Lockwood Aircraft

Lockwood Aircraft - Recreational pilots know the Drifter well, as one of the most durable and fun flying airplanes in the light aviation fleet. A range has been built and Lockwood Aircraft can offer kits on an ordered basis for most models, including the deluxe Rotax 912-powered Super Drifter.

On wheels or floats, Drifter is a great aerial sports car. Outside the USA, Drifter has proven its tough and long-lasting design by performing workhorse duties like banner towing or tourism flights. CESSNA'S DISCOVER FLYING I met the new business leader for the Skycatcher LSA, Tracy Leopold, at Sun 'n Fun 2012 where she confirmed the Wichita giant's support for their lightest aircraft, now being assembled in Independence alongside other Cessna models. November 7, 2012

Lockwood Aircraft

Copyright © 1999 - 2023 Lockwood Aero Independent Service Center of ROTAX© Aircraft Engines ROTAX® is the registered trademark of BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG Copyright © 1999 - 2023 Lockwood Aero Independent Service Center of ROTAX© Aircraft Engines

ROTAX® is the registered trademark of BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG Lockwood Aircraft's Super Drifter open-cockpit kitbuilt plane, the resurrection of the Drifter design that was the basic concept for Phil Lockwood's AirCam twin-engine airplane, (a unique camera platform first created for National Geographic), is getting a new set of

tailfeathers. June 5, 2011 Most pilots never probably have witnessed the testing a wing endures before designers and regulators will sign off on it, signaling that it has been adequately stressed so that pilots can depend on it. August 25, 2016

Founded in 1989, Lockwood Aviation Supply provides parts and service for all Rotax Powered Aircraft. We carry over 8,000 unique parts and supplies for Rotax engines and the aircraft they power. For 17 years, Lockwood enterprises have been headquartered at the Sebring, Florida airport (KSEF) where its expanding facilities represent an anchor tenant of the onetime World War II airport positioned alongside the world-famous Sebring Raceway.

At this central location in the aviation-intensive state of Florida, Lockwood is well suited to serve a large pilot population that can fly to the airport in a couple hours or less. The company also supports a large group of out-of-state customers from the USA as many Rotax components and engines are shipped in for service and overhaul on a daily basis.

While they'll be happy to ship you a Drifter kit, Lockwood Aircraft's closest attention is paid to their one-of-a-kind AirCam. This marvelous machine (I earned my multiple-engine rating in an AirCam) has attracted an intensely loyal following from nearly 200 owners who enjoy its unique flying characteristics.

AirCam can fly low — in good safety — over terrain that has others flying too high to see the detail well. The design was developed for National Geographic filming over the dense jungles of Africa.

AirCam operates so effectively on one engine that it can even take off with one engine, a feat unheard of among twin-engine aircraft. This superb ability from a sporting aircraft gives AirCam a safety margin. In flight, shutting down one engine barely changes the flight characteristics, making twin engine operation well within the capability of most pilots.

I've been on a couple AirCam outings and I have two points about them: (1) Owners of this unusual airplane are often fairly well-off people and see a golden opportunity when invited by the good planners at Lockwood Aircraft;

and, (2) These pilots know how to have fun with their airplanes, flying to some delicious locations. October 19, 2014 Considered by many to be a workhorse, the Super Drifter XL shows refinement and features that make it seem like a "luxury ultralight."

Leza AirCam, the newly renamed producer of this venerable ultralight, has equipped the top-of-the-line model with nearly every option in their price list. January 12, 2003

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Long Ez Aircraft For Sale

Long Ez Aircraft For Sale - Toll Free: 877-477-7823 Customer Service: 800-861-3192 Fax: 800-329-3020 Fits perfectly on the Rv-6A nose-gear. I would probably go with the 8-ply next time for the extra stiffness. The Cheng-Shin is made in Taiwan and the Aero Classic I removed was made in China.

This manufacturer seems to be the only one that makes this size tire. It's for my RV-7A nose wheel I have had 3 flats in 8 years, all at away airports. I don't know if it's just bad luck, poor tube, or what.

Long Ez Aircraft For Sale

My solution now is to always carry a fully assembled, pressurized spare wheel assembly. That's what this one is for. The Long-EZ was a modern, high performance, custom built long range aircraft featuring the latest advances in aerodynamics and structure to provide good utility, economy, comfort, simplicity and flight safety.

Previous Customers How To Update

The aircraft uses one of two proven certified aircraft engines, the Continental O-200 (100 hp) and the Lycoming O-235 (115 hp). It has an alternator powered electrical system and can be equipped with an electric engine starter.

Subscribe to Plane Sales Australia to receive all our latest news and be kept up-to-date with the latest news plane listings. Its cockpit layout is designed to compliment the pilot work load with throttle, mixture, carb heat, pitch trim and landing controls on the left side console and a side stick controller on the right console.

Seating provides correct armrest, lumbar, thigh and headrest support allowing "recliner chair" comfort not found in conventional aircraft seats. This allows long, fatigue free flights. The inboard portion of the large wing strakes are used as baggage areas accessible from the front and rear cockpit.

