Flying Iron Mk IX flying under bridges

[merlin_66]

Picked a well known bridge - Forth Railway Bridge.....

Yes! is DOES fly under bridges !!?

(Also include the practise runs with the JF Piper Warrior - had to clean up the different bridge models created from overlying scenery mods!!!??)

)

[Rupert]

Nice shots!  It's a lot more fun flying without Big Brother monitoring everything you do!  They stripped Martha Lunken from all her thousands of flight hours and tons of various aircraft ratings for only one reported bridge issue . And she actually was a leader, and instructor for the  FAA for many years!    

[PhrogPhlyer]

9 minutes ago, Rupert said:

Martha Lunken

How she lost her certificates (interesting revocation instead of suspension).

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/bridge-stunt-leads-to-ads-b-revocation/

 

And getting her Private Certificate again.

https://www.flyingmag.com/martha-lunken-earns-her-wings-again/

[Rupert]

Thanks for providing those articles Phrog.  I'd read most of the details from various sources including Flying.  

 

I once had the honor of hearing a few of Martha's stories first hand. Though I'm sure there are thousands more she has never shared.  Her personality and naturalism is truly rare!

 

Martha Lunken is a true American civilian flight pioneer, especially from the aspect of women.    

[Rupert]

Merlin_66,

 

Since you're obviously into "unusual" flights, I have another one you might try.  Fly up to Mountain View Ca. and check out the old blimp hangers at Moffit Field.  Every time I've "flown" there in a sim, the biggest hanger there had both main doors open.  So you can sim fly through!!  In FSX and P3D at least, the hanger interior is very detailed.  Since I don't have to worry about losing my license these days, I find it to be a fun exercise in various aircraft.  

 

In fact in RW when I was stationed at MCAF Santa Ana near the old MCAS El Toro, we used two old blimp hangers that had doors on each end which were about 300" tall openings for maintenance and other uses.  Jet Jockies from El Toro liked to fly through and scare us to death!  Not to mention almost deafen us!!  So we finally had to keep the doors on one end closed at all times to keep them from doing exactly what I'm suggesting you do with a sim at Moffit.

 

Give it a try!  And please post how it looks inside to you.

[PhrogPhlyer]

52 minutes ago, Rupert said:

In fact in RW when I was stationed at MCAF Santa Ana near the old MCAS El Toro, we used two old blimp hangers that had doors on each end which were about 300" tall openings for maintenance and other uses.  Jet Jockies from El Toro liked to fly through and scare us to death!  Not to mention almost deafen us!!  So we finally had to keep the doors on one end closed at all times to keep them from doing exactly what I'm suggesting you do with a sim at Moffit.

I absolutely loved those hangars, and as an amateur LTA historian, they were a real treat to see every day arriving at the squadron. And yes, we kept one door closed at all times!

[Rupert]

15 minutes ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

I absolutely loved those hangars, and as an amateur LTA historian, they were a real treat to see every day arriving at the squadron. And yes, we kept on door closed at all times!

Several years ago now my wife had an insurance conference in Orange County so I took some vacation time and flew out to see the sights while she was at "work."  The first place I wanted to go to what was MCAF when I was still flying.  I arrived where I remembered the facility being and found a huge empty lot!  You could still see the pavement where the old runways and a lot of the parking mats had been but both hangers were gone!!?? 

 

I asked around nearby and was told there were plans to open a private project there,  But no one seemed sure what that would be or would look like.  I haven't been back in So Cal since so I don't know what became of it. 

 

And  of course I hear El Toro has been moved either onto or very near Camp Pendelton.  Which frankly makes a lot of sense.  And probably those activities at MCAF Santa And are probably now there as well.  I assume the huge ranch firm that owned the land on which El Toro sat has it all back under lease to someone else.  (Considering the owner's political clout, it's probably another government operation.)

[PhrogPhlyer]

7 hours ago, Rupert said:

but both hangers were gone!!??

One hangar still exists, as only one was a Natl. historic building, along with the HQ and Chapel.

The initial, and stupid, intention for El Toro was to make it another John Wayne  Airport type field. But with Saddleback Mountain so close, it met military, but not civil requirements for approaches. So it sits empty except for an occasional movie or  TV commercial shoot.

[merlin_66]

Rupert et al,

OK the hanger with two doors still appears in MSFS2020 at Moffit Field.

The trees make it more interesting!! Not sure the wings will clear the door!!

Still working on it........

[merlin_66]

Are you sure this is the right place?

Doors are locked, no one around (and they are toooo narrow for the Warrior)

[merlin_66]

Yeah,

wrong place.

Need to find MCAS Tustin (KNTK)

Doesn't show up with the MSFS search.

 

[merlin_66]

OK

Found it!

Can  someone go down and open the doors for me????

[PhrogPhlyer]

8 hours ago, merlin_66 said:

Need to find MCAS Tustin (KNTK)

Here is NAS Santa Ana with a cross-over era CH-46 from future MCAS Santa Ana/MCAS Tustin.

Glory days long past.

[Rupert]

12 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

One hangar still exists, as only one was a Natl. historic building, along with the HQ and Chapel.

The initial, and stupid, intention for El Toro was to make it another John Wayne  Airport type field. But with Saddleback Mountain so close, it met military, but not civil requirements for approaches. So it sits empty except for an occasional movie or  TV commercial shoot.

