Post amazingly cool pictures of aircraft (Volume 3)
Discussion
Voldemort said:
A question: What is the largest plane you could theoretically get into the air by yourself?
They have those fly-in housing estates in the US and I’ve seen videos of small business jets using them. There’s a photo of John Travolta’s gaff with a 707 parked outside. Could he take off by himself?
He could push the aircraft back from where it is (with a tractor not by hand, obv), climb aboard using a ladder and drag it in after him, fire up the engines and head out to wherever.
Or, are there any number of things that mean this simply isn’t possible and you absolutely have to have ground crew or somebody to crank the starting handle while you hold the choke in?
So what is the largest/most modern plane that you could launch by yourself from the starting point that it is parked in a hanger?
Bonus point for the smallest plane that cannot be flown without at least one other person to assist.
Commercial jets usually need a ground cart to start the engines, which means a second person. Some military stuff will have another way of starting the APU to in tern start the engine though, to allow them to operate without ground support.They have those fly-in housing estates in the US and I’ve seen videos of small business jets using them. There’s a photo of John Travolta’s gaff with a 707 parked outside. Could he take off by himself?
He could push the aircraft back from where it is (with a tractor not by hand, obv), climb aboard using a ladder and drag it in after him, fire up the engines and head out to wherever.
Or, are there any number of things that mean this simply isn’t possible and you absolutely have to have ground crew or somebody to crank the starting handle while you hold the choke in?
So what is the largest/most modern plane that you could launch by yourself from the starting point that it is parked in a hanger?
Bonus point for the smallest plane that cannot be flown without at least one other person to assist.
As for smallest that needs more than one person, it's probably going to look something like this
Can't remember what it was but someone at the Farnborough club years ago had a open cockpit glider that was significantly smaller than the pictured K-8. You typically need 3 people to launch, a pilot, someone to hold the wing, and someone driving the winch or tow car.
Voldemort said:
A question: What is the largest plane you could theoretically get into the air by yourself?
They have those fly-in housing estates in the US and I’ve seen videos of small business jets using them. There’s a photo of John Travolta’s gaff with a 707 parked outside. Could he take off by himself?
He could push the aircraft back from where it is (with a tractor not by hand, obv), climb aboard using a ladder and drag it in after him, fire up the engines and head out to wherever.
Or, are there any number of things that mean this simply isn’t possible and you absolutely have to have ground crew or somebody to crank the starting handle while you hold the choke in?
So what is the largest/most modern plane that you could launch by yourself from the starting point that it is parked in a hanger?
If it’s in the hangar you could probably start taxi and take off any large jet by yourself. Not sure about getting the AN124 or 225 going but I expect you could get an A380 going on you own if you knew what to do.They have those fly-in housing estates in the US and I’ve seen videos of small business jets using them. There’s a photo of John Travolta’s gaff with a 707 parked outside. Could he take off by himself?
He could push the aircraft back from where it is (with a tractor not by hand, obv), climb aboard using a ladder and drag it in after him, fire up the engines and head out to wherever.
Or, are there any number of things that mean this simply isn’t possible and you absolutely have to have ground crew or somebody to crank the starting handle while you hold the choke in?
So what is the largest/most modern plane that you could launch by yourself from the starting point that it is parked in a hanger?
Get in using a ladder or something you could easily remove from the aircraft , start APU set park brake, get out remove any ground power or chocks, open hanger doors etc.
Climb in via your ladder remove ladder and close doors and start engines and taxi out or even reverse carefully using reverse thrust if you’re nose in and then you’re off.
Obviously it’s more difficult (and likely illegal) on your own but once it’s powered up amd on its own power (via the apu usually) you can start them remotely without any external assistance.
Please don’t actually do this and say you read about it on here though.
Largest single pilot jet is probably something like a citation, obviously you might be able to fly a larger one by yourself but probably not legally.
So I’d say old travolta could get airborne in his 707 entirely on his own but it would be pretty dangerous and illegal.
