect to leave these on the main tanks for your entire flight. For long range missions, fuel from the auxiliary tanks is normally transferred to the main tanks before going to the engine. If the transfer pumps fail, fuel can be drawn directly from the auxiliary tanks, but no fuel gauges are provided for the auxiliary tanks. You’ll know the aux tank is empty when the engine quits. Crossfeeding is possible by selecting the tanks from the opposite wing.
This picture shows the same overhead console behind the fuel selector valves. The red panel has switches required for dealing with emergencies. The two large buttons are for feathering the propellers. Your IP should brief you on how he wants to handle emergencies.
Behind the emergency panel are the various radios, transponders and such. Look for the telephone. Find out how it works.
At the very back of the overhead console is the rudder boost control. Hydraulic rudder boost is normally used during takeoff and landing, and turned off during cruise. Its primary purpose is to relieve pedal forces if required for single engine flight. Evaluate how necessary it is for this purpose and how effective it is. Discuss how you plan to do this with you IP first, of course.
The brakes, flaps, and landing gear on the Albatross are hydraulically actuated. Normally the engine-driven hydraulic pump supplies all the hydraulic pressure you will need. What does 3 10 odds mean spiritually. Should this pump fail for some reason, an emergency hand pump is provided next to the pilot’s seat. This hand pump can operate any of these systems, depending on where the selector valve (next picture) is positioned.
This hand pump also supplies the hydraulic pressure to set the parking brakes. Hope that this is the only time you’ll get to use it, since it is reported that lowering the landing gear takes about 2000 strokes. There’s a lot of volume in those landing gear cylinders.
Also seen in this picture is a window in the floor into the nose gear well. Besides allowing close inspection of the nose gear in flight, it also provides a quick cross check during the day if the nose gear (and presumably the main gear) are up or down. Dark window--gear up. Light window--gear down.
The hand pump selector valve has five positions. From the one o’clock position clockwise: Emergency and Parking Brake, Flaps, Landing Gear Down, Engine Pump (as shown), and Landing Gear Up. To move the flaps, use the flap handle (on the overhead console) to set the position and direction of movement. For normal operations, leave the hand pump selector valve in the Engine Pump position.
The large red pipe seen here is a control lock for the yoke, and is removed and stored on the back wall of the flight deck during preflight.
Also seen on the right side of this photo is the landing gear handle. For land operations, everything is like you’re used to. For water landings, the landing gear must be UP. Landing gear down on the water is just as bad as landing on land with the gear up. Get it wrong and you can bet that the rest of your classmates won’t get their qual flights in the Albatross. Besides that, it’ll probably ruin the rest of your day.
Immediately above the landing gear handle is the drop tank control panel.
Immediately behind the wing is a large hatch in the roof of the fuselage, with a sextant port in the middle of it. I am told that this hatch was big enough to load an entire R-1820-76 engine quick change kit (engine, mount, and accessories) into the aircraft. We never did figure out how you would get the engine out in the middle of the ocean to fix a crippled aircraft without some sort of crane.
On the back of the sizeable wing spar carry-through structure (guaranteed to instill confidence in passengers) is a handle which, if pulled, starts inflating a life raft on top of the wing. The life raft would push open the hatch as it inflated, then slide down the top of the aircraft to the left side, coming to rest right in front of the exit hatch. During restoration, this handle was accidentally pulled, and the life raft, which had been stored for 20 years, inflated and slid down the left side, just as designed. Since an inflatable boat is carried in the fuselage of this aircraft, the overwing life raft compartment is used to hold engine oil, a line (Navy for rope) to lift the gas hose up to the top of the wing, and other items.
It is possible while loading or unloading the Albatross to get the c.g. behind the main gear, which would result in the airplane unceremoniously sitting on its tail. At the least, it would look awfully funny and your gross buffoonery would be known to everyone around and talked about at the bar for the next 20 years. At the worst, you could damage the aircraft. To prevent this, this tail stand is installed when parked. During preflight, the stand is removed and stored inside the aircraft. Of course, this stand is not required when parked on water.
