recreate b17 ferry flight to hawaii

[alan CXA651]

Hi Paul.
Yep i know how to ballance fuel , had plenty of practice playing b17 the mighty 8th , it was usually more urgent due fuel leaks or eng fires , due to being shot up.
At least here its only a case of keeping the aircraft ballanced.
regards alan.

[alan CXA651]

Hi Lewis.
Yesterdays flight was not good , high head winds killed the flight , ran out of fuel as i had gear/flaps down on a hasty change of airport , and was on approach into phng haveing to look at my approach and feather one engine after the other was one hell of a ride , the B17 glides like a brick, all i can say is , its a good job i did gliding in the raf , that training kicked in automatic , it got me down on the runway and looked like i was going to stop , then she just rose into the sky by a few feet , by time she decided to stay on runway , i did not have enough room to stop , in hind sight , i should have retracted the gear , might have stayed on dry land , but more airframe damage .
HA Well you live an learn as they say, and yes this is a long flight , yesterdays lasted 12.5 hours , real time flying .
But because this is an A2A B17 , i never had time to be bored , always that no3 eng to watch , and anything else that might have failed , in this living breathing machine.
Regards alan.

[Gypsy Baron]

Alan, what was your flap setting on that 'glider landing', aka 'dead stick'?

I use the same flap setting for takeoff and landing.....about 25%. I use the upper-right screw om the flap indicator as my reference point when dropping flaps. When the needle points to that screw, that is my flap setting. Too much flap on landing and you will 'float' forever!

I find that if I retract flaps as soon as I touch down and then use the elevators for additional braking I can stop a bit quicker. I also make use of differential braking, alternating left and right by kiscking the rudder back and forth. This helps to prevent nosing over.

I can't recall the number of B-17G landings I've made but my 91st BG B-17G has over 1750 hours on i and I've managed to keep it 'intact' throughout most of it's life .

Paul

[alan CXA651]

Hi Paul.
I had full flap while i had 3 engs running , as soon as i had finished prop feathering engs 1,2 and 4 , to match eng 3 , i realised i was not going to make the runway , so retracted flaps fully , and i was caught out by how quick she picked up speed , once i relised i was going to get to runway , even though i was at a higher speed than i should be for flaps , i still lowered them fully to help slow me down , i was not bothered about damage to flaps at this stage , my thoughts where get her down and stopped.
regards alan.

[alan CXA651]

Hi.
10.54am loc time eng 4 has some problems , not sure what as yet , but monitoring carfully , all gauges reading normally , but several hours ago , i had to retard throttle to almost idle due high manifold press, all engines where fully overhauled and servicable prior to trip.
hawaiian isles about 700nm away , endurance range about 893 miles, alt about 10000ft, grd spd 215 , have tailwind for once.
regarding eng 4 , i suspect wastegate fault ,as it has same tendancies as number 3 wastegate fault i had, at the boeing field prior to trip to hamilton .
regards alan.

[alan CXA651]

Hi.
2pm loc phnl time , parked , had to shut eng 4 down as i decended , to try and save it from anymore damage , as manifold press would have risen to un exceptable level then co-pilot said , we are low on fuel eng 1 , so while decending in circuit for runway 4r in winds 12g17 at 30 deg i transfered some fuel from eng 4 to 1 , next got a call eng2 low on fuel , so stopped transfer to 1 and switched to 2 from 4 , got down , only to find eng 3 had shut down , it was then i realised due to tiredness , i had turned of no3 fuel valve instead of no 4 , so it was only windmilling as i had not feathered it , as it was my intention to use both inboards for taxiing , so i had effectivly landed with only engs 1 an 2, it was a nice landing too , started no 3 on runway and shut no 1 down , and while taxiing i was transfering fuel equally between engs 2 an 3 , on shut down i had a total of 146 gal of fuel left, the state of the aircraft in the hanger is:-
1./ number 4 wastegate dead. Genuine snag failed 500nm into trip
2./ battery 3 moderate wear. Genuine snag as volts was lower on preflight checks , but could not fix prior flight
3./ hydraulic pump moderate wear. Possible genuine snag , as its been a while since last repaired/replaced.
4./ engines 1 to 4 have remarks we lost a cyclinder ,but when you look at them it is worse , engines 1 and 4 totally dead,eng 3 has 2 dead cyclinders rest of eng worn, eng 2 as 2 cyclinders worn rest dead.
other remarks keep eye on batteries signs of corrosion Posible genuine snag.
keep an eye on hyd pump its getting old . See above 3./
should replace old worn turbo wastegate. see above 1./
some engine accessories need repairs. These snags could not be genuine as engines only had 13hrs on them since complete overhaul.
Some of these snags where going on after i had shutdown and was checking faults , something is somehow adding to the faults , i suspect ASN but cannot confirm.
This aircraft in this state could not have made it , i knew i might have had a dead wastegate on eng 4 , but aircraft otherwise performed ok , and no indication of anything wrong with the other engs, i knew on the preflight checks , that one of the batteries was going , due volt level on test , but nothing in the hangar prior to takeoff , when aircraft was showing fully fit to fly.
Also all these engines had to be overhauled after the last flight because something caused total failure , and i dont abuse the engines , and they had zero hours for the start of this flight , and i never abused them on this trip either , they should not be this bad .
ALSO WHILE WRITING THIS I HAVE JUST CHECKED IN THE HANGAR , ALL ENGINES NOW NEED REPLACING TOTALLY DEAD.
What could cause this interferance in this way on the engines , as i dont think these where genuine snags on this trip , as oils would have been effected and fluids at end of this 12.5hr trip are :-eng oils l to r 84%/84%/86%/81%. hyd:-78% gly:-32%

https://www.twitch.tv/cxa651/v/97047199


regards alan.