I'm pretty positive we're talking about two totally different places that both existed in the '60s.  You appear to be describing the old MCAS EL Toro in Tustin Ca. Which was located on the east side of the freeway and miles south of Santa Ana.  And as you stated, very near Saddleback Mountain.  El Toro  had long, if I remember correctly, parallel runways where F-4s, F-8s etc. and much larger aircraft could land and takeoff.  And it was equipped with Vortac as well.  They even had a "flying club" with GA aircraft available for rent and hangers to store privately owned aircraft as well.  And an additional runway just for those smaller aircraft.  If we at MCAF wanted to fly GA aircraft or utilize the flying club we had to drive to El Toro to do so,

 

I was referring to MCAF Santa Ana which was located on the west side of the freeway a few miles north of Tustin, and was actually inside the city limits of Santa Ana Ca., not near Tustin at all.  In fact our two hangers were in sight of the old Santa Ana Airport which is now named for John Wayne.  MCAF Santa Ana had no chapel or headquarters building at all.  It almost consisted of two blimp hangers and a couple of Barracks buildings. 

 

The one "runway" at MCAF was short enough most fixed wing aircraft couldn't use it at all.  We had no Vortac at MCAF Santa Ana.  But in most low vision situations we utilized what was called the "Santa Ana Shutdown."  We received the signals from what is now called John Wayne and what was then El Toro to triangulate that we were above our facility and then could hover straight down to land.

 

Having said all of that, it appears the screenshot you included was of the old MCAF, not at all like El Toro.  And, if that be true, the H-46 shown was certainly a correct part of that scene.  In fact if you were standing atop the hanger shown on the left or West, you would have easily seen what is now the John Wayne Airport nearby.

[PhrogPhlyer]

2 hours ago, Rupert said:

I'm pretty positive we're talking about two totally different places that both existed in the '60s. 

We're both talking about the same. These two hangars at what was NAS Santa Ana are referred to as "Santa Ana hangars" no matter where they were later build (Tillamook OR, Sunnyvale (Moffett) CA, Lakehurst NJ, etc).  I was stationed there in the '80s with both HMM-161 and later we stood up HMM-166.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Air_Station_Tustin

 

These so few of the wonderous and massive hangars left.

 

An interesting side note to LTA operations, there are several repaints available for the Piper Cub that are for various ZP squadrons. One very specific usage that the blimp squadrons at Santa Ana did with a Cub, was to see how thick and the base of the marine layer clouds/smog was over the field. They would meet blimps  returning from an ocean patrol, or desert flight. Flying overtop Saddleback mountain, they would fly NW for enough minutes to approximate the airfield, Descending to the top of the marine layer the pilot would spin the Cub. Since a cub loses approximately 100' per spin, they would count spins with a wet compass, and if not beneath the layer at a guesstimated 400-500 feet they would recover and climb blind up until in the clear. This would definitely NOT be allowed by todays standards of safety.

 

[Rupert]

OK I just went there in P3D and looked it all up in Wikipedia.  We're definitely on the same wave length, just different eras.  If And yes, I was aware Santa Ana Hangers.

 

In my version of P3D it still shows both hangers and the single "runway" as well.  And actually looked much like how it looked when I was stationed there.  Sadly now when I try to take a screen shot with P3D it shuts down the sim so I can't post one anymore,

 

When Molly and I were in Orange County for that insurance conference I must have gotten lost and missed where I was looking for altogether.  I'm thrilled one of those hangers is still there!    

 

I think I'll take a "flight" up to Moffet and see if P3D shows that huge hanger as well. 

[Rupert]

I just flew up to fly thorough Moffett Hanger 1 with P3D.  (I didn't hit anything)

 

Then out of curiosity I looked it up in Wikipedia and saw a current picture of it.  They have removed all the outside skin!  Apparently there were some serious pollution issues with the material in the skin.  It certainly looks different with only the framework and no outside skin.

 

I've not seen a screenshot of Moffett Hanger 1 in the MSFS.  It'd certainly be interesting to see how it is now portrayed. any takers out there?

 

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

1 hour ago, Rupert said:

I've not seen a screenshot of Moffett Hanger 1 in the MSFS.

Can't help with MSFS, but here it is it is in FSX including the two "Santa Ana" hangars.

Flying the K Ship is a lot of fun.

[merlin_66]

Moffet Hanger 1 in MSFS....

[loki]

49 minutes ago, merlin_66 said:

Moffet Hanger 1 in MSFS....

 

Yeah, think you need to go for an add-on to get a proper model of the hangar.

 

https://flightsim.to/file/4715/moffet-field-nasa-airship-hangar-knuq-airport-buildings

[PhrogPhlyer]

57 minutes ago, merlin_66 said:

Moffet Hanger 1 in MSFS...

Eek!

[merlin_66]

Loki,

Thanks for that.

It looks like the doors on Hanger 1 are not open..... bumma

 

[merlin_66]

Looks interesting, but only the north door of Hanger 1 is open - no way out!!!

[merlin_66]

Hanger #2 falling apart, Hanger #3 open but full of junk??

[Rupert]

22 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Can't help with MSFS, but here it is it is in FSX including the two "Santa Ana" hangars.

Flying the K Ship is a lot of fun.

That's similar to what I see in P3D except the P3D version of Hanger 1 seems much more detailed.  And looking at it from each end in my the doors are open so I have flown through it several times.  Yes I know, I used to raise hell when the El Toro guys flew through our hanger at the MCAF!  That's why we kept the East End doors closed.