The Long-EZ has a canard layout, with a delta wing and wing tips, and a pusher engine and propeller. The tricycle landing gear has fixed main wheels with streamlined spats, and a retractable nosewheel. Its predecessor was the VariEze, plans of which were first available to homebuilders in 1976. The prototype, N79RA, of the Long-EZ first flew on June 12, 1979. The Long-EZ was a plans-only kitplane, and several variants of the basic

designs have surfaced over the years. If you have already purchased this product and want to update to the latest version, just login to your store account and click on "MyAccount". There you will find all your purchases and download links.

Just download and install again to get the latest version. Built, own and fly one. Builders usually use the Lycoming 320 engine for improved performance. Baggage pods help for long distance travel with a passenger. Supreme economy and speed for the money.

Typical 160 Kts True at 7.5gal/hour actual and common numbers. Please note, Aircraft Spruce's personnel are not certified aircraft mechanics and can only provide general support and ideas, which should not be relied upon or implemented in lieu of consulting an A&P or other qualified technician.

Aircraft Spruce assumes no responsibility or liability for any issue or problem which may arise from any repair, modification or other work done from this knowledge base. Any product eligibility information provided here is based on general application guidelines and we recommend always referring to your specific aircraft parts manual, the parts manufacturer or consulting with a qualified mechanic.

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Long Range Single Piston Aircraft

Long Range Single Piston Aircraft - This type of plane is definitely a modern way to do things and offers a proper interpretation as such, which makes it a good pick when it comes to good avionics. It's nice to fly in comfort, and the Citation definitely has comfort.

The Stationair is one of only two high-wing planes to make the list. Cessna markets the six-seater as a workhorse and a heavy hauler. It boasts a useful load of almost 1,600 pounds. The Stationair family has been around since 1962 and is a popular choice for bush planes.

Long Range Single Piston Aircraft

1. The Cessna 400. Is 3blade Air Plane is the 2nd fastest fixed Gear Air Craft top speed in knots is 235 knots too.is the number 2 Plane in line too. We know what you are going to say.

Piper M

The Piper M350 is a business class aircraft complete with a pressurized cabin, and with a price tag of $1.2 million, is out of the budget range of your typical private pilot. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this list of remarkable planes is how very different they are from each other.

High-wing, low-wing, small bore, big bore, six-seat, four-seat...they not only took different approaches to arrive at a place of greatness, a place where pilots then and now find a plane that fits their mission but, more often than not, their personality, as well.

Few groundbreaking airplanes stand the test of time, and the M350, known previously as the Mirage and before that the Malibu, is one of them. The pressurized piston single is fast, roomy (seats for six including club seating in back), and because it's pressurized, occupants don't need cannula or oxygen masks in the flight levels.

Its tremendous range and weather-ready equipment make it the world's most advanced piston single, one with much of the capability of turboprop singles, but at a cool million less. Its G1000 avionics suite boasts safety features like synthetic vision, envelope protection and a hypoxia safety mode.

The M350 has onboard weather radar, anti-icing pneumatic boots for full flight into known icing capability, and with a ceiling of 25,000 feet, it can navigate weather more effectively and effortlessly (for pilot and passengers) than any other production piston single.

The story of the high-performance singles is a fascinating one, not only because the airplanes themselves are masterpieces of engineering and design. They are, granted, limited masterpieces, but in aviation, the word "limitation" is hard-coded into the lexicon.

1. We are losing a lot of smaller private: smaller Air Craft too! The smaller Air Craft megs are going out of Business too.There less Air Craft Megs are smaller co ,Corp I.N.C Co"s too. going out of Business too.Do you Agree!!! Sir? Or Mam? What does public say about

this? We like to know your option!!! You're right. But it's also a single-engine piston plane. So, even if it's a bit of an outlier, it meets the parameters of this list. The turbo-charged M350 is all about luxury and sophistication, with comfortable interiors that meet the expectations of even the most spoiled executives.

This is definitely a historic aircraft, which can be very nice for collectors and enthusiasts. It does lack some of the modern comforts, but at the same time, it makes up for that with charming nostalgia and ingenuity.

The Stinson 108 is a unique kind of aircraft which does things a little differently, and has been in active service since the 1940's. However, it has also gained a cult-like devotion from fans, which is strange considering the design is very reminiscent of the time.

Plane and Pilot builds on more than 50 years of serving pilots and owners of aircraft with the goal of empowering our readers to improve their knowledge and enthusiasm for aviation. Plane and Pilot expands upon the vast base of knowledge and experience from aviation's most reputable influencers to inspire, educate, entertain and inform.

We left off some planes, too. Why no Ryan/North American Navion? North American/Rockwell/ Commander Aircraft Commander 114? The Diamond DA-40? The Meyers 200? The Socata Trinidad? All are possible inclusions that we left out, some quite reluctantly.

The Diamond DA40 has an impressive safety record, making it a top-notch choice for civilian and military flight schools. Diamond is based in Austria, but also manufactures planes in Canada for the North American market. You can tell a DA40 by its diminutive size and T-Tail.

It also has a unique all-composite airframe. It's not just that these planes are cool, and they are, but also that they tell a tale of how airplane builders saw their customers both as pilots and as people, and how that perspective drove their design decisions.

It's the story of how these designers worked within the current boundaries of the state of technology in terms of propulsion, materials and electronics, to create a plane that met the then-new needs of a new breed of pilot.