Bubble windows are installed on both sides of the fuselage. These were originally installed for such purposes as looking for downed aircrews on rescue missions. You simply must experience the thrill of being able to ’stick your head outside the fuselage’ without the annoying side effects, such as the slipstream mussing your hair. It’s a trip! This is also a great vantage point to watch the main gear retraction and extension, and for watching the ’rooster tail’ during water landings and takeoffs. For the photographically inclined you can also get a great shot of the aircraft shadow immediately after liftoff if the sun is in the right position.
An emergency exit is located on the fuselage opposite the entry door. The two hooks in the center of the hatch are attach points for JATO (Jet Assisted TakeOff) rockets. For various reasons of safety, lack of mission requirements, and, of course, cost, JATO bottles are no longer used on this aircraft.
This particular aircraft is equipped with a platform that can hung outside this hatch when open. The owner tells us stories of landing on a lake somewhere, opening this hatch, setting a marine barbeque on the platform (on the lee (Navy for downwind) side, of course), and having a picnic on top of the fuselage!
Which brings up the question of how do you get on top of the fuselage without a ladder in the middle of the lake. Very easily. Simply open the entry hatch (remember it’s above the waterline), and standing in the hatch, put your right hand in the first handhold. The handhold is a spring loaded door that can be easily pushed down. Then put your left foot on the retractable step just in front of the entry hatch. Lift yourself up on this step and grab the second handhold with your left hand. Continue to pull yourself up, place your right knee on top of the fuselage, and scramble the rest of the way up onto the fuselage. To get down, reverse the procedure. To find the step (you won’t be able to see it), just run your foot down the black line until you hit it.
The darker areas in this photograph are non-skid areas for walking on.
Here your illustrious author has worked his way up onto the top of the airplane and forward to the number 1 engine. If I don’t look too comfortable here, it’s because the wind was howling at 20 to 30 knots and I didn’t want to fall off!
The Pitot tube is located near the right wing tip. Landing lights are located under both wing tips. These lights are hinged at the front edge and rotate down and forward when in use.
A fixed, ground-bendable trim tab is located on the right aileron.
The static ports (orange arrow) are located on both sides of the nose section in the stars and bars insignia.
Aerodynamics and Flight Controls Trim tabs are installed on the rudder and each elevator. The left and right elevator trim tabs are independantly controlled and actuated, giving a degree of redundancy. The left trim tab is controlled by the Coolie Hat switch on each yoke.
The elevator and rudder are fabric covered. The condition of the tail is important to check on preflight and postflight since the tail surfaces take quite a beating from water spray during water takeoffs.
Fabric covering was retained on flight control surfaces of many types of aircraft for many years after the rest of the aircraft was covered with aluminum. One of the primary reasons for using fabric was to keep the control surfaces lighter so that less weight would be required to mass balance the surface along the hinge line and to reduce sluggishness in the controls. This was important in reversible control systems. As aircraft design speeds increased, there were problems with strength of the fabric. However, high control forces drove designers to using irreversible control systems, with the actuators rigidly holding the control surface in its proper place. With the rigidity of the actuator, there was no longer a requirement to have the surface precisely balanced, and control surface weight was no longer as important of a consideration. Hence, the fabric could be replaced with metal skins, which held up better to the higher speeds.
Looking aft at the tail. The black leading edges are rubber deicing boots, which can be inflated and deflated to break off accumulated ice in flight.
The ailerons are also fabric covered. Aileron trim is by a trim tab on the left aileron. A fixed tab is provided on the right aileron, which can be used to offset airframe asymmetries.
The flaps are aluminum covered, and are electrically controlled and hydraulically operated. The flaps are also hydraulically balanced, a feature unique to Grumman aircraft. In the absence of air loads, lowering the flap lever lowers the flaps, which may come down asymmetrically. However, as soon as air loads are applied, a cross-feed between the actuators will allow the flaps to re-adjust until the loads, and thus position, are symmetric. To see this, have the pilot set the flaps to 15 degrees down while parked. Watch the flaps through the bubble window. The flaps will be down, but probably not both at 15 degrees. When the aircraft starts moving for takeoff, and possibly even a reasonably quick taxi, the airloads on the flaps will move them into the proper pos
https://diarynote.indered.space
Created by Maj Russ Erb, reviewed by Rich Sugden
*Harry Higgs’ incredible albatross leads Shots of the Week. Leaders in driving from Safeway Open. Highlights and one-liners from Phil Mickelson’s season debut at Safeway Open.
*Today we discuss how I managed to get banned from sports betting, but we also discuss how to implement arbitrage betting strategies to make you money!Arbitra.
NOTE: This page has extensive large graphics, as the primary target audience is the students at the USAF Test Pilot School, who have a high-speed Internet connection to view it with. Anyone is welcome to look at this page--just be patient if you a viewing this over a modem..
اخبار پاداش ها راهنما. ورزشی زنده کازینو بازی ها کازینوی زنده پنالتی.
Introduction
Cockpit and Fuselage
Aerodynamics and Flight Controls
Propulsion
Landing Gear
Water Adaptation
Other Cool Stuff
Your HostIntroduction
The Albatross, the fifth amphibian built by Grumman Aircraft for the military, was designed in the late 1940’s for Air/Sea search and rescue, air ambulance, antisubmarine patrol, cargo, and transport. The first of about 450 aircraft built entered service in 1949. The Albatross served with the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and the military services of 17 foreign countries. The last aircraft left Navy service in 1976, and some Albatrosses are still in service abroad.
The Albatross usually carried a crew of seven, including pilot, co-pilot, radio operator, radar operator, navigator and two crewmen. The search radar was said to be sensitive enough to spot a liferaft on the open ocean. During the Korean war 900 airmen were rescued by Albatross crews. It has a wingspan of 85 feet, a length of 62 feet and weighs 22,000 pounds empty. It can carry 1700 gallons of fuel in its main, float and drop tanks and has a range of over 3,000 miles. It has two nine cylinder supercharged Wright 1820-76 radial engines that produce 1450 horsepower each and give it a cruise speed of close to 200 mph and a service ceiling of over 25,000 feet. N3HU is an ’A’ model Albatross. The ’B’ model was designed later, has a longer wingspan, that gives it a greater range and service ceiling, but slightly slower speed. A ’tri’-phibian version with skis was designed to operate off the ice and snow in the polar regions.
Grumman Albatross, USN Bureau Number 131906, was delivered to the Seven Rivers Naval Air Station, Annapolis Maryland on June 23rd, 1953. It subsequently served at NAMC R&D in Philadelphia, FASRON 110, N.A.S. Kwajalein, N.A.S. North Island San Diego, N.A.S. Pensacola, N.A.S. Trinidad, and finished its operational duty at N.A.S. Key West, Florida. On May 9th, 1968 it was ferried to Davis Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona for mothballing and storage. It, along with 29 other Albatrosses, was traded for by a Florida aviation enthusiast in the 1980’s and Dr. Sugden selected and purchased it in 1993. The aircraft had only 3500 hours of flight time, and underwent complete inspection and replacement (IRAN) overhaul only 700 hours prior to her retirement. It was restored to flying condition by Chuck Wooten of Specialized Aircraft Maintenance in Tucson, ferried to Aerocrafters Aviation Inc. in Santa Rosa California in 1993, and the restoration process was largely completed by the spring of 1995. With the exception of modern avionics and instruments, the interior and exterior were generally restored to original condition and configuration. The original medical stretchers are used as bunks. A marine lavatory replaced the spartan Navy head and a small galley was added.
The aircraft will be used for exploring lakes and territories in the far reaches of Canada, Alaska and eventually the owner hopes to return her to the South Pacific. N3HU is based in Driggs, Idaho and spends many of the summer months on Lake Pend Oreille outside of Sandpoint, Idaho. Cockpit and Fuselage The aircraft is entered through a hatch (no doors-this is a Navy bird) on the left side of the fuselage. Since the hatch has to be above the water line, it requires climbing this ladder to get in. I guess you could try to jump up there, but using the ladder looks much less silly.
