"Round Engines" - FlightAdventures Virtual Pilot Center(tm)

FlightAdventures Virtual Pilot Center™

Get the VPC OffLine Reader here!
"Round Engines"

Printer-friendly version of this topic
Bookmark this topic (Registered users only)
Previous Topic | Next Topic

VPC Forums FSFORUM

Original message

bcline

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

"Round Engines"
09-11-02, 14:27z

This will take a few people back, I think.

For Old Pilots
Subject: For Round Engine Pilots Only !
We gotta get rid of these turbines, they are ruining aviation. We need to go back to big round engines. Anybody can start a turbine, you just need to move a switch from "OFF" to "START," and then remember to move it back to "ON" after a while.
Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse and style. On some planes, the pilots aren't even allowed to DO the thing. Turbines start by whining for a while, then give a small lady-like poot and start whining louder.
Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, POW, more rattles, another POW, a big macho BANG or two, more clicks, a lot of smoke and finally a serious low pitched ROAR. And to get that roar, a pilot has to do a multitude of things: Shout CLEAR!, master ignition on, booster pump on low boost, energize right engine, prime right engine, while still holding energize switch on, engage rt engine, mag switch to both, mixture control to auto rich, set throttle for idle RPM, check oil pressure, right booster pump off, left booster on low boost. Then, do it all over again for any other engines.
We like that. It's a guy thing.
Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan: Useful, but hardly exciting.
When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead. Turbines don't break often enough, leading to aircrew boredom, complacency and inattention. A round engine at full speed ..looks and sounds like it's going to blow at any minute. This helps concentrate the mind. Turbines don't have enough control levers to keep a pilot's attention. There's nothing to fiddle with during long flights.
Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman lanterns. Round engined planes smell like God intended flying machines to smell.
I think I hear the nurse coming down the hall. I gotta go.
Bill Cline

Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Table of Contents

Printer-friendly version of this topic Bookmark this topic (Registered users only)	Previous Topic \| Next Topic
VPC Forums FSFORUM
Original message

  Subject      Author      Message Date     ID

RE: Round Engines jerryrosie 09-11-02 1

RE: Round Engines Emile 09-11-02 2

RE: Round Engines Ben_Chiu 09-11-02 3

RE: Round Engines jonahbird 09-11-02 4

   RE: Round Engines bcline 09-11-02 5

        RE: Round Engines jonahbird 09-12-02 9

             RE: Round Engines AlanParkinson 09-14-02 12

             RE: Round Engines Vulcan 09-15-02 13

RE: Round Engines vgbaron 09-12-02 6

   RE: Round Engines avbug 09-12-02 7

        RE: Round Engines bcline 09-12-02 8

RE: Round Engines PaulCroft 09-13-02 10

   RE: Round Engines bcline 09-13-02 11

Forums | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

Messages in this topic

jerryrosie

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

1. "RE: Round Engines"
09-11-02, 14:46z

>>Subject: For Round Engine Pilots Only !<<
Absolutely GREAT!!
And they run best when mounted to airplanes with two wings - one up and one down.....
***Reality - The refuge of those who can't handle simulation***
Cheers, Jerry (N94)
-= VPC OffLine Reader Version 1.2 =-
Registered to: Gerald J. Rosie
**** OLR.PL Build 1.73 ****

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Emile

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

2. "RE: Round Engines"
09-11-02, 18:05z

I like it !!
"Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, POW, more rattles, another POW, a big macho BANG or two, more clicks, a lot of smoke and finally a serious low pitched ROAR", it's music to my ears .....
Regards
Emile
EBBR

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Ben_Chiu

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

3. "RE: Round Engines"
09-11-02, 19:36z

ROFL!
I never read this one before. Excellent!
Thanks, Bill!
Ben

-= VPC OffLine Reader 1.2 =-
Registered to: Ben Chiu
-OLR.PL v1.78-

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

jonahbird

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

4. "RE: Round Engines"
09-11-02, 22:04z

Hi Bill
Great stuff. Now all we need is a sound file that replicates that delicious description.
Regards
Frank

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

bcline

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

5. "RE: Round Engines"
09-11-02, 22:25z

Hi Frank,
Yeah, that would be good.
I used to have a tape of cranking up an R2800 in a B-26 but somewhere over the years lost it. Being 50 years old now it probably wouldn't sound too good anyway.
Maybe I'll do some snooping around the www at one of the old Tactical Air Command sites and see if we can round something up.
Bill

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

jonahbird

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

9. "RE: Round Engines"
09-12-02, 23:05z

Hi Bill
>>Being 50 years old now it probably wouldn't sound too good anyway.<<
I don't know; isn't Pavarotti older than that? :-)
Frank

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

AlanParkinson

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

12. "RE: Round Engines"
09-14-02, 17:15z

Hi Frank,
Please excuse the philistine response, but I'd rather listen to an aero engine than Pavarotti!
Alan

**** VPC OffLine Reader Version 1.0.0.0 ****
++++ UNREGISTERED ++++
**** OLR.PL Build 1.73 ****

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Vulcan

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

13. "RE: Round Engines"
09-15-02, 09:15z

ROFLMAO

-= VPC OffLine Reader Version 1.2 =-
Registered to: Dave Wild
-OLR.PL v1.76-

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

vgbaron

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

6. "RE: Round Engines"
09-12-02, 01:56z

Bill -
Haven't had that good a laugh in a long time! Keep 'em coming.
Vic
Of All the Things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!

-= VPC OffLine Reader 1.2 =-
Registered to: Vic Baron
-OLR.PL v1.78-

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

avbug

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

7. "RE: Round Engines"
09-12-02, 17:14z

I recall reading that one some time ago.
It's true, though. I'd argue that round engines do well on airplanes with just one set of wings, however.
The great mystery of aviation is why turbine engines are reserved for higher time and more experienced pilots. Turbine engines are simple to operate, require much less skill and planning, and seldom break or malfunction.
Turbine engines are generally attached to more expensive airplanes, and a turbine engine is a lot more expensive when something goes wrong...but the odds of an operator damaging the powerplant are significantly lower on the turbine.
In the PB4Y-2, if you really wanted to see a pilot sweat, go more than an hour or two without something breaking. The suspense is a real killer. Interestingly enough, the Privateer was more reliable than our C-130A's, though it was ten years older. On our P2V-7's, the R-3350's were a LOT more reliable than the J-34 turbojets on the same wing (radial and turbojet on the same airplane).
Personally, I like radials. I like working on them, and flying them. Operating a radial engine once it's running is no more difficult than operating a flat piston engine, though one generally should exercise good judgement in power changes and settings, and the older hydromatic props may through newer pilots for a loop. Starting them is another matter entirely. Engine fires and other such things are always an issue, as is the possibility of a backfire and subsequent damage to the induction system.
Radial engine pilots generally have a lot more experience dealing with in-flight failures and emergencies, and soon learn that most of what the flying world considers an emergency, really isn't. Accordingly, pilots with a radial engine background usually don't get too excited when everyone else does; it's just not that big a deal any more.
Even today, where pilots learn in horizontally opposed flat piston recips, very poor technique is taught. Power off descents to landing, rapid power changes, and descents with the slipstream driving the propeller, instead of the engine. All very poor pilot techniques. Pilots never learn proper techniques, and then go on to pass these bad habits to the next crop of aviators. By the time these folks get to a turbine cockpit, they're in an airplane that can tolerate their lack of ability, and never know the difference. I've flown with a lot of pilots such as this.
Then again, the same may be said for never learning how to manage a tailwheel, and what a rudder is really for...

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

bcline

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

8. "RE: Round Engines"
09-12-02, 20:03z

Excellent comments re recip radial aircraft engines.
Though I never worked on them (not that smart), I flew many hours alongside them. One of the reasons I now have to wear hearing aids. The other reason was because I also flew Sikorsky H-19's for nearly 3,500 hours...another radial but including a screaming transmission a few feet behind your head.
One thing about recips...you almost always had some warning that it was about to do something it shouldn't, unlike a jet, which simply "goes out".
Bill

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

PaulCroft

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

10. "RE: Round Engines"
09-13-02, 06:09z

Hi Bill
Just wonderful. Every day I start by checking my email and the VPC forum and this has got today off to a wonderful beginning. I'll just have to be wary about others seeing me wandering around with this silly grin on my face. They'll think I've finally flipped. Worse, even if I showed them why, many would still not understand the reason.
It's brilliant from start to finish but, if I had to pick a best bit:
"A round engine at full speed ..looks and sounds like it's going to blow at any minute. This helps concentrate the mind."
Paul Croft
10 miles SE of Heathrow (EGLL)
-= VPC OffLine Reader Version 1.2 =-
Registered to: Paul F. Croft
-OLR.PL v1.76-

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

bcline

Certificates/Ratings/Crew Stations:

11. "RE: Round Engines"
09-13-02, 13:26z

Very happy to put a smile on anyone's face, Paul. Now, let's see how long it takes to get back to me. <g>
Bill

Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Lock | Archive | Remove

Forums | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

Terms of Use