De Havilland Tiger Moth

[Cat Driver]

I finally got to fly a Tiger Moth when I was in England a couple of weeks ago.

It bleongs to one of my partners in our warbird restoring flying business and for years he has offered to let me fly it. It is located on a farm strip about an hour north of London and I just never got the time to go there, but finally I had a few days with nothing to do so we drove up and I had the privelage of flying it.

Boy was it ever neat, just like the days when I flew Stearmans crop spraying, in fact it seemed just like yesterday flying a Bi Plane off a farm strip, sometimes we tend to neglect the important things and life passes us by and we lose the true joy of living and doing things for pleasure.

Cat Driver.

 

[mudkow60]

I got a ride in a Moth in Australia. It was amazing, and reminded me why I like flying in the first place.

 

[mar]

Kite flying

Hey Cat, nice story. The only fabric I've flown is a Decathalon--unless you count the rudder of the DC6 (there's a good 'buy me a beer' question).

You must have finished that Tel Aviv trip (was it?) by now. How'd that go? Any good stories?

 

[Cat Driver]

Hey , hows things going Mar.

The Tel Aviv thing turned out to be a real clusterf.ck and I walked from the project due to the owner wanting me to ignore the regulations and all the rules of safety, in fact he burnt me for my airfare as well as no pay for my time in London....about a month after that he got some other pilot to do the trip....


...well they started by busting Stanstead terminal airspace on the initial test flight and then left the next morning for some place that does not to even seem to exist...ever heard of an airport named LaMote ? that is what they put on their customs general aviation report.....anyhow there seems to be some question of the paper work such as the annual inspection, ( we agreed to fly it on a permit to ferry signed by an American DAR , there was no way it was airworthy to the standards of an annual sign out. ) certificate of ownership and a few other things...it got as far a small airport north of Paris where it still sits to the best of my knowledge...the story is it suffered a broken connecting rod.

However I had to drive from Amsterdam to DiJon France so I went to the airport in question and sure enough there it was, but I could see no indication of a broken connecting rod or any other sign of an engine problem, and the locals said it flew in and parked with both engines running.

The FAA has been talking to us about the mechanical work we did and told us they were aware that we had walked off the project...HMMMM I wonder if they were forced to land there?

Anyhow thats the first time I ever got stiffed by a customer and in this case I made the right decision to walk away from that mess.

As a side note, I have lots of friends in aviation and someone gave me copies of the paper work including a copy of the pilots American visa with his picture and also the records of the fuel load on board at departure, they sure were heavy at lift off,,,,,one of my reasons for walking was the owner wanted me to carry an overload of fuel so he could save money on the tax back.....

I am presently doing some type rating training on a Dutch PBY in Holland and am on a two week break back home....

By the way seems that the pilot who flew that Cat on the Tel Aviv delivery flight was supposed to give me my 61 58 check on a PBY. Hmmmm well at least the pilot who flew it has the same name.....

Yeh, I guess I did have a good story

What do you think, was that good?

Chuck ( Cat Driver )

 

[mar]

Mon Dieu! Yeah man, that's a good story.

Pretty much proved to me that I ain't cut out for that line of work.

I don't think I'd be nearly as patient--or diplomatic.

Sort of reminded me of my only big adventure in the -Six though...

I was an FO on a ferry flight from Anchorage to Victoria, TX.

VFR the whole way!

No fuel gauges.
No wing or cabin heaters.
No pressurization.
No glideslope, No ADF, no marker beacons.
Did we have fire protection? I didn't ask.
We had a GPS (most of the time)
And two VORs that worked within 30mi from the station.

Anchorage--Seattle--Redmond, OR--Victoria, Tx

Just an afternoon stroll for you I'm sure. But I had to dust off some pilotage skills. I must admit I had a blast scud running down the British Columbia coast at 900' and crossing the Rockies at 11,000'.

Too much fun especially when I had to ride in the back of a Continental 757 on the way back to ANC with some snot nosed kid kicking the back of my seat the whole way...

Safe flying in that PBY, okay?