The door is split horizontally (’Dutch Door’). Opening just the top half provides a higher freeboard in rough weather to keep the waves out. A rescue platform can be attached to the bottom door sill to assist pulling in people from the water.
Just to the left of the door is a retractable step (at the bottom of the black line, above the window) that is used for climbing up to the top of the fuselage.
Just inside the hatch, looking forward, we see the passenger/cargo compartment. This picture does a poor job of relating how big this compartment feels. On the left are four original litters, retained for use as crew rest bunks. Forward on the right are four seats. The hatch at the front of this compartment leads into the cockpit.
Moving to the front of the passenger/cargo compartment and turning around, we see the hatch leading to the lavatory and ’head,’ which can be very important on those 16.5 hour sorties.
Looking through another Navy style hatch into the flight deck. The walkway is a the same level as the deck (Navy for floor) in the passenger/cargo compartment, but the flight deck on either side is about kneecap height. Pilot and copilot seats are where you’d expect them, with an additional seat behind the pilot and another behind the copilot.
View of the pilot’s side of the instrument panel. A complete set of primary flight instruments is installed on each side of the cockpit. It’s a good thing too, since looking cross cockpit is a loooong way away.
On top of the left end of the pilot’s yoke is a coolie hat trim switch which was installed by the current owner. Fore and aft movement controls the left elevator trim, much as you would expect. Left and right movement controls the rudder trim, NOT the aileron trim as in many other installations. You’ll probably find that this was a good idea, since you’ll need rudder trim a lot more than aileron trim as you change your power settings.
A closer view of the pilot’s instruments.
Engine instruments, fuel quantity, and gear and flap position instruments are located in the center of the panel between the pilots.
All trim tabs are electrically controlled. The original trim switches for elevator, rudder, and aileron trim located on the center console, along with indicators for the current trim position. The coolie hat switches on the yokes are simply connected to the same circuits as the left elevator and rudder switches shown here. The left and right elevator trim tabs are independent systems, giving redundancy in the pitch axes.
Note also in this picture that the primary engine controls (throttle, mixture, etc) are located on the overhead center console. This was presumably easier to implement since the engines are located on the high wing.
Copilot’s flight instruments.
The overhead center console contains the primary engine controls. The throttles and mixture controls are levers as you would probably expect. The propeller RPM is electrically controlled and hydraulically actuated. The two toggle switches are pushed forward to increase RPM, and pulled backwards to decrease RPM. These switches are spring-loaded to center, so you must hold them in the appropriate position until the desired RPM is reached. To learn more about the general operation techniques of these engines, check out the Beech 18 procedures, which are similar.
The supercharger control changes the gear ratio of the engine-driven supercharger. Other than checking operation before takeoff, expect to leave this control in the ’Low Blower’ position for the entire flight. The low speed setting is sufficient at low altitudes to provide the required manifold pressure. At high altitudes, where the ambient pressure is lower, the high speed setting is engaged to additionally compress the air before it goes to the engine. At low altitudes, when the low speed setting is sufficient to supply the maximum manifold pressure, engaging the high speed setting actually reduces the power available by the amount of power required to drive the supercharger faster, with no usable increase in manifold pressure, since the manifold pressure is already at the maximum allowable value.
The throttle friction lever can be easily moved to change the friction on the throttle levers. Typically you would want lots of friction in cruise flight, much less for taxi, takeoff and landing where many small throttle movements are required.
The flap control is simply pulled down until the desired flap setting, printed on the side, is visible. Choices are 15, 30, and 40 degrees.
Fuel management is accomplished by turning the fuel selector handle to the desired tank. Expect to leave these on the main tanks for your entire flight. For long range missions, fuel from the auxiliary tanks is normally transferred to the main tanks before going to the engine. If the transfer pumps fail, fuel can be drawn directly from the auxiliary tanks, but no fuel gauges are provided for the auxiliary tanks. You’ll know the aux tank is empty when the engine quits. Crossfeeding is possible by selecting the tanks from the opposite wing.