It's also a tale of manufacturers' evolving understanding of what pilots wanted, tempered as always by what plane makers and regulators believed that pilots could and should be allowed to handle. While the answers to these questions have changed over time, the questions themselves haven't.

The Piper M350, with its twin-turbocharged piston engine, is a perfect choice for a private plane. Its pressurized cabin allows for a cruising altitude of up to 25,000 feet, and it's certainly one of the swifter single-engine planes.

It retains the classic streamlined Mooney shape and signature tail profile with its vertical leading edge. Updates include doors on each side of the fuselage, improved visibility, and composite materials to reduce weight. Sure, the Ovation Ultra isn't as fast as the Acclaim Ultra, but 197 knots is nothing to laugh at.

While the plane has evolved over the years, the basic design has remained relatively unchanged. Simply put, Cessna nailed it from the get go — a big, stable four-seater that's comfortable, capable and relatively easy to work on.

We're talking turbocharged engines, airbags, oxygen systems, remote keyless entry, and even a parachute—not for passengers, but for the entire airplane. If you're looking for a single-engine aircraft with all the best features, the Cirrus SR22T is for you.

The most recent evolution of the Acclaim is the M20V or Acclaim Ultra. It debuted in 2016. In aviation, there are no shortcuts for speed. It's aerodynamics and horsepower, and the Acclaim excels in both categories with a sleek and sexy design and a turbocharged Continental TSIO-550-G engine cranking out 280 ponies.

The Ovation Ultra is the fastest normally aspirated single-engine piston plane on the market right now. Mooney's Ovation lineup has been around for more than 20 years, and the Ultra, or M20U, is the most recent evolution, released in 2016.

This is definitely one of those models that puts an emphasis on being small, but pretty tough. It has a lot of power wrapped up within the frame of the plane. It's a good, reliable little get-around.

The Cessna 172 may not be the sexiest airplane in existence, but it's the most-produced aircraft for a very good reason. It's a reliable plane, and many pilots will already be familiar with its controls, as it's a popular trainer at flight schools.

The Cirrus SR Series is unique in several ways. It uses a side stick as opposed to a traditional yoke, and the plane comes with its own parachute. As of February 2020, the Cirrus Airplane Parachute System had been deployed 95 times and saved 192 passengers.

The Acclaim is one of two existing models in Mooney's long-running M20 family of aircraft. The M20 series debuted in 1955 with the M20A and has been putting smiles on pilot's faces ever since. The manufacturer has sold more than 11,000 units, leaving little doubt that Mooney knows how to build speed without sacrificing dependability.

The Cirrus SR20 cruises comfortably at 155 knots. Sure, in the world of aviation, this is not exactly blazing speed. Heck, even by Cirrus standards this is relatively modest. But keep in mind, the aviation industry is small.

There aren't dozens of single-engine airplanes to choose from and a dealership in every suburb. There's not a lot of competition. So, congratulations, Cirrus SR20 you made the cut. When it comes to safety, the DA40 NG (the "NG" stands for "next generation") is just about the best single-engine plane to own.

It's perfect for a first airplane, and boasts exceptional handling that'll make you feel like you're in complete control. This is an interesting aircraft, simply because it has been defined over the years as the plane for pilots.

It was designed to compete directly with Cessna, who controlled the market back in the 1970s. Option number eight on the list is this one, the Cirrus Vision Jet. It is one of the smaller options available, but it's incredibly powerful.

It is a private jet with a single engine system, powered by an FJ33-5A turbofan engine, which is capable of creating at least 18,000lbs of thrust. New to this year's Plane & Pilot Buyer's Guide are a couple of airplanes that are major updates of existing singles, as well as an all-new, newly Part 23-certified model by CubCrafters.

The product that continues to dominate the market is the Cirrus SR22 G6, which this year boasts its best panel yet, the updated G1000 NXi. Despite relatively low levels of sales against historic figures, the number of different options for potential buyers of singles remains impressive.

You can get anything from a 120-knot taildragger with big tires to a pressurized six-place screamer, and most everything else in between. Here's our selection of the leading piston singles on the market. A commercial pilot, editor-in-chief Isabel Goyer has been flying for more than 40 years, with hundreds of different aircraft in her logbook and thousands of hours.

An award-winning aviation writer, photographer and editor, Ms. Goyer led teams at Sport Pilot, Air Progress and Flying before coming to Plane & Pilot in 2015. The jet features a comfortable cabin for passengers, and a Garmin g3000 avionics system.

Owing to its smaller size, it can also be flown by just one pilot, which is helpful. The interior is plenty big enough for nine passengers, and features a lavatory, Wi-Fi, LED lighting, and six different themes for interior design.

Ultimately, it does provide a very unique and interesting experience, which is nice. It was an attempt to stake a claim in the performance world and try to keep Cirrus from eating Cessna's lunch. The high-performance, turbo-charged single lasted about 10 years before Cessna discontinued it in 2018 due to dismal sales.

The Cessna lineup of piston planes is about utility and stability. Speed ​​is more of an afterthought. Nevertheless, the Turbo Stationair HD cruises along at a respectable 161 knots. That type of speed won't peel the paint from the fuselage, but it's not bad either.

