Fun Things to do on a Cold Saturday in January

So we were able to launch our normal Saturday breakfast flight from LXT to K81. After that a buddy of ours with a L-39 Albatross wanted to do some formation flying with us. BeeGee rounded up someone with a big time Camera and here is what we captured on film:

Phil getting a preflight brief on the ejection seat:

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Heading out for the join up with the L-39, my 10 yr old son Sean giving the "Thumbs Up":

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The L-39 forming up with us. The photographer asked him to "step up" for the photo:

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We did not get any shots of BeeGee's plane since he was carrying the photographer. It was a lot of fun, especially since we had to run 180-190 knots to keep the jet flying.

We did shoot a set of pictures where the Jet did not have the speed brakes deployed, but I guess they did not turn out as well.

Those are some sweet pics! Frame them and hang them on the wall!

View from the

L39









Nothing fancy here...just wanted to see if RV's could join-up with an L39 throttled back to about 190 knots. The RV's had little reserve power, but enough that made this a fun flight.

BeeGee
RV-7 N151WP
Lee's Summit, MO

Now that was cool! Thanks!

KevinL said:

Phil getting a preflight brief on the ejection seat:

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Nice photos! (Just to clarify, Mike's seats are not "hot," so they're not actually "ejection seats.")

very nice!

Really really...

...COOL!!! Great photos, great planes and great pilots!

Thanks alot for sharing!

Man I'd like to have been on that ride! Very cool!

Can civilian owned jets have working ejection seats? Kind of curious thinking of that privately owned Harrier jet, SU-27, as well as others.

They gotta be spendy to keep certified but then it's all relative.

BuckWynd said:

Nice photos! (Just to clarify, Mike's seats are not "hot," so they're not actually "ejection seats.")

Click to expand...

True, but the brief is equally cool. Nose down trim, roll inverted and fall out. Or something to that effect. You still have to know which handles to pull to fall clear!

Pictures

Hello Kevin,
Please check your PM's.
Thanks,
Chuck

boom3 said:

Can civilian owned jets have working ejection seats? Kind of curious thinking of that privately owned Harrier jet, SU-27, as well as others.

They gotta be spendy to keep certified but then it's all relative.

Click to expand...

The short answer is yes, they can. However... they must be maintained to pretty close to the same standards that the military used, in terms of inspections and life-limited parts. There are also pretty strenuous owner training requirements. But, as I said, the L-39 mentioned above has cold seats, like about 95% of them flying in the USA.

All it takes is money...

boom3 said:

Man I'd like to have been on that ride! Very cool!

Can civilian owned jets have working ejection seats? Kind of curious thinking of that privately owned Harrier jet, SU-27, as well as others.

They gotta be spendy to keep certified but then it's all relative.

Click to expand...

yes
Best
Brian

Inspiration

Kevin,
Thanks so much for sharing. I'm a recent father and dream of the day when I can take my boy up. I'm putting the second photo up as my screen wallpaper.