This picture shows the same overhead console behind the fuel selector valves. The red panel has switches required for dealing with emergencies. The two large buttons are for feathering the propellers. Your IP should brief you on how he wants to handle emergencies.
Behind the emergency panel are the various radios, transponders and such. Look for the telephone. Find out how it works.
At the very back of the overhead console is the rudder boost control. Hydraulic rudder boost is normally used during takeoff and landing, and turned off during cruise. Its primary purpose is to relieve pedal forces if required for single engine flight. Evaluate how necessary it is for this purpose and how effective it is. Discuss how you plan to do this with you IP first, of course.
The brakes, flaps, and landing gear on the Albatross are hydraulically actuated. Normally the engine-driven hydraulic pump supplies all the hydraulic pressure you will need. What does 3 10 odds mean spiritually. Should this pump fail for some reason, an emergency hand pump is provided next to the pilot’s seat. This hand pump can operate any of these systems, depending on where the selector valve (next picture) is positioned.
This hand pump also supplies the hydraulic pressure to set the parking brakes. Hope that this is the only time you’ll get to use it, since it is reported that lowering the landing gear takes about 2000 strokes. There’s a lot of volume in those landing gear cylinders.
Also seen in this picture is a window in the floor into the nose gear well. Besides allowing close inspection of the nose gear in flight, it also provides a quick cross check during the day if the nose gear (and presumably the main gear) are up or down. Dark window--gear up. Light window--gear down.
The hand pump selector valve has five positions. From the one o’clock position clockwise: Emergency and Parking Brake, Flaps, Landing Gear Down, Engine Pump (as shown), and Landing Gear Up. To move the flaps, use the flap handle (on the overhead console) to set the position and direction of movement. For normal operations, leave the hand pump selector valve in the Engine Pump position.
The large red pipe seen here is a control lock for the yoke, and is removed and stored on the back wall of the flight deck during preflight.
Also seen on the right side of this photo is the landing gear handle. For land operations, everything is like you’re used to. For water landings, the landing gear must be UP. Landing gear down on the water is just as bad as landing on land with the gear up. Get it wrong and you can bet that the rest of your classmates won’t get their qual flights in the Albatross. Besides that, it’ll probably ruin the rest of your day.
Immediately above the landing gear handle is the drop tank control panel.
Immediately behind the wing is a large hatch in the roof of the fuselage, with a sextant port in the middle of it. I am told that this hatch was big enough to load an entire R-1820-76 engine quick change kit (engine, mount, and accessories) into the aircraft. We never did figure out how you would get the engine out in the middle of the ocean to fix a crippled aircraft without some sort of crane.
On the back of the sizeable wing spar carry-through structure (guaranteed to instill confidence in passengers) is a handle which, if pulled, starts inflating a life raft on top of the wing. The life raft would push open the hatch as it inflated, then slide down the top of the aircraft to the left side, coming to rest right in front of the exit hatch. During restoration, this handle was accidentally pulled, and the life raft, which had been stored for 20 years, inflated and slid down the left side, just as designed. Since an inflatable boat is carried in the fuselage of this aircraft, the overwing life raft compartment is used to hold engine oil, a line (Navy for rope) to lift the gas hose up to the top of the wing, and other items.
It is possible while loading or unloading the Albatross to get the c.g. behind the main gear, which would result in the airplane unceremoniously sitting on its tail. At the least, it would look awfully funny and your gross buffoonery would be known to everyone around and talked about at the bar for the next 20 years. At the worst, you could damage the aircraft. To prevent this, this tail stand is installed when parked. During preflight, the stand is removed and stored inside the aircraft. Of course, this stand is not required when parked on water.
