The Aircraft:
The
SIAI Marchetti SF-260
| AIRCRAFT
SECIFICATIONS |
| Wingspan |
27.4
ft |
| Length |
23.3
ft |
| Height |
7.9
ft |
| Wing
Area |
108.7
sq ft |
| FAA
Cert. Load Factor |
-3
/ +6 g's |
| Engine |
Lycoming
O-540-E4A5 |
| Horsepower |
260HP |
| Propeller |
Hartzal
2 Blade,. Constant Speed |
|
| FUEL |
|
| Useable
, Long Range Tanks |
62
gals |
| WEIGHT |
|
| Empty
Weight |
1,710
lbs |
| MTOW
- Normal Category |
2,430
lbs |
| AIRSPEEDS |
|
| Never
Exceed Speed (Vne) |
236
kts |
| Maneuvering
Speed (Va) |
162
kts |
| Stall
Speed / Clean |
69
kts |
| Stall
Speed W / Flaps |
60
kts |
| PERFORMANCE |
|
| Max
Rate of Climb (2,095 lbs @ SL) |
1,800
fpm |
| Cruise
(4,000 ft @ 75% Power) |
180
kts |
|
|
Briefing with our Flight Lead Jad
Dennis. Jad flew with YODA while Rhon Manor drew the short straw
and got CRASH. |
|
|
|
| This is the white board
with all the important info he taught us. Our favorite was LOOK
GOOD, except we all decided it was way too low on the list. We also
liked THE WHITE MIC ... barf bags are white ... figure it out. And
lets not forget I.Y.A.C.Y.A.T. (If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying)
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Now would YOU trust
these yokels with a plane that is fully aerobatic rated and that pulls 6
Gs?
|
|
|
|
|
Pre-flight checks. DISNEY is
checking the engine ... I tried to pay him to pull one of YODAs plug
wires to give me an edge ... no luck tho. And YODA was very
curious why there was a big fan on the front of his plane. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
If you look REAL close you can see YODA telling CRASH
that he is "NUMBER 1"
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
| A little over an hour
later, several barrel rolls, split S's, Hi YOYOs, Low YOYOs, 3 kills a
piece and a couple of stomachs that were a bit unsettled, we were ready
to come home.
|
|
|
|
 |
Back at HQ and the debrief. We
got to watch both of our tapes side by side. Was great fun to
listen to Jad yelling at YODA ... "PULL PULL PULL" while on
CRASH's tape Rhon is yelling "STOP PULLING STOP PULLING STOP
PULLING" |
 |
|
|
|
|
VIDEOS OF THE ACTION!
33.4MBs
Video of the Air Combat USA experience from this
article. Click on the Windows Media Viewer image to download a 33.4 meg
summary video of the days events. This video captures clips from
both CRASH and YODA's video tapes. The video is about 6 minutes and 30
seconds long.
This was one of the best
experiences of both of our lives and we plan to do it again ... once our
stomachs recover ... but WE DID NOT GET SICK ... but probably wish we
had.
Read more about this
adventure HERE |