Besides, if you wanted speed, you'd buy a Mooney. None of these are fast single engine propeller aircraft. Anything below 217knots (250mph) aren't fast but are just faster than average aircraft. Now how about some far closer to 260knots (300mpg) realm of speed.

Like Socata TBM 900, Pilatus PC-12NGX, Beechcraft Denali, Epic E1000 and Piper Meridian.

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Lockheed Aircraft Company

Lockheed Aircraft Company - Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 114,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

Lockheed Martin's aircraft leadership is earned through relentless research and development of high-performance combat, air mobility and reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft. We also provide world-class training, focused logistics support, and advanced targeting and navigation technologies to enable the right people with the right skills to be in the right place at the right time with the right information and the right munitions to accomplish their missions.

Lockheed Aircraft Company

This F-16 Block 70 jet is the first of 16 jets to be delivered to Bahrain. Six countries have selected Block 70/72 aircraft. In addition to the current official backlog of 128 jets to-date to be built in Greenville, Jordan last year signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for eight jets and last week signed an additional LOA for four more jets. Lockheed Martin has received a contract to begin Jordan's long-lead activities. Bulgaria has also signed an LOA for an additional eight jets for its fleet. Once these are finalized, the backlog will increase to 148.

The F-16 is a strategic and valuable choice for many customers around the world seeking advanced, 4th generation fighter aircraft capabilities, regional and worldwide partnerships, and affordable lifecycle costs. More than 3,000 F-16s are operating today in 25 countries. The F-16 has flown an estimated 19.5 million flight hours and at least 13 million sorties. Today's latest version, the Block 70/72, offers unparalleled capabilities and will be flown by at least five countries beginning in the mid-2020s.

The flight occurred Jan. 24 at 9:17 a.m. ET, with Lockheed Martin test pilots Dwayne "Pro" Opella and Monessa "Siren" Balzhiser at the helm. Total flight time was approximately 50 minutes and included airworthiness checks, such as engine, flight control and fuel system checks, as well as basic aircraft handling.

"Lockheed Martin is fully committed to delivering quality platforms for our customers' critical missions, and I am so proud of our talented team in Greenville," said Danya Trent, F-16 Vice President and Site Lead in Greenville. "This is the culmination of significant development, design, digital engineering, supply chain and production line advances to an already proven platform that will continue to deliver decades of service in support of customers' national security."

"Today's successful flight is a testament of the hard work, dedication and commitment to our customers and their missions," said OJ Sanchez, vice president, Integrated Fighter Group, which includes the F-16 program. "This milestone demonstrates Lockheed Martin's commitment to advancing this program and getting this much-needed aircraft and its advanced 21st Century Security capabilities to the warfighter."

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Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant Camouflage

Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant Camouflage - It gets even better: According to accounts, Lockheed and the government got Hollywood's help to further the ruse by making a fake Lockheed plant as a decoy. Warner Brothers disguised a nearby studio so that it looked like an aircraft plant from the air, in case the Japanese had intelligence that there was a military facility in the area.

"For many years after one of the sound stages bore the Leftover letters 'HEED AIRCRAFT COMPANY,' obviously the remnants of a fake Lockheed sign." If we tried this today, folks would deliberately park their cars outside the camouflaged area because no FakeNews Army Scientist is gonna tell me how to park my car!

Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant Camouflage

It is my American right! In fact, this camouflage makes it MORE likely we'll get bombed! An IJN sub shelled a beach near an oil refinery in California and Japan released hundreds of balloons carrying time release bombs hoping to set the Forests ablaze but only killed a few kids from a Sunday school picnic.

That was pretty much the only threat Japan gave the continental US. And they had a Giant sub with three airplanes inside ready to Bomb New York but never went through with it. During World War II, the U.S.

officials were worried that the Japanese would bomb Lockheed's aircraft factory in Burbank. Their solution was an amazing act of military deception: They got the Army Corps of Engineers to disguise the entire Massive plant as a bucolic rural subdivision.

"Another person who lived in the area talked about being a boy, watching it all be set up like a movie studio production. They had fake houses, trees, etc. and moved parked cars around so it looked like a residential area from the skies overhead.”

During World War II the Army Corps of Engineers needed to hide the Lockheed Burbank Aircraft Plant to protect it from a possible Japanese air attack. They covered it with camouflage netting to make it look like a rural subdivision from the air.

That's pure genius! I think I also saw on History channel or Discovery how the or English Hired an Illusionist to help hide a specific shoreline so that the German airforces would be Confused at night to their actual location for the bombing raids..

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Long Beach Aircraft Carrier

Long Beach Aircraft Carrier - An Essex-class aircraft carrier, USS Shangri-La (CV-38) entered service in 1944. One of over 20 Essex-class carriers built for the US Navy during World War II, it joined the US Pacific Fleet and supported Allied operations during the final phases of the island-hopping campaign across the Pacific. Modernized in the 1950s, Shangri-La later served extensively in the Atlantic and Mediterranean before taking part in the Vietnam War.  Completing its time off Southeast Asia, the carrier was decommissioned in 1971.

He checked aboard the Kitty Hawk shortly after an engine room fire took the lives of five sailors. The inferno injured at least three dozen others, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command. Shaw said connecting to other R-Division veterans, who were the ship’s primary firefighters, through the Facebook group made him appreciate what those sailors endured in the wake of the tragedy.

