Tower fly-by is a basic flight test technique to calibrate a new pitot-static system. The test aircraft flies down a painted centerline in a stable trim condition (at various speeds) while the true AGL is read visually from the fly-by tower and the altimeter is read in the aircraft. The rule is to stay at least one half wingspan above the ground to avoid data corruption from ground effect.
My most memorable flyby was a 600 KIAS pass to a closed pattern. The turn to downwind was wide, even at 7g, and we had to extend the downwind leg (a lot) to get slow enough to lower the gear. The maintenance guys on the ramp thought it was very cool. That memory is vivid, even after 40 years. Scott > -----Original Message----- > From: Mercedes [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of > Craig via Mercedes > Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2017 11:58 PM > To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Cc: Craig <diese...@pisquared.net> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT sign of the times - be careful out there! > > On Thu, 19 Oct 2017 20:24:25 -0500 Curley McLain via Mercedes > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > Makes sense. In the 40s, a pilot buzzing the tower got a severe > > consequence too. > > One afternoon when I was stationed at Peterson Field (now AFB) east of > Colorado Springs (1972), an F-4 pilot flew by the tower to have a visual check > on his landing gear. Those of us in the buildings adjacent to the flight > line, who > had not been informed of this activity, were rather surprised by the roar of a > jet so close. We ran out of the hanger to see what was going on just as made a > second pass, very close to right over where we were. He was about 150' off > the deck and his cockpit was about 200' away from me -- I could see him very > clearly -- and it was LOUD! > > Apparently things were OK because he circled around and landed without > incident. > > Since Peterson is a shared field with Colorado Springs Municipal, I'm sure > commercial traffic was suspended while the landing gear check was going on! > > > Craig > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
