Banner Towing, Dallas Redbird operation
April 26, 2005
The Hutch Wing Pawnee
The boss, Stuart, brought us a different Pawnee for the Dallas operation yesterday (4/26). Stuart explained to me that this Pawnee had a "Hutch" conversion done to it. They replace the fabric on the fuselage with fiberglass and replace the wings with metal high lift wings that have square tips instead of bows at the tips, and the square tips are cuffed on the bottom similar to droop tip wings.
This is the stock "A" model Pawnee wing. It's pretty much a Super
Cub wing with struts coming out the top instead of the bottom.
This is the "Hutch" wing conversion. It has a longer span, cuffed tips
and a wider cord (look in front of the leading edge strut and compare this wing
with the wing above
I got the privilege of being the first to fly the "new" bird, and my wingman, Jack, flew the "A" model Pawnee with the original short wings. I towed the giant 4,000 sq ft banner since my plane should be able to handle it better with the high lift wings.
Run-up and takeoff in the new bird went swimmingly. The first thing I noticed was how light the controls were. This airplane has wonderful flight characteristics so far. I threw the grappling hook out the window, checked to make sure it deployed free and clear of the tail, then our flight of two received clearance from the tower for the banner pickups. I flew towards the gate at the recommended 90-100mph and pulled up at the same time and with the same stick pressure I was used to on the short wing Pawnee to grab the banner off the ground - that was a mistake! On the short wing Pawnee you actually have to make a STRONG and QUICK pull back on the stick to quickly transition from level flight to about 45° nose up in an effort to be at around 60mph when the rope goes taught and the banner lifts off the ground. This maneuver is called the "swing." It's called that because you cause the hook (which is on a 12' rope) to swing down towards the ground so it will cross UNDER the banner rope and lift it off the poles while the airplane is climbing rapidly. What I failed to think through was that with the high lift wing, my STRONG and QUICK jerk back on the stick might need to be modified slightly. The first attempt at the banner pickup resulted in me finding myself flying almost STRAIGHT UP! It wasn't dangerous in the least, it was just that I over controlled because of the high lift wing. Well it took me two more passes to finally get it right, then we were on our way.
Live from Texas,
Hugh