RizzoTheRat said:
Commercial jets usually need a ground cart to start the engines, which means a second person. Some military stuff will have another way of starting the APU to in tern start the engine though, to allow them to operate without ground support.
Usually the engine starting just needs the APU (internal small jet engine in the tail) You only need any ground help for the start (air starter) if the APU isn’t working.
The ground help is for closing all the hold doors and doing the pushback and making sure everything is clear when you start the engines.
If you had to leave most large aircraft on a remote parking spot and shut it down completely, you could get in and start the APU and get it all going with no external help but you wouldn’t be able to see if everything was clear of the engines outside etc when you started them so airports tend to have lots of rules about it.
Remember the baggage handler who did this in the Q400 a few years ago?
https://youtu.be/pydexyKJmNM
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 12th July 12:53
El stovey said:
Usually the engine starting just needs the APU (internal small jet engine in the tail)
You only need any ground help for the start (air starter) if the APU isn’t working.
Ah ok, I thought you needed an air start for the APU too, presumably they're electric start then or do they use compressed air?You only need any ground help for the start (air starter) if the APU isn’t working.
RizzoTheRat said:
Commercial jets usually need a ground cart to start the engines, which means a second person. Some military stuff will have another way of starting the APU to in tern start the engine though, to allow them to operate without ground support.
As for smallest that needs more than one person, it's probably going to look something like this
Can't remember what it was but someone at the Farnborough club years ago had a open cockpit glider that was significantly smaller than the pictured K-8. You typically need 3 people to launch, a pilot, someone to hold the wing, and someone driving the winch or tow car.
I think the fact that a glider needs a tow to get airborne (as seen in the picture) rules it out as a single person aircraft - even if there is only a single pilot on board.As for smallest that needs more than one person, it's probably going to look something like this
Can't remember what it was but someone at the Farnborough club years ago had a open cockpit glider that was significantly smaller than the pictured K-8. You typically need 3 people to launch, a pilot, someone to hold the wing, and someone driving the winch or tow car.
RizzoTheRat said:
El stovey said:
Usually the engine starting just needs the APU (internal small jet engine in the tail)
You only need any ground help for the start (air starter) if the APU isn’t working.
Ah ok, I thought you needed an air start for the APU too, presumably they're electric start then or do they use compressed air?You only need any ground help for the start (air starter) if the APU isn’t working.
In most big jets you only really need an air start if the APU isn’t working and you need to start the engines,
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The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor restoration latest, seems to be going well.
https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2021/06/17/s...
https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2021/06/17/s...
FourWheelDrift said:
The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor restoration latest, seems to be going well.
https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2021/06/17/s...
https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2021/06/17/s...
Now make it fly!
FourWheelDrift said:
The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor restoration latest, seems to be going well.
https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2021/06/17/s...
What an amazing restoration and great to see all the different groups pulling together, I didn’t even know it was happening. https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2021/06/17/s...
Love the condor, will be amazing to see it in the air again.
El stovey said:
FourWheelDrift said:
The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor restoration latest, seems to be going well.
https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2021/06/17/s...
What an amazing restoration and great to see all the different groups pulling together, I didn’t even know it was happening. https://fw200-restaurierung-bremen.de/2021/06/17/s...
Love the condor, will be amazing to see it in the air again.
yellowjack said:
Are they going for airworthy though? As I understood it, it was destined to be a hangar exhibit at Berlin Tempelhof. Without original drawings I can't see how they can take to the sky. Operating one is a far more complex kettle of fish than recreating one for static display.
That’s a shame, I assumed when rolls were doing the engines the intention was to get it flying. 
perdu said:
At least that Lightning still survives...
English Electric Lightning 'XS904' by Ian, on Flickr
Depending on what Vulcan tanker that is, that might still be around too.
chris116 said:
The pilot of that plane was killed in a crash at the weekend 
https://theaviationist.com/2021/07/25/dale-snort-s...
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