Banner Towing, Dallas Redbird operation
March 22, 2005
Here are some shots of the equipment we get to play with at the Dallas Redbird operation
260HP Piper PA-25, Pawnee with droop wingtip conversion
180HP Bellanca 8GCBC, Scout
This is our ground support vehicle. Looks like it was a reject from the
Mad Max movies
The car used to be an AMC Gremlin (I guess it still is, but you wouldn't
recognize it as one)
Old billboard style banners from former clients. Every once-in-awhile an
old client will request a flight so we don't throw these signs away
We can even do letter banners (50 characters max)
I'm crossing the north side of downtown on the way back to RBD. It's hard
to make out, but you're looking straight down runway 31L and 31R at Dallas Love
Field in this pic. About 3 1/2 miles from the end of the runways.
Looking out the left window the same time as the previous photo shows you a nice
shot of Downtown Dallas
I'm pulling the 40' x 100' banner (4,000 sq ft of fabric). Nice 195° oil
temp, engine not working too hard at 2,300RPM
Just loafing along at 55MPH - 5MPH below the bottom of the white arc!
You're thinking I should be falling out of the sky at that speed right???
Remember I've got a droop tip conversion that adds a couple of feet to my
wingspan and I'm also blowing a lot of propwash over the wing roots which also
helps to keep the wings flying well below published stall speed. In this
high angle of attack, high power configuration, my wing tips stall first and I
feel the onset of a stall first as mushy ailerons. The stall will progress
from the tips inboard to the fuselage until the whole wing quits flying.
Just relax a little back pressure to keep her flying. Remember your slow
flight training when you got your license? I get to do that for the whole
2 hour mission.
The NightHawk mechanics are all a bunch of cutups that enjoy their work.
Signs like the ones above are stuck all over every one of the airplanes.
These are the aforementioned dogs that have to get pleasured by any pilot that
runs out of fuel!