Remove Horizontal Stabilizer Remove Pilot Remove Rudder
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Alaska Airlines Flight 261: Investigating what caused the tragedy

Aerotime

Twenty-five years on from this terrible accident, we look back at what led up to the crash, what was learned from it, and why the pilots Ted Thompson and Bill Tansky are now hailed as heroes for their actions during the incident. Wikimedia Flying the aircraft were two highly experienced former military pilots.

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AirCorps Aviation’s Piper L-4H Grasshopper – Winter 2025 Update

Vintage Aviation News

(image via AirCorps Aviation) The larger, freshly painted parts shown here include the brake cylinders (lower left center), brake pedals above them, the vertical stabilizer fairing on the near right center, and the horizontal stabilizers center tube on the far right. The landing gear components were test-fitted before painting.

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Flight Test Files: The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket – Chasing Mach 2

Vintage Aviation News

These stories shine a light on the aircraft and test pilots that pushed the limits of aeronautical knowledge, many of them flying out of the legendary Dryden Flight Research Center (now Armstrong Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Research pilot John McKay flew it once in this form on September 17, 1956.

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McChord Air Museum Restoring World War II TG-4 Glider

Vintage Aviation News

Assault gliders were of course used in Operations such as Husky, Overlord, Market Garden, and Varsity, and just like their piston engine counterparts, glider pilots had to learn somehow. However, the wooden rudder and elevators need repairs due to warpage and tears, respectively. Volunteers working on the airframe.

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Voices from Combat: The Consolidated PB2Y Coronado Becomes a Bomber

Vintage Aviation News

A short 18 months later, on August 13, 1937, the XPB2Y-1 took to the skies for the first time, revealing plenty of room for improvement lateral instability was a major problem for the deep-hulled boat, so the single tail fin was augmented by two smaller fins on the horizontal stabilizers. Chris asked if he knew Frank. “Know him?

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This Incredible Plane: Transavia PL-12 Airtruk

Plane and Pilot

To that he added wings and tail, and placed the pilot behind all this. Noting that the application of fertilizer and other chemicals often corroded a conventional tail, Pellarini simply attached two tail booms that each carried its own horizontal stabilizer and elevator. The pilot moved from behind the hopper to the top of it.

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Flight Test Files: Grumman F-14 Tomcat

Vintage Aviation News

Photo by NASA The impetus for the program came from issues the Navy had encountered with inadvertent spin entries, which were traced back to the aircrafts aileron rudder interconnect system. In response, the NASA/Navy/Grumman team developed and tested four different configurations of the system to mitigate the problem.