Page 32 - Volume 21 Number 11

configuration is a bad idea. It takes a big power increase to get the speed back.
The sight picture is unlike anything else. The entire nose of the airplane is covered in small windows with hefty frames to accommodate cabin pressurization. Every window seems to have a different index of refraction causing landmarks outside to appear in different places depending on which pane of glass they are observed through. Not having a nose in the traditional sense on the airplane also is a new experience. But if the airplane is stable on glideslope and on speed at about 50 feet, the call is “Ease ‘em off.”
This is the FE’s que to begin a gradual power reduction and the pilot flares in concert with the power reduction. If all goes according to plan, the airplane can be rolled on the runway in a most pleasing fashion, the nose is lowered and the residual thrust from the gigantic propellers continue to pull the airplane down the runway until the brakes are applied, CAREFULLY. Nothing to it. Right?
There are some other idiosyncrasies. On the rear of the fuselage below the horizontal stabilizer there is an electrically controlled tail skid that raises and lowers with the gear. One of the responsibilities of the Aft scanner/APU operator is to ensure that it extends. A line drawn from the main wheel to
the tailskid is 5 degrees above level. This means that if the nose rises more the 5 degrees on landing, the tail will strike the skid.
Airplanes are intended to be flown and not driven. This means that for the most part, they should leave and return to the earth at the slowest possible speed. If the pilot happens to make the “ease ‘em off” call slightly early, or late and the airplane starts to settle, or bounces, any aviator knows that pulling back will soften the impending arrival. Wrong! The CAF paints the tailskid bright red and it bears the signature of the most recent remover of the paint. (At this writing that would be the author whose signature is augmented with two hash marks.)
A 5-degree landing pitch window from nosewheel first to tail strike is pretty narrow. With both hands on the yoke and the engineer on the throttles, calling for some power and getting the engines spun up before the arrival just isn’t going to happen. The solution is to swallow your pride, and ride out the firm arrival. The airplane takes it in stride, but it is not very rewarding to the pilot f lying.
The reward in flying warbirds is not a “roll-on landing.” Flying these historic airplanes is about using them as a hook to bring young Americans to the airport. Our hope is they might come to know and understand the price that was paid for their freedom. The old CAF cliché “Lest We Forget” is more
With no hydaulic boost on anything, the best way to fly is with one hand on the yoke and the other on the trim wheel.
30 • TWIN & TURBINE November 2017