Long Beach Aircraft Carrier

“Ships are haunted — they hold the soul of the crew,” he said. “The attachment of a ship and a crew maybe transcends rational thought. You invest your energy, your emotion, your friends, your dead friends ... how many hugely emotional events in a sailor’s life are associated with the crew, with the Kitty Hawk?”

‘Geriatrics For Carriers’

Returning to Ulithi, the carrier embarked Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr. in late May when he relieved Mitscher.  Becoming flagship of the task force, Shangri-La led the American carriers north in early June and began a series of raids against the Japanese home islands. The next several days saw Shangri-La evade a typhoon while shuttling between strikes on Okinawa and Japan. On June 13, the carrier departed for Leyte where it spent the remainder of the month engaged in maintenance. Resuming combat operations on July 1, Shangri-La returned to Japanese waters and began a series of attacks across the length of the country.

“This was my first ship and there’s a lot of memories,” he said. “In ‘81, just after pulling out of port, I got to hunt my first Russian submarine. I’ve been on several ships and the Kitty Hawk is one of the most memorable.”

Although not the first so-called “supercarrier,” the Kitty Hawk was hailed at the time as the “forerunner of a new and greatly improved line of carriers,” by Adm. Arleigh Burke, then the chief of naval operations.

The most noticeable of these changes was lengthening the bow to a clipper design which permitted the installation of two quadruple 40 mm mounts. Other alterations included moving the combat information center under the armored deck, enhanced ventilation and aviation fuel systems, a second catapult on the flight deck, and an additional fire control director. Referred to as the "long-hull" Essex-class or Ticonderoga-class by some, the US Navy made no distinction between these and the earlier Essex-class ships.

Ship History

While operating in the Atlantic in October 1965, Shangri-La was accidentally rammed by the destroyer USS Newman K. Perry. Though the carrier was not badly damaged, the destroyer suffered one fatality.  Re-designated an anti-submarine carrier (CVS-38) on June 30, 1969, Shangri-La received orders early the following year to join the US Navy's efforts during the Vietnam War. Sailing via the Indian Ocean, the carrier reached the Philippines on April 4, 1970. Operating from Yankee Station, Shangri-La's aircraft commenced combat missions over Southeast Asia. Remaining active in the region for the next seven months, it then departed for Mayport via Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.

“Ships are haunted — they hold the soul of the crew. The attachment of a ship and a crew maybe transcends rational thought. You invest your energy, your emotion, your friends, your dead friends ... how many hugely emotional events in a sailor’s life are associated with the crew, with the Kitty Hawk?”

Transferred to the Atlantic in 1960, Shangri-La participated in NATO exercises as well as moved to the Caribbean in response to troubles in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Based at Mayport, FL, the carrier spent the next nine years operating in the western Atlantic and Mediterranean. Following a deployment with the US Sixth Fleet in 1962, Shangri-La underwent an overhaul at New York which saw installation of new arrestor gear and radar systems as well as removal of four 5" gun mounts.

The world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was commissioned on 25 November 1961 and completed 25 deployments during 51 years of service. Click the links below to access the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships entries for Enterprise, which provide the carrier's history by time period.

Cold War

The Kitty Hawk was the next-to-last U.S. aircraft carrier built to run on diesel fuel. The nuclear-powered Enterprise was launched the same year and the Nimitz was commissioned in 1975, launching a new class of 10 reactor-fueled carriers. Two of them, the Abraham Lincoln and the Carl Vinson, are currently based in San Diego.

The Kitty Hawk would call San Diego home for the next 37 years, before spending its last decade of operations in Japan. It was decommissioned in 2009. For the next 12 years, it would sit with other retired ships in Puget Sound, Wash.

All of the sailors who spoke with the Union-Tribune about the Kitty Hawk said they believed it held a unique place in the Navy compared with other ships that have been lost to the scrapyard. Maybe it has something to do with the sheer number of lives touched by the ship over nearly a half century, directly or through the family and friends of those who served on board.

I’m one of them; I served on the ship as an aviation electronics technician from January 2003 to January 2007, when it was based in Japan. We were always busy and always out to sea and the shared suffering forged lasting friendships among the crew.

A New Design

The first ship to undergo the SCB-125 upgrade, Shangri-La was the second American carrier to possess an angled flight deck after USS Antietam (CV-36). Completed in January 1955, the carrier rejoined the fleet and spent much of the year engaged in training before deploying to the Far East in early 1956. The next four years were spent alternating between San Diego and Asian waters.

Designed in the 1920s and 1930s, the US Navy's Lexington- and Yorktown-class aircraft carriers were intended to meet the limitations set forth by the Washington Naval Treaty. This levied restrictions on the tonnage of different types of warships as well as placed a ceiling on each signatory’s total tonnage. This system was further revised and extended by the 1930 London Naval Treaty. As the international situation deteriorated in the 1930s, Japan and Italy elected to depart the treaty structure.

Jason Chudy, a retired Navy chief living near Seattle, estimates that about 250,000 sailors served on the carrier during its lifespan. Chudy is the membership coordinator for the Kitty Hawk Veteran’s Association, and he was involved in the effort to save the ship from the scrapper.

As is often the case, the men — and, starting in 1994, women — who served on the Kitty Hawk through the years came to see it as home, and many harbored deep attachments long after their service.