Bubble windows are installed on both sides of the fuselage. These were originally installed for such purposes as looking for downed aircrews on rescue missions. You simply must experience the thrill of being able to ’stick your head outside the fuselage’ without the annoying side effects, such as the slipstream mussing your hair. It’s a trip! This is also a great vantage point to watch the main gear retraction and extension, and for watching the ’rooster tail’ during water landings and takeoffs. For the photographically inclined you can also get a great shot of the aircraft shadow immediately after liftoff if the sun is in the right position.
An emergency exit is located on the fuselage opposite the entry door. The two hooks in the center of the hatch are attach points for JATO (Jet Assisted TakeOff) rockets. For various reasons of safety, lack of mission requirements, and, of course, cost, JATO bottles are no longer used on this aircraft.
This particular aircraft is equipped with a platform that can hung outside this hatch when open. The owner tells us stories of landing on a lake somewhere, opening this hatch, setting a marine barbeque on the platform (on the lee (Navy for downwind) side, of course), and having a picnic on top of the fuselage!
Which brings up the question of how do you get on top of the fuselage without a ladder in the middle of the lake. Very easily. Simply open the entry hatch (remember it’s above the waterline), and standing in the hatch, put your right hand in the first handhold. The handhold is a spring loaded door that can be easily pushed down. Then put your left foot on the retractable step just in front of the entry hatch. Lift yourself up on this step and grab the second handhold with your left hand. Continue to pull yourself up, place your right knee on top of the fuselage, and scramble the rest of the way up onto the fuselage. To get down, reverse the procedure. To find the step (you won’t be able to see it), just run your foot down the black line until you hit it.
The darker areas in this photograph are non-skid areas for walking on.
Here your illustrious author has worked his way up onto the top of the airplane and forward to the number 1 engine. If I don’t look too comfortable here, it’s because the wind was howling at 20 to 30 knots and I didn’t want to fall off!
The Pitot tube is located near the right wing tip. Landing lights are located under both wing tips. These lights are hinged at the front edge and rotate down and forward when in use.
A fixed, ground-bendable trim tab is located on the right aileron.
The static ports (orange arrow) are located on both sides of the nose section in the stars and bars insignia.
Aerodynamics and Flight Controls Trim tabs are installed on the rudder and each elevator. The left and right elevator trim tabs are independantly controlled and actuated, giving a degree of redundancy. The left trim tab is controlled by the Coolie Hat switch on each yoke.
The elevator and rudder are fabric covered. The condition of the tail is important to check on preflight and postflight since the tail surfaces take quite a beating from water spray during water takeoffs.
Fabric covering was retained on flight control surfaces of many types of aircraft for many years after the rest of the aircraft was covered with aluminum. One of the primary reasons for using fabric was to keep the control surfaces lighter so that less weight would be required to mass balance the surface along the hinge line and to reduce sluggishness in the controls. This was important in reversible control systems. As aircraft design speeds increased, there were problems with strength of the fabric. However, high control forces drove designers to using irreversible control systems, with the actuators rigidly holding the control surface in its proper place. With the rigidity of the actuator, there was no longer a requirement to have the surface precisely balanced, and control surface weight was no longer as important of a consideration. Hence, the fabric could be replaced with metal skins, which held up better to the higher speeds.
Looking aft at the tail. The black leading edges are rubber deicing boots, which can be inflated and deflated to break off accumulated ice in flight.
The ailerons are also fabric covered. Aileron trim is by a trim tab on the left aileron. A fixed tab is provided on the right aileron, which can be used to offset airframe asymmetries.
The flaps are aluminum covered, and are electrically controlled and hydraulically operated. The flaps are also hydraulically balanced, a feature unique to Grumman aircraft. In the absence of air loads, lowering the flap lever lowers the flaps, which may come down asymmetrically. However, as soon as air loads are applied, a cross-feed between the actuators will allow the flaps to re-adjust until the loads, and thus position, are symmetric. To see this, have the pilot set the flaps to 15 degrees down while parked. Watch the flaps through the bubble window. The flaps will be down, but probably not both at 15 degrees. When the aircraft starts moving for takeoff, and possibly even a reasonably quick taxi, the airloads on the flaps will move them into the proper pos
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