Rated in T-28

[svcta]

Took my rating ride in the -28 yesterday. Great ride, great experience. Looking forward to doing some more flying!

I'm constantly impressed with this airplane. I did my prep for the ride with a guy who flies Mustangs, Skyraiders, Corsairs, you name it, and even he appreciates the way that this airplane performs. I can't say any more than that. Such a great ride.

 

[viper548]

How much did it cost and where did you do it?

 

[svcta]

We recently acquired the airplane so it was a fuel cost only kind of thing plus the daily rate for the dual and the actual ride. I've seen guys that charge as much as 1000/man for the ride but we paid less than that.

I haven't tallied it all up yet but my total training costs personally ran about, maybe, 1600 bucks. That's just fuel and dual. No hangar, oil, etc.

I don't think that this is an accurate average, though. The training in these things ranges from 4 day ground courses to "hey look at that, it's an airplane. Now go read this." and some guys do 10 hours of flight time with their courses, too, which would raise the cost significantly. Their is no minimum time in order to be recommended for the rating, just demonstration of proficiency, so it depends on previous experience and your IP. We brought round motor experience in to the training which eased things along pretty well; The main focus on flying this airplane is the powerplant and properly managing it. The airplane flies very easily.

I'll be happy to answer any training questions. This is my first warbird type rating and it was a little confusing getting through the process simply because there is very little guidance. I've got 3 jet types and they were far less stressful than this one simply because you always know what to expect with those. Having done it now I see a little better what's going on. I think I over-prepared..........

 

[VNugget]

over-prepared

No such thing

 

[727C47]

I have got exactly 1 hr in a T-28A ,sheer joy !

 

[Razor_B]

Congrats svcta. I enjoyed reading your few posts about looking for the plane, finding and flying it. It sounds like a lot of fun. I've never flown a T-28 but one was based at a local airport nearby. What a beast!

 

[svcta]

Thank you, man. It's been fun in all respects and I have enjoyed sharing my quest with the comrades here at FI. It's nice to see people just enjoying sharing info and enthusiasm about a common love for a change. Which is what I've enjoyed the most about the Warbird community over the last few years. The "undesirables" get culled out pretty quickly by those that just love being around and enjoying the airplanes and operating them. This to me is the truest spirit of aviation.

Open invitation to anyone interested in participating in a Veteran's Day fly over in West Alabama on Tuesday. There will be Mustangs, a couple of -28s, a Yak 5 and other Yaks, and more I'm sure. PM me for details. I've never participated in this one but I'm looking forward to getting some air-to-air shots of some great airplanes and just being out and really aviating.

 

[Fubijaakr]

I went through Navy Primary in T-28Bs and Cs. Its a big airplane for your first solo!

 

[mudkow60]

One hop in a T-28C. Nice control balance, and more of a handful than the T-34C I trained on.

 

[svcta]

It's sort of been a while since my last post regarding it, so I just wanted to bring an update along even though there is not a great deal of news.

I've probably only done about 5 or 6 total flying hours in the -28 since my type rating. I have to tell you all, though, the airplane just carries an amazing feel of capability with it. I've had it upside down at 80 knots, buzzing down private strips at 250 knots (no more, of course), and in several places in between and the big ole ba$tard just keeps doing what you tell it to do. Such a large speed envelope (with a 349 VNE below 2500' and well over 300 up to 14000') gives you the capability of really tall vertical maneuvers with liberal down lines. There's just never a rush to recover. What I've seen so far is that it's really easy to actually gain altitude with the airplane if you don't force yourself to give it back during the end of a maneuver. That took some getting used to for me.

It's running nearly flawlessly, too, which is nice, but I've noticed that it gets unhappy if it sits more than about 6 or 7 days. This is what I tell myself, anyways, 'cause it forces me to get to the airport. As if I needed a reason. I do love that fuel is getting cheaper all the time. I'm paying $2 less a gallon than when I was getting my rating in it. That's nearly $100/ hour less to operate. Time to hedge some gas........

I'm really getting excited about the upcoming airshow season!

 

[erj-145mech]

Are you going to try to go to Tyndall? Keesler? I'm trying to make these two in April with the Duck.

 

[svcta]

Those are both in my neck of the woods. You got dates or contact info for them? I'll look around on line. We were contacted already by the people putting on a show in Columbus, Ga (thunderinthevalleyairshow.com) offering gas hotel and rental car. That's a nice change!