Cat And Mouse

Arriving home on December 16, 1970, Shangri-La began preparations for inactivation. These were completed at the Boston Naval Shipyard. Decommissioned on July 30, 1971, the carrier moved to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on July 15, 1982, the ship was retained to provide parts for USS Lexington (CV-16).  On August 9, 1988, Shangri-La was sold for scrap.

In November 1952, the carrier arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a major overhaul. This saw Shangri-La receive both SCB-27C and SCB-125 upgrades. While the former included major alteration's to the carrier's island, relocation of several facilities within the ship, and the addition of steam catapults, the later saw the installation of an angled flight deck, an enclosed hurricane bow, and a mirror landing system.

The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk steamed into San Diego in the fall of 1961 with fanfare usually enjoyed by royalty, wrote the San Diego Union’s Lester Bell in a story announcing the warship’s arrival. A swing band on a barge at the mouth of the newly-dredged harbor channel played “California Here I Come,” and fire boats spraying plumes of water escorted it to North Island.

“I’m disappointed San Diego and the Navy aren’t doing something to recognize the Kitty Hawk passing by one last time,” Shaw said. “It’s awesome to be in touch with (other veterans) and know that their time on the Kitty Hawk was meaningful and that we have something in common.”

The Standard Design

The Kitty Hawk’s keel was laid Dec. 27, 1956, at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, N.J. at a final cost of $178 million, or $1.7 billion in 2022 dollars. (Compare that with the $13 billion cost of the Navy’s latest carrier, the nuclear powered Gerald R. Ford.)

“My chief engineer told me once the steam plant on the Kitty Hawk is the most complicated machine ever built or maintained by human beings,” Parker said. “We had a problem finding engineers and were calling people back to active duty to help man the ship. We called it ‘geriatrics for aircraft carriers.’”

The first ship to move forward with the altered Essex-class design was USS Hancock (CV-14) which was later re-named Ticonderoga. This was followed by additional ships including USS Shangri-La (CV-38).  Construction commenced January 15, 1943, at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. A significant departure from US Navy naming conventions, Shangri-La referenced a distant land in James Hilton's Lost Horizons.

The Kitty Hawk’s 48 years of service life spanned 10 presidents and several overseas conflicts. The ship deployed multiple times to Vietnam, fought in the Gulf War and during the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

World War Ii

Stephen Sherman, another San Diego Kitty Hawk veteran, worked in the Crash and Salvage division on the ship’s flight deck, the first responders for aircraft fires. On July 11, 1994, an F-14 Tomcat crashed onto the ship’s pitching flight deck, broke in two, and exploded into a fireball.

Shaw was the Repair Division officer from 1974 to 1975. He only spent four years in the Navy. He said he had a low draft number, which pushed him to volunteer for the sea service rather than risk being sent to the jungles of Vietnam.

Construction commenced on the lead ship, USS Essex (CV-9), on April 28, 1941. With the US entry into World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Essex-class soon became the US Navy's principal design for fleet carriers. The first four vessels after Essex followed the class' initial design. In early 1943, the US Navy requested several changes to improve future vessels.

The two aviators on the jet ejected and landed on the flight deck — one of them in the burning wreckage of the jet. Sherman’s team jumped into action. He manned a fire hose while his fellow sailors pulled the man out of the wreckage. Although he suffered burns, he eventually recovered, Sherman said.

Postwar Years

The name was chosen as President Franklin D. Roosevelt had cheekily stated that the bombers used in the 1942 Doolittle Raid had departed from a base in Shangri-La.  Entering the water on February 24, 1944, Josephine Doolittle, wife of Major General Jimmy Doolittle, served as sponsor. Work quickly advanced and Shangri-La entered commission on September 15, 1944, with Captain James D. Barner in command.

So it was that on Jan. 15 the Kitty Hawk was tugged out of Bremerton, Wash., for a slow tow around Cape Horn, Chile, en route to its final, ignominious end: a Brownsville, Texas ship breaker. Its 60,000 tons of steel will be sold off as scrap.

Despite those challenges, the ship was instrumental in the U.S. military response after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Kitty Hawk, based in Japan, was the first carrier to deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. By mid-October, the ship was in the Persian Gulf operating as a staging base for Army Special Forces. It would again deploy to the Gulf in February 2003 and launched some of the first sorties against Iraq that March.

Completing shakedown operations later that fall, Shangri-La departed Norfolk for the Pacific in January 1945 in company with the heavy cruiser USS Guam and the destroyer USS Harry E. Hubbard.. After touching at San Diego, the carrier proceeded to Pearl Harbor where it spent two months engaged in training activities and carrier-qualifying pilots. In April, Shangri-La left Hawaiian waters and steamed for Ulithi with orders to join Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58 (Fast Carrier Task Force).  Rendezvousing with TF 58, the carrier launched its first strike the next day when its aircraft attacked Okino Daito Jima. Moving north Shangri-La then began supporting Allied efforts during the Battle of Okinawa.

One Last Look?

