Saturday, November 23, 2019

Narco VHT3 Superhomer

Bob over at The Valley Woodworker got me to remembering, not hard to do when you are older than dirt. I was working with a very young crew a couple of weeks ago and started to remissness about aviation when I was their age. It is no surprise things have changed but the truth is today's aircraft will not go higher nor faster than those of the late 1960's. Most civilian aircraft today and those of yesterday are limited to flying no higher than the Mid 40,000' MSL nor faster than around 0.80 Mach, not because they can't go higher or faster but those are good efficient speeds and altitudes.

The big changes are in engine technology (range) and avionics.  The first radio I used in an aircraft was a Narco VHT3 Superhomer. It had three crystals so you could transmit on three frequencies, usually the tower, flight service and 121.5, if I remember correctly. It has been a long time. In addition it had whistle stop tuning for the receiver.  You turned a crank until you heard a whistle to tune in the VOR (navigation).

Today, I can flying as the Captain, go anywhere within the range of the aircraft, by pulling on the yoke twice and pushing the autopilot control twice. First pull of the yoke is to rotate the aircraft for takeoff and the first push of the autopilot button is to turn it on, the second push of the autopilot button is to turn it off and the second pull of the yoke is to round out for landing. That's it folks, the F.O. has a little more to do but not much. Of course that's if everything is working, I make my living training 'em for the times everything isn't working.

ken

4 comments:

  1. Training for when things don't go as planned or things broken... there is no life like it :-)
    But it is what keep us alive, and its a good thing.

    Bob, the old fart reminiscing

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    1. Bob,

      I expect I'll hang it up within a year. It's been a long, exciting, and enjoyable ride but a guy has to grow up sometime. My time is coming.

      ken

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  2. I wonder if all that automation doesn't take away from the pilot's ability to hand fly the aircraft in an emergency and to disable malfunctioning automatic systems. I'm pretty sure if my motorcycle worked this way I wouldn't be able to respond effectively in an emergency. Every turn at speed, every quick defensive braking, every swerve is training. In fact, I deliberately swerve sharply while riding specifically to train myself in the event it is needed. I need constant reinforcement.

    Andy

    Andy

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    1. Andy,

      Lost my first reply before I hit publish and it was brilliant :-). Here is a second go.

      There are arguments on both sides. I fall on the use of automation side. Air Carrier Pilots train in the Sim every 6 months, that gives plenty of practice with dealing with emergency and abnormal situations. In fact in emergency and abnormal situations one of the first things that should happen is engagement of the autopilot so the PIC can monitor the F.O. fixing with the problem.

      A bigger problem is aircrews knowing and understanding how to use the automation. And along with that knowledge is trust in the systems. Just remember the automation system of modern aircraft is the best pilot in the aircraft but it does take a knowledgeable pilot to program it, that is the problem not practice flying the aircraft manually.

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