|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 18, 2012 9:02:08 GMT 12
Ha Ha thanks it sounds like that was a crazy landing, hope you were not a passenger on that day.....what was the story with the rail lines through the run way there? Do trains still have right of way? I could imagine the concerned looks from passengers as they are taxing out to see a train heading there way..... It's actually quite a long story about the history of the railway line crossing the runway at Gisborne Airport and how it came about. I've got a book somewhere at home that tells that story in one of the chapters. I'm in Auckland at the moment, but when I get time (when I'm back home), I'll go looking for that book and post the history at this forum, most likely in a separate thread. I could probably chuck in a few hard-case (and a few hair-raising) stories I have personal experience of, although I'd have to be very careful about details of some hair-raising incidents as some of the people are still involved in commercial aviation, or in some cases railway operations (not me....I never did anything really dodgy at Gizzy airport). There was more than one cover-up about things that occasionally occured.
|
|
|
Post by sqwark2k on Oct 18, 2012 9:06:30 GMT 12
It'd have to been a sit down toilet only as the cabin was only 4.8ft high.
|
|
|
Post by Gary. on Oct 18, 2012 13:17:28 GMT 12
Thanks kiwithrotlejocky I would love to hear more about the rail line across the Gizzy run way, am i right in thinking there's only two airports in the whole world with a rail line across them?...... sure i heard that somewhere???
|
|
|
Post by Gary. on Oct 18, 2012 13:19:57 GMT 12
ZK-OAA or OSCAR as we now call her before the Eagle Air engineers got at her with there Grinders.....
|
|
|
Post by Gary. on Oct 18, 2012 13:26:58 GMT 12
I think skwark2k that they may have designed the toilet along with the rest of the metro for knomes to fly..... ;D then they thought what the hell we can fit humans in there too.... ZK-OAA as she rests today, watching the daisey's grow...
|
|
|
Post by TS on Oct 19, 2012 7:26:11 GMT 12
Looking Good!! All you need now is a couple props get them to spin freely turn her into wind and hey presdo might even be able to taxi if the wind is strong enough ( yeah rite) ;D
|
|
|
Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 19, 2012 9:41:19 GMT 12
Brilliant stuff! I think we have met before, you took photos and asked questions when we passed through Palmerston North on Life Flight and Post. Are you still doing the refuelling there? OAA looks great, a fantastic effort indeed. The cockpit looks the part, flasher than a lot of others!
For the record, there were never any toilets fitted to Metroliners. One reason that the Metro ceased to be used by Star Alliance airlines was the alliance required a stand up cabin and a bog as standard features. A taller-cabin Metro was designed but as far as I know never flew, and certainly never entered production. One of the features of having that perfectly round tube is the pressurisation can maintain sea level to around 16,000ft at 7.0PSI. It is a brave person who goes for a sit in a Jetstream or B1900 toilet!
You might like to ask Airwork Flight Operations to see if they have any spare spinners or other parts laying about. There is certainly a pile of used (inoperative) equipment in the hangars, such as nose cones and the like.
|
|
|
Post by sqwark2k on Oct 19, 2012 9:44:24 GMT 12
ZK-OAA was known as Oscar Awful Awful internally at Eagle Ops in AKL as it was always going u/s creating plenty of disrupt handling.
S2K
|
|
|
Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 19, 2012 9:47:55 GMT 12
Let me guess, mostly electrical issues?
|
|
|
Post by patmurphy on Oct 19, 2012 12:01:18 GMT 12
How lucky are your kids?? Good to see another use for it and the idea for the cockpit works very well, the first picture had me fooled I reckon the second shot of you? leaning on the nose is definitely one for a caption competition. I will start with: " I know I only went out for bread and milk dear but this was reduced to clear"
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 19, 2012 12:26:10 GMT 12
ZK-OAA was known as Oscar Awful Awful internally at Eagle Ops in AKL as it was always going u/s creating plenty of disrupt handling. S2K SNAP....on one occasion during the late-1990s I was onboard OAA at Gizzy Airport, headed for Wellington on the first flight of the day, and one engine was started, then after a while it was shut-down and an engineer called out. We were shepherded off the aeroplane back into the terminal building and after about half an hour, the aircraft was pronounced U/S and we were instead loaded onto an Auckland-bound flight, which diverted into Hamilton to drop us Welly-bound passengers off where we were put onto a Hamilton to Wellington service (flown by an Air Nelson SAAB).
