Catalina Cockpit...

[Mitch.]

I got to walk through the whole aircraft and it is very cramped and awkward to walk through but worth it just to get to the flightdeck. Catalina VH-PBZ operated by HARS, taken at the Wings over Illawarra 2009 airshow.







And a bonus cockpit shot of a Cessna A-37B Dragonfly (VH-AZD)...


Thanks for looking.

Cheers
Mitch

[Hagar]

Nice one Mitch! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Seeing your beautiful shot of the Catalina engine controls reminds me of our chief engineer who had served as Flight Engineer on Cats in the RAF. He told me that on the original Catalina supplied to the RAF the pilot's engine controls were not linked to the engines. They operated a visual repeater device in the Flight Engineer's position in the wing pylon (like the system used on a ship). The Flight Engineer was responsible for operating the engines.

Another thing he told me was that in the event of a hard "water landing" the wing had been known to detach, taking the Engineer's head with it.

[expat]

Great shots, always nice to see how the office of any aircraft looks.

Matt

[Rifleman]

Nice one Mitch! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Another thing he told me was that in the event of a hard "water landing" the wing had been known to detach, taking the Engineer's head with it.

Sounds like the fate of Phillipe Cousteau, who was killed as PIC in their PBY...........
......this, from a crash report...........

The aircraft nosed over during a high speed taxi run after a water landing, to check the hull for leakage. The Catalina turned upside down, causing the fuselage to break behind the cockpit. The wing separated from the fuselage and the left engine broke off, penetrating the captain's side of the cockpit.

[Hagar]

Nice one Mitch! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Another thing he told me was that in the event of a hard "water landing" the wing had been known to detach, taking the Engineer's head with it.

Sounds like the fate of Phillipe Cousteau, who was killed as PIC in their PBY...........
......this, from a crash report...........

The aircraft nosed over during a high speed taxi run after a water landing, to check the hull for leakage. The Catalina turned upside down, causing the fuselage to break behind the cockpit. The wing separated from the fuselage and the left engine broke off, penetrating the captain's side of the cockpit.

I heard about that Ken. Not quite the same for the pilots as on the early Cats the engineer sat with his head up inside the wing during landing & take-off. If the wing detached he would be decapitated. I think this was changed on later models.

[Mitch.]

I didn't realise how dangerous this aircraft can actually be. Luckily HARS don't operate this Cat on water, it is just fraught with danger. However Australia just recieved a new Catalina (VH-CAT) and its been said to land on water.

[Hagar]

I didn't realise how dangerous this aircraft can actually be. Luckily HARS don't operate this Cat on water, it is just fraught with danger. However Australia just recieved a new Catalina (VH-CAT) and its been said to land on water.

Please don't get the wrong idea. I'm talking about the early model of the Catalina operated by the RAF. I was told about this over 40 years ago & could have my facts wrong. I don't have access to the accident stats but I'm not suggesting the PBY is more dangerous than any other flying boat. Operating from water has always been a tad risky except in ideal conditions.

[machineman9]

What's the purpose of the metal across the starter panel? Is it like the metal holding the stick in place to stop the plane from accidently activating?


Very nice pictures though. Thats two more aircraft that I've been introduced to now.

[Bob70]

Man, this PBY don't look very airworthy. Lots of rust and those cables look pretty dry.  Nice pics though. Looks like you had a great time looking her over.

Bob

[beaky]

One of my favorite flight decks... even all dinged-up and a bit cruddy, it looks good.  :-*
The panel looks like it was refurbished fairly recently... very nice.

[BigTruck]

As Rotty said, the panel looks like it has some rather modern avionics in it, but the rest just looks, well, classic...aka dangerous lol  Very nice!!!

[beaky]

[quote]As Rotty said, the panel looks like it has some rather modern avionics in it, but the rest just looks, well, classic...aka dangerous lol

[beaky]

Nice one Mitch! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Another thing he told me was that in the event of a hard "water landing" the wing had been known to detach, taking the Engineer's head with it.

Sounds like the fate of Phillipe Cousteau, who was killed as PIC in their PBY...........
......this, from a crash report...........

The aircraft nosed over during a high speed taxi run after a water landing, to check the hull for leakage. The Catalina turned upside down, causing the fuselage to break behind the cockpit. The wing separated from the fuselage and the left engine broke off, penetrating the captain's side of the cockpit.

This makes more sense than what I had heard about this accident... I'd heard he was killed by the prop, but I didn't know the plane has nosed over. Must have been pretty rough water- I'd imagine that's not an easy amphib to flip over!!

[Flying Trucker]

Very nice Mitch...certainly brought back some fond memories...

We operated five (5) former Royal Canadian Air Force Canso Aircraft.

[beaky]

[quote]Very nice Mitch...certainly brought back some fond memories...

We operated five (5) former Royal Canadian Air Force Canso Aircraft.