How I took off with "Pink Skyvan" (Picture Heavy)

[MaxZ]

Hi everybody!
Since I got such a good echo for my last posts in my newly started life in aviation, I thought I'd give it a go and try for the hattrick. Skip the following paragraph if you just want to see pictures:

To start off with a bit of cloying sentimentality that is usually way too much for a forum post: I dedicate this to the good folks that I got to know thoughout flightsimming that got to be great friends over the time and have helped me get where I am now.
Particularly to Anders "Idiot" Fritz, Janiek Arp who flies tubes only, motherfuckers Terry and Phil, Zoolander of the Digital Themepark and especially his lovely wife Rowan, as well as 91st-Guru Gypsy Baron.

In my first (https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewto ... 23&t=60245) and second (https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewto ... 23&t=63218)post of the "series" earlier this year I told you how I finished my flight training, got the job that I have now and what my first mission was.
Now after roughly 1600 flights, 800hrs blocktime and 300 gallons of best czech beer it is time again that I share with you how my first season as a commercial pilot in the marvelous Skyvan went.



So the Skyvan went to England a few days before a not-so-regular weekend somtime in july:




Then there were long ferry flight with the best colleague flight instructor and friend that I've met so far:


I went to HKG with an old flightschool friend, who now flies 777...



...where we of course climbed the famous chequerboard.

And in June there was this one day we pilots train so hard for:


In Fano, Italy I had a big ass birdstrike. Dozens seagulls took off from the high grass, 50m south of the runway. And some how I managed to hit twentyone of them. Pam pam pam.
Quick check on the engine instruments revealed that an engine failure was imminent. At five meters airborne. I did not take me long to see that an "RTO" was too late.
So I pitched for best speed and disregarding all noise reduction procedures did a 180 turn to land the fully fueled and fully loaded OE-FDK back. Those four minutes of flight felt like an hour.
The workload was unbelievably high and still, the whole thin was over withing the blink of an eye. Stay current on your emergency procedures, one day they'll safe your life, and the life of 25 PAX on board.




But goddamnit do I love my job:



As always, thank you for reading, feel free to ask and if you find any spelling errors, you may keep them !

Best regards,
Maximilian

[aonyn]

Glad to hear the birdstrike incident went as it did. From the sound of it, the aircraft will fly again, and even has flown again. Good job sir!
So just curious, did the mechanic give you the honour of cleaning up the bird puree?

Regards,
Dave

[MaxZ]

yes it flew again. Engine was changed within 5hrs and yes, I had the honour to clean it. That smell was out of this world. Decaying fish in the hot italian summer. Buon appetit!

[aonyn]

Engine change in 5 hours, wow!

[Junkman00]

Max,
It amazes me at your great adventures since we last meet and enjoyed some local airplanes in the States. Keep sending pictures, and thanks to a good friend, enjoy your flying days.
Phil

[Lewis - A2A]

Looking at the pictures alone that's some awesome documenting of flying adventures and beer nights with friends

cheers,
Lewis

[Tomas Linnet]

thx for sharing!!!

[n421nj]

Cool read and great pics.

[blockwood]

Max

I know why you fly the SkyVan. It's to carry your lunch. Just kidding! I'm sure Sleeper and Junkman might have something to say on this topic.

Very nice pictures. The SkyVan is a great jump aircraft. These days, I'm a little too old to be jumping out of anything other than my bed.


Sincerely,


Bill Lockwood

[MaxZ]

Thank's for the very positive responses!

Yes indeed, it has been quite an exciting year for me. I learnt more now than I did in 13years of flying (gliders, hanging out at the local airfield as a kid) before.
Please excuse me not making it a solely professional post. I had to include the beer nights in ther post since that was where I really got to know a whole lot of new folks. I never really considered myself a very outgoing and extrovert person, but I was proven wrong. I,like all others in aviation, have the opportunity to meet very interesting characters on my journeys; which is also one of the best aspects of a flying job: meeting new people that you share a common interest with.

Bill, you jumped the Skyvan? Where? I believe they have a few in Perris, Eloy and Deland...

Best regards,
Maximilian

EDIT: yes, Sleeper and Junkman best know how much I can eat is a short time...those guys had to live off bread and water for two montswhen I left the US

[blockwood]

Max

I jumped at Perris Drop Zone when I was stationed at March AFB. I was used to jumping from the DC-3 there, so the SkyVan was an eye opener. You get to altitude soooooo fast! It's also hard to screw up your exit, no matter how hard you try.

[Sigismund]

Just found this old post. As a skydiver it’s amazing to find a post about the PINK-Skyvan in the A2A forum. Did a couple hundred jumps out of the FDP, FDI, FDN and FDK at different dropzones in Germany, Klatovy and even in Fano.
Hope the day will come, that A2A will do an Accu-Sim Super-Skyvan, but I guess it’s a bit to special. Scott said that he need fully access to an aircraft to develop it, and the skyvan is a rare thing nowadays.

[MarcE]

Just found this old post. As a skydiver it’s amazing to find a post about the PINK-Skyvan in the A2A forum. Did a couple hundred jumps out of the FDP, FDI, FDN and FDK at different dropzones in Germany, Klatovy and even in Fano.
Hope the day will come, that A2A will do an Accu-Sim Super-Skyvan, but I guess it’s a bit to special. Scott said that he need fully access to an aircraft to develop it, and the skyvan is a rare thing nowadays.

They have a Cockpit of an old Skyvan (FDE I think) in the hangar on the other side at Klatovy which they connected to XPlane, mounted it on hydraulic bars and wrote a flight model for it to train their pilots on the SC7. Their chief pilot Phillip is a friend of mine, he put me in there when he still had to fly during the day when I visited him… a bit like a child at Ikea I loved it.

The Skyvan is a great plane but MSFS doesn‘t support the TPE engines, all they do is PT-6. it would really require Accusim or similar to simulate a Skyvan.

[Sigismund]

Wow, I didn’t know that. The FDE had that awesome Nemo-Livery. I will bring a huge amount of beer when im at klatovy next time to get to this simulator!

[AKar]

Skyvan's an odd one. Reportedly, it flies much better than it ought to by is looks. The interior is just cavernous for an aircraft of its size. We speculated whether it was originally designed to carry small military vehicles, but limitations on floor loading, particularly near the ramp if I recall correctly, did not suggest so.

Technically, it is not all around brilliance, let us put it that way. Kind of double sheet fuselage structure it had was pretty much irreparable in case it found itself having gone through any worse incident, particularly one involving water. The nose gear was attached to a flimsy bulkhead that was pretty much unreinforced as far as I could tell, all the previous repairs aside, which made the aircraft delicate to tow around. The flight controls were connected by 'chains' made of individual aluminum tubes, each about a meter or so long (and most being unique), connected together with kind of eye bolt bearings and riding within supports with rollers. The rollers wore grooves on to the tubes, thus, they were replaceable items - of course, with no replacements available. The list went on.

-Esa