|
|
|
Post by Gary. on Oct 19, 2012 19:04:25 GMT 12
Oscar Awful...... ;D Thats really funny i think i shall call her that from now on, Sea level cabin pressure at FL16 would have been comfy, i do like the round profile of the metro its got a kind of Lear Jet look to it. If you stand in front of the nose and look at it front on it looks like some kind of flying missle, a very small sort of low drag profile, I'm sure they must have been fast. I have heard that the metros are hard to slow down in a desent for an approach, is this because of the shape? I can see why the roll performance was bad as the aileron's do not go all the way along the wing, some one said that is because the metro wing is a extended Merlin wing, its around a meter from the end of the aileron to the wing tip. Its funny to hear that the Metros fly like a bag o shite when they look so cool in the air (under carriage retracted) compared to a Beech 1900 which i hear fly great but look like some kind of flying builders van......
|
|
|
Post by Gary. on Oct 19, 2012 19:21:46 GMT 12
I do remember bumping into some guys at Palmy Airport in the Air work Metros, I was down there dropping off Freight to the Air Freight Convairs, they did'nt quite believe me when i told them i had a metro on my front yard, so next time i was there i took them a photo which made them laugh.... ;D was that you flyjoe??? Also a guy called in at the farm named Joe who worked at Air Work and flew the metros around at night full of mail. I do have the spinners for OAA what i really need is upper and lower port side engine nacelles, then i could build my own pretend props...Thanks for your advice i will contact Air Work and see if i can convince them to pass on any old junk metro parts that they have no use for.......I'm quite good at Begging......just ask my wife. ;D.....
|
|
|
Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 20, 2012 7:54:51 GMT 12
The fuselage was designed for future use on a Swearingen jet. The wings however were not, and it is they (and the propellers) which restrict the Metro's speed. The barber's pole (Maximum indicated speed) is 246 knots. We can maintain that to around 5 miles of the airfield if desired in the right conditions, therefore I wouldn't put much in the claim that the Metro is difficult to slow down. In fact that is one thing it does very well.
Yes, Mr Swearingen decided to take his trusty Merlin and stretch it, requiring a bit more wing area. To do this he applied a 'cap' to the wing tips to extend the spans. He failed to move the ailerons however, and that is why the roll characteristics are not so good. The 'fly like a bag-o-shite' characteristics are mostly at low speed. In the cruise the Metro is nice and stable and responsive. An average pilot needs about 500 or so hours on it to get comfortable.
|
|
|
Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 20, 2012 7:57:17 GMT 12
Yes, I remember that night, I was the younger, handsome one. That was probably Maori Joe. I am European New Zealand Joe, not been to your farm
|
|
|
Post by spongebob206 on Oct 20, 2012 8:30:55 GMT 12
Awesome mate, what a dad. Bet you sneak a little play too
|
|
|
Post by TS on Oct 20, 2012 9:49:33 GMT 12
a Beech 1900 which i hear fly great but look like some kind of flying builders van...... Have to agree plus it looks like half his gear is hanging out the back... what with all those extra bits tacked one the rear of the fuselage.
|
|
|
Post by Gary. on Oct 21, 2012 16:41:10 GMT 12
Thanks flyjoe180 yes i remember you guys, were you down there in the life flight Metro?......its funny because one of you said that you would be happy to park that out at my farm too.... ;D thanks for your info on the metro's traits, i guess its what gives them a bit of character. Yeah you are right the guy Joe who called in at the farm was a maori chap, hell of a nice guy he took some photos of ZK-OAA and thought it just the biggest laugh that i bothered to save a metro.....Do you know if he still flies them?...
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 21, 2012 17:28:00 GMT 12
Oscar Awful...... ;D Thats really funny i think i shall call her that from now on, Sea level cabin pressure at FL16 would have been comfy, i do like the round profile of the metro its got a kind of Lear Jet look to it. If you stand in front of the nose and look at it front on it looks like some kind of flying missle, a very small sort of low drag profile, I'm sure they must have been fast. I can remember a news article on the front page of The Gisborne Herald back sometime during the 1990s when an Eagle Air Metroliner broke the speed record for an airliner flying between Auckland and Gisborne. The record had previously been held by a NAC Lodestar. Obviously, the Fokker Friendships never got a look in, speed-wise during the many years they were on that run. However, within a couple of years, the record was broken again when Air NZ ran a couple of Auckland to Gisborne services using a Boeing 737-200 to cater for heavy bookings due to sports teams and their supporters travelling to Gizzy.
|
|
|
Post by FlyingKiwi on Oct 21, 2012 19:08:10 GMT 12
I went to school with "Maori Joe's" daughters - at least I'm assuming it's the same guy, I figure there's probably only one Maori guy called Joe who flies for Airwork!
|
|