Taildragger Yak

Went to Pauanui on Saturday (27th Dec) and Kevin Jane had his new Yak-52TW there. Registered (appropriately) ZK-YTW. Didn't manage to cadge a ride but had a sit in the cockpit and a look around. There are quite a few differences that would probably take some getting used to.

One of the biggest changes is that it has hydraulic toe-brakes instead of the pneumatics on our yak.
The landing gear also fully retracts inboard but Kevin hasn't fitted the gear doors as yet.
The instrument panel is also significantly more "western" than a standard yak. With electric fuel pumps and four tanks, fuel management is more complex than before. Kevin also has a full set of lights fitted for night-flying.

With a three-bladed prop and 400hp engine as well as being less "draggy" than a standard YK52, it does go a bit faster and climbs a bit quicker than usual.

I think Kevin will be concentrating on solo displays for the foreseeable future as the performance differences may take a bit of getting used to in multi-ship formations.JP sitting in the rear 'pit hoping to get a turn in the front...

That big boxy oil cooler under the fuselage is a bit ugly and draggy. Apparently the next series of YK-52TW has it mounted in the starboard wing root. Much nicer. Maybe there is a conversion kit.

More Flying Kids!

The kids were flying again, so I took some more photos...

Yak Cockpit

I was going to redo the Yak-52 pilots manual as the one we work from is a third generation photo-copy of a document produced via a dot-matrix printer and I thought it would be a good idea to update it.

The cockpit layout diagrams in the old manual are just B&W line drawings, so I came up with the idea of using annotated photos instead. Unfortunately my camera doesn't really have much of a wide angle lens and I can't get it far enough back to capture all the necessary switches, levers and instruments in one image. Plus it has to be jammed into a tight space on the rear cockpit's instrument panel, which means you can't see what you are photographing on the "viewfinder" screen.

I'll probably have to do a composite of multiple images. Work in Progress

Small Plug for My Artwork

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Who does this boy resemble?

If you put on a large number of blue "beanie" hats, you start to look like Marge Simpson. Even if you are actually a 5 yr old boy.

My 7 yr old daughter can fit into some surprisingly small spaces. The gap between these two huge stone monuments at the entrance to the Hamilton Gardens is only a few centimeters. I could barely get my thigh in between them but she could actually squeeze through the gap (She did have to take off her hair-band).

New Games Invented Here

Everyone enjoys a game of Twister but my little monsters have put a new "twist" on the game by playing it on a trampoline. It does make the changes between spots a challenge when you have to bounce from one to the other.
Who says kids these days have lost the ability to use their imagination?...

Warbirds over Wanaka Trip 2008

Our Yak syndicate chief pilot (JP) decided he was going to drive down to Wanaka for the WoW airshow this year, so he was looking for a volunteer to ferry the aircraft down country. Well, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, I stuck my hand up straight away. I met up with seven other Yaks at New Plymouth and flew down to Wanaka with that group.

The route on the way down was Te Kowhai - New Plymouth (overnight) then New Plymouth - Paraparaumu - Kaikoura - Ashburton - Wanaka. The trip back was just a reversal of that. I didn't take the family camera as my nephew James was having a birthday party that weekend, so the only photo I have at the moment is of us getting ready to depart Te Kowhai (Rodney in the back seat.)

It was a good trip but 9.9 hours in a Yak-52 is enough to try anyone's backside endurance. Our newly installed Garmin Pilot III GPS worked a treat though.

Another Family First Flight

I took my 5-year old son for his first flight in a light aircraft yesterday. Looks like we have another Yates family member hooked on aviation! I used a club Alpha as I didn't think being stuck in the back pit of the Yak where I couldn't keep an eye on him was a good idea. I still had to put his booster seat in so he could see out of the airplane.

We powered off into the evening sky for a quick flit over our house and around the area before landing back at Te Kowhai airfield. He seemed very happy in the air (admittedly it was a smooth-ish evening) and he asked "When can we go next?" as we taxied in...

Hopefully, the closure of the Alpha factory in Hamilton won't affect the Waikato Aero Club's operation of these nifty little craft.