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Load Factor Of An Aircraft

Load Factor Of An Aircraft - Imagine that you are flying s/l and –for some strange reason– the intensity of the earth's gravitational field, (usually expressed as the acceleration of gravity, g) suddenly becomes 3g. In order to keep flying straight and level, you will have to increase your airspeed, or to (prudently) increase the AoA of the wings. Under those conditions, your wings will be stressed to 3g. The 'load factor' will rise to 3g.

During the landing shock, we are allowed to account for an amount of lift from the wings (rotor) since the aircraft is at a speed just below stall and high angle of attack (nose up). The lift coefficient for the stalled wing is usually taken to be from 0.4 to 0.5. If we express the wing lift as a lift factor, P equal to the wing lift divided by the aircraft landing weight, Wt, then the lift during landing is,

Load Factor Of An Aircraft

To address the unnecessarily complicating issue of gravity, you must understand that considering gravity is only necessary to determine the motion or flight path because an aircraft in flight is moving in an accelerated frame of reference. It would be exactly the same as if your aircraft was in an enormous closed box, filled with air, in outer space, under acceleration from a giant rocket strapped on one side, that accelerated the entire box at 32.2 ft/sec2.

Landing Gear Loads

The 14 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 23 states that the limit inertia load factor for the design of aircraft landing gears must be determined by a drop test or by some rational means. Since a drop test is not possible during the design phase we must look to a rational means to design the landing gears. This analysis is that means.

I = t3 w/12 = 13 6/12 = 0.5 in.4 and for aluminum the modulus of elasticity is, E = 10 106 psi z = 25 inches and let R = 1 lb, then from eq. 12 y = 1 x 253/(3 10 x 106 x 0.5) = 0.00104 in. kleg = 1/y = 961 lb/in. = 11,538 lb/ft.

For fixed wing aircraft weighing less than 12,600 lbs, Part 23 also states that when Wt/S is equal to or smaller than 6.4 psf, Vs is equal to and cannot be smaller than 7 fps. However, gyroplanes have extremely low disc loadings and land softly at low Vs. I therefor propose that we use equation 1 to determine Vs. The free fall height, h, in inches to obtain Vs are given in equation 2.

You only have access to basic statistics. This statistic is not included in your account.

Load factor is simply Aerodynamic Lift divided by aircraft weight, or more correctly, by aircraft inertial mass as normalized by 1 "G" - (32.2 ft/sec2 or 9.98 m/sec2. - CORRECTION (thx to @Michael Kjorling : 9.80665 m/sec2)

And now to the force and moment balance analysis issue, I noticed that all components of an aircraft are expressed in terms of its load factor, which is fine, but then in performing the balance, the weight of the components are not considered. How can you ignore the weight force which is always acting on the aircraft when the load factor (per definition) excludes it? An added confusion is in that lift is considered in the moment balance, with all component's loading expressed in terms of load factor; how can you include lift, when it is already incorporated into the load factor of the components; this implies that the part is further loaded above its current loading.

As we all know, the intensity of the gravitational field is quite stable, and you'll never find yourself flying in the conditions mentioned above, but if your plane follows a curved trajectory, the apparent weight of your plane will be increased by the said inertial forces. If the acceleration (normal to the relative wind) associated with those inertial forces is, for instance, 2g, your wings will be stressed by the load due to gravity plus 2g...

To solve for X, the only unknown in equation 11 is the spring constant K for the landing gear. K is made up of two spring constants. One is the deflection of the tire under load and the other is the deflection of the gear leg or strut.

According to Paragraph 23.473 (d) of Part 23, the velocity Vs depends on the wing loading which we will term the rotor disc loading, Wt/S for the gyroplane at landing weight as shown in equation 1.

For a wing lift coefficient of 0.4 to 0.5, it can be shown that P = 0.667, However for a non feathering rotor that cannot stall, the rotor lift during landing is almost equal to the flight lift and the value of P is set equal to 1. The potential energy, P.E., during the landing gear stroke, X, is,

The load factor of an aircraft describes the mass loading of an aircraft as a multiple of its weight. The same definition applies if we are speaking about an aircraft component: the load factor, here called the local load factor, will be the mass loading of that component as a multiple of that component's weight.

The load factor is the total acceleration you feel, pointing downwards. In straight and level flight, the load factor is 1: you only feel the acceleration of gravity. So a load factor 1 equates to 9.81 m/s$^2$ (If gravity was higher, let's say 15 m/s$^2$. load factor 1 would equate to 15 m/s$^2$. But that's another story.)

First we must understand what mass loading is. The mass load of an aircraft is the inertial loads, as a result of the acceleration of the aircraft and the weight of the aircraft, as a result of the acceleration of gravity. Since the inertial loads always act opposite to the aircraft's acceleration, it is vectorially signed negative. Gravity, as it always points downwards, is in sync with our coordinate system which defines the downward direction as positive; hence, it will be vectorially signed positive. Summing the two vectors will give us the total mass loading of the aircraft. Dividing this total loading by the aircraft's own weight will give us an idea as to how much more that its own weight is the aircraft is currently being loaded by the maneuver it is performing, and by that, how structurally strong it is or needs to be.

U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Load Factor for U.S. Air Carrier Domestic and International, Scheduled Passenger Flights [LOADFACTOR], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LOADFACTOR, March 2, 2023.

Now, however, there is also a sentence in my script that states that the load factor is a means of including all inertial loads and gravity loads in observing the loading of an aircraft; this implies that weight is included in observing the loading of an aircraft: this makes better sense to me, since, when expressing the loading of an aircraft, it would be easier to say that the aircraft is now being loaded "this many times its weight", compared to this many newtons; this however, contradicts the definitions above.

I performed tests on a 6.00 x 6 tire with different tire pressures as shown in figure 3 with the results plotted in table 1. For a tire pressure of 40 psi a maximum tire deflection of 3.6 inches is realized when the tire is loaded to 5,500 lbs. The tire spring constant, ktire is 5,500/3.6 = 1,528 lb/in = 18,333 lb/ft.

To my knowledge, the calculation of landing gear loads for gyroplanes has never been documented. My following article is based on my calculations of landing gear loads for fixed wing aircraft and the Code of Federal Regulations (CRF) Part 23.

To hold a constant "altitude" in the accelerated frame of reference of this giant box, you would have to trim the aircraft so that the wings were producing lift equal to the "weight" (mass x 32.2ft/sec2) of the aircraft. The Lift on the wings (if it equals the weight, just produces an "upwards" acceleration of 32 ft/sec2, which matches the 32.2ft/sec2 that the box is accelerating, and keeps the aircraft the same distance above the "floor" of the box.

Data from all U.S. air carrier domestic and international, scheduled passenger flights. International data in system total includes U.S. carrier operations to and from the U.S. and from one foreign point to another foreign point. BTS’ Airlines and Airports available here does not include U.S. carriers’ foreign point-to-point flights.This data is collected by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), U.S. Air Carrier Traffic Statistics reported in BTS' monthly Air Traffic Data release, available here.

The definition given in my university script states that the load factor equals the ratio of all external forces acting on an aircraft minus its weight, to the magnitude of the aircraft's weight; this implies that the load factor is the ratio of all aerodynamic forces acting on an aircraft to the magnitude of its weight.

This equation is accurate since the tire, as seen in figure 3, and the spring gear leg has a linear spring constant. If an oleo strut is used for the landing gear leg, the reaction force, R, of the landing gear is constant such that,

The landing gear of the Sportster was designed to 3.0 gs and many hard landings in a period of 29 years have proven that this load factor is adequate. No landing gear or other structural failures have ever occurred in the Sportster over this time period. The landing gear for the Bumble Bee are designed to 2.5 gs. It should be noted that ng must be multiplied by a safety factor of 1.5 for ultimate (failure) load.

I also need to point out that if the gyroplane has been built, it is easy to determine the landing gear stiffness, K, from weight and balance data and a simple wheel deflection test. Let us say that the load on each main wheel is Wm pounds. With the gyroplane empty, the weight on the main wheels is known. The distance of the fuselage above the ground is measured. With a hoist connected to the airframe, the gyroplane is lift so that the wheels just touch the ground and the new distance of the height of the fuselage off the ground is measured. The difference between the readings is u feet. K is now simply,

Part 23 allows the landing weight, Wt to equal 0.95 x gross weight. For a gross weight of 1,232 lbs the landing weight is 1,170 lbs. The gyroplane has a disc diameter of 30 ft and hence a disc area of p r2 = 3.141 x 152 = 707 sq.ft. so that Wt/S = 1.74 lb/sq.ft. Vs is determined from equation 1 as, Vs= 5 fps. From equation 2, we have a drop height of 4.7 inches. Substituting into equation 10, gives a gear deflection of,

After going through the above calculations, we realize that for the calculations of many iterations in which we try to optimize lets say the tire pressure or landing gear design, it would be best to use a computer program. Such a program is written in BASIC as shown in the next pages. The relation between the gear load, ng, and the aircraft load, n, with P=1.0 is shown in Figure 4.

The units are dimensionless (if both Lift and weight are measured in the same units), but we commonly refer to the load factors in "G"s. It really doesn't matter what the angle of bank is. Even if you are upside down, if the wings are producing twice as much lift as the aircraft weighs, you have 2G's Load factor.

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Bank the aircraft 60° and fly a co-ordinated turn, and you'll experience a downward acceleration of 2g. This is a case that is easy to understand since it is a static situation with constant velocities. If we have a dynamic sine wave for instance, the load factor would be a function of where we are in the cycle, if the aircraft is accelerating up or down. The actual acceleration is added to the gravity vector.

The main landing gears on a gyroplane may be viewed by looking at the aircraft from the front as shown in figure 1. The shock absorption of the landing shock occurs just as the tires touch the ground and continues as the tire and landing gear leg deflect and absorb the energy of the vertical sink velocity, Vs, of the landing gyroplane. A simplified view of the two conditions of landing are shown in figure 2. Each condition in figure 2 is the same view as figure 1 but the landing gear and tires have been represented by a single spring with a spring constant of K in lb/inch or in lb/feet. To convert simply multiply lb/in. by 12 to get lb/ft.

Knowing the load factor alone does not tell us how much stress is being exerted on, say, the connection between the wing and the fuselage. This will be affected by how the mass of the aircraft is distributed. It also will be affected by whether or not the horizontal tail is generating a downward lift force, which requires the wing to generate more lift to achieve a given Load Factor. For more on this see this answer to the related question "How does an aircraft's weight affect the V-n diagram?" How does an aircraft's weight affect the V-n diagram?

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