The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

[Funflyer]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

Thank you very much Mr Penney. You are a true "stick ". Here's to seeing you in a couple of weeks at Paine field and then the long wait until next spring.

[Dave65882]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

John, thanks for another great year and we will see you next year.

David, Christopher, and Niklas Murray

[Hawker Driver]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

Please add my thanks to you Mr. Penny for coming on board and giving us the real side of the story...

Fly safe,

Lynn

[MRE]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

John,you do have a great bunch of guys on your crew.They were the first to offer there congrats on our gold heat win on sat. Even on the "pre grid" before Sunday's race they were still on the up side after what must have been a long week. Best of luck for 09. Mike Meek,Dago Red crewperson.

[stuntflyr]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

Here is an old picture I found of you, John.
Nice Top Flite P-51!
I'm available for binocular crew next year, should I call Cornell?
I'm so glad you guys are alright, and stop making me so nervous.
Chris Mc...

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

Here is an old picture I found of you, John.
Nice Top Flite P-51!
I'm available for binocular crew next year, should I call Cornell?
I'm so glad you guys are alright, and stop making me so nervous.
Chris Mc...

Wow.. I don't think it's a secret, my "company" does rarebear.com as a sponsor and we're looking for Rare Bear history. Both the airplane and those who make her fly...

This is exactly the sort of thing I'm envisioning having on the rarebear.com web site!!

Is that your photo, can you contact me off-board??

Wayne

[champ19]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

Thank you John Penney for the insightful debrief on the Bear's week of racing. I was a fan sponsor of the Bear back when Sharon Coates was ramrodding that effort and proudly wear my sponsor jacket whenever possible.

The gear door gap problem which apparently caused the failure of the uplock mechanism is puzzling. I witnessed your qