The roll of toilet paper trick used to be done at Old Rheinbeck (sp?)
Aerodrome in upstate NY, and then the guy flying the Cub would attempt
to cut it time and again. I remember watching in amazement as he got
very very close to the tree tops for the last several cuts. I don't
know how tightly a Cub can turn, but my qualitative answer is its
turning radius is oh-my-god tight at low airspeeds.
There is a regulation (not a law) "about" throwing things out of planes, but it
specifically does not prohibit the practice. Reference FAR 91.15
Vaughn
Old Rhinebeck still does the TP ribbon cuts, but they were using
a couple of WWI biplanes to do it when I was there over the summer.
For those not familiar with Old Rhinebeck <http://oldrhinebeck.org/>,
the *newest* planes in their collection are from WWI (many of their
planes are original, and they also have some very period accurate
reproductions). They have an original Bleriot XI (1911), claimed
to be the oldest plane in the US that still flies.
Definitely worth a trip if you are in the NYC area. It is located
about 2hrs north of NYC by car. Flying in is discouraged since
the runway is very unflat (the hills in the runway help deal with
the lack of brakes on the planes in the collection).
John
--
John Clear - j...@panix.com http://www.clear-prop.org/
You mean who throws shit out with the toilet paper.
--
_?_ Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
(@ @) Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-oOO-(_)--OOo-------------------------------[ Groucho Marx ]--
grok! Devoted Microsoft User
If you put a paper clip on the edge of the roll, engaging about 1/8"
of TP, it will
string out in a long line, as opposed to creating a large "pancake".
If you do manage to hit it squarely; land soon and decowl the
aircraft. TP has
been known to scatter across the top of the engine, sticking in the
cooling fins,
and presenting a very real fire hazard.
Ask me how I know.
Al G
LOL, it's my thread, so I'll "ask".
Seriously, I rather doubt a bit of shredded TP would be a fire
hazard. OK, maybe a probabilty of 1 in 10,000, guess if you
use heavy ply TP maybe 1 in 8,000, but that's for rich folks.
Ken
While checking for traffic I noticed this roll of tp un-rolling
verically nearby. It
apparently had no paper clip, and when it reached the end of the roll,
the cardboard
dropped off and left only paper. The lower edge(leading edge) had a
tendancy to fold back and create a larger drag surface than the
vertically falling TP, which folded itself back and forth until
achieving an inverted contact lens shape, about 3 feet in diameter. I
banked the Turbo 206 around for a closer look, and boresighted a spot
about 50'
below the mass(leading the target). I lost sight of my traffic, and
hit it with the spinner.
During the debrief, a mechanic with almost no sense of humor brought
me a large fistfull of very compacted TP. He had found it stuck to
baffle connectors, between the cylinders, and on bolts near the cowl
flaps. Most of that which was recovered, came from between the
cylinders. I think the blocking of cooling air is a far more serious
threat than the possibility of fire.
Al G