DOGFIGHTING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Photo above:  Dogfighting over Lake Mathews near Los Angeles.

I'm piloting from the rear cockpit. My dear friend Julie is in the front cockpit and enjoying the wild ride!

The Stearman is a WW2 primary trainer. It had a 225 HP radial engine. After you mastered the Stearman you would transition to a North American T6 which had a 600 HP radial engine. One final transition would be to P51 Mustang which had a 2,000 HP Rolls Royce Merlin engine.

cca-flying-stearman-1.jpg
 

NOT ME FLYING BELOW!

Engine Failures

I've had 2 engine failures whilst flying and managed to land the aircraft and walk away unharmed in both cases.

The first one happened when I was doing some aerobatics in a Bellanca Scout aircraft in Southern California in the 1970's.

After coming out of a loop with the power back at idle, I then applied power and nothing happened!

It turned out that a part of the throttle mechanism was slipping so when I moved the throttle in the cockpit nothing happened on the engine.

Below is a copy of the audio transmission from the local FAA Control Tower.

The recording starts with me calling the Tower and telling them that I've had an engine failure.

Most of the later conversations on the recording are between me and the Tower, but after a while as I am gliding earthward, the Tower can't pick up my radio transmissions anymore because I'm too low, and so asks if any other aircraft in the area can see a Bellanca Scout forced landed.

Below is a map to help illustrate the events as they unfolded...

 
 

THIS IS A BELLANCA SCOUT.  NOT THE ONE THAT I WAS FLYING THOUGH...

 

WORLD RECORD - COMBINED SHORT TAKE OFF AND LANDING

ALSO NOT ME FLYING, BUT IT'S STILL A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT!

TAKEOFF IN  24 FEET  

LANDING IN  20 FEET