YAK attack
 

today was a good day. a friend of mine at the airport let me go along for a ride in his WWII Yak-52 trainer. it was so fucking cool! the pics and vids don't do it justice! on the take off vid we pulled 3 g's!!


<img src="http://www.myrefrigerator.com/YAK/yak1.jpg">

<img src="http://www.myrefrigerator.com/YAK/yak2.jpg">

<img src="http://www.myrefrigerator.com/YAK/yak3.jpg">

the instrument on the upper left is the g-meter!

<img src="http://www.myrefrigerator.com/YAK/gmeter.jpg">

quicktime videos:

<a href="http://www.myrefrigerator.com/YAK/flyby.MOV">flyby</a>

<a href="http://www.myrefrigerator.com/YAK/engine start.MOV">engine start</a>

<a href="http://www.myrefrigerator.com/YAK/take off.MOV">3 G take off</a>

<a href="http://www.myrefrigerator.com/YAK/landing.MOV">outside the canopy landing</a>

oh that little candy plane is just so cute!! Can i go for a ride too mister!! pleeeeease!!

anytime! i also forgot to mention that the cockpit is in russian!!

edit: (mostly in russian)

You fucking communist!

I swear, that last pic is like a Photoshop! "GYRO WARN", "METAL CHIPS" WTF!!!

your just jealous!

edit to NBN's edit: yeah, i was wondering about that damn indicator light myself prior to flight!

Oh man, check out the artificial horizon in the last pic. Under most circumstances, they would call that 'Controlled Flight Into Terrain' (CFIT). Yet, he lives.

You must get some double-takes when people see that red star in Texas.

I at one time flew offshore for Exxon in an old 212 I think. Had a fire on board light that stayed on. Most of us were hungover on the trip. We’d catch a new guy about 30 minutes out and start pointing and hollowing about the light. Some would panic.

Metal chips indicator light just means some have been caught by the chip catcher in the hydraulic system. It's a good idea to pull the catcher and see if you can figure out where the chips came from. ;)
One of my exs used to sell shit like that.
Beautiful plane, I guess the Texans just think that's the Lone Star Beer Plane.
Thanks for the ride.

the chip light is a good idea, b/c once and engine starts to go, it's best to get'er on the ground under power than not and if somethings gone amuck, i want to know about it before oil coats the wind screen. i can't wait to fly that bird again. it's agile yet stable. move the yoke right the plane banks right and stops when you stop with no play in the flight system at all. just a complete joy to fly. i didn't however take off, land or taxi. the wheel brake is a handle on the yoke and depending on which main wheel you want to apply pressure to you push on that side's rudder. that would take some getting used to.

on the flyby clip, i put that in there because we were supposed to have gone up with them but Ed was late for the preflight briefing and rather than have everyone rebrief, he just told them to go ahead and we'd go goof off for a bit. perhaps i'll get to go in the next month or so and get some pictures of a wingtip to wingtip clearance of about 6 feet!

Is that chip light in the engine oiling system rather than hydraulic system? :confused:

My boss loves YAKs. He is going to dig this majorly.

maybe he can answer bruce's question then. it's my guess is that it's for the engine oil system because the oil in the engine not only lubricates the motor but also is used in governing the prop pitch angle too. then again, we are talking about WWII era russian engineering...... :confused:

edit: not to mention, the only hydraulics that i can think of on this plane would be for the brakes and the landing gear, so i'd bet it's for the motor,

NBN: the gyro warn is your vacuum failure indication. when your vacuum pump fails you loose your AI (artificial horizon) and your DG (directional gyro). in U.S. planes you have another gyro which is your turn coordinator but 99.9% of the time it's an electric driven gyro, now on the yak......?? :juggle: