The goal of the first test flight in any aircraft is that it be uneventful, but there’s a reason test pilots are among the best in the business. In the warbird community, Steve Hinton is one of the go-tos and while many of his test flights do go off with barely a hitch, they can get interesting. Hinton was at the controls for the first flight of a Douglas A-26 Invader that was rebuilt for renowned collector Kermit Weeks in Chino, California, last May and earned his fee with a cool and collected performance with a successful outcome. Weeks prepared the video above and released it earlier this week.
When Test Pilots Earn Their Keep
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No video, only an image?
Should be fixed. Sorry.
I actually remember seeing this plane after Hurricane Andrew hit down in Homestead. Surprised anything at Tamiami (now Miami executive) was put back together after that hit.
Widows doors closed and locked… yea, really check.
I really wish videographers would set their shutter speeds to reflect the turning of propellers the way we see them in real life. Seeing that take off with little or no take off rotation of the propellers always makes me nervous.
Just a shortcoming of digital video and is not adjustable on Gopro’s, etc. It’s the “rolling shutter effect”. Unlike film, digital video is comprised of partial images, not whole. There is a way to use certain camera filters along with shutter settings that help reduce this phenomenon but overall this is not a practical solution for most of us.
No checklist that I saw, just knowing and understanding what to do…
I understand the need, especially for a complex machine, but it’s a lot more fun when you understand what’s happening and can operate from that position, rather than robotically reading off each item…
Great video. Two obvious pro’s getting the job done!
Great job flying the aircraft. I’m not a pilot, I am a maintainer. It’s pretty obvious that they gents know the aircraft, but I did notice, no use of any kind of checklist. And why are we doing a test flight over such a populated area? Was the FAA involved in determining the test flight area?
BTW, the aircraft looks great! Hats off to the maintenance crew who rebuilt this historic aircraft!
Wonder why he never declared an emergency. This certainly qualified as a situation where the pilot should be concerned about safety, I.e., an urgency condition which constitutes an emergency, even if it was not a distress condition.
TWICE the co-pilot talked over tower instructions to the pilot.
That was really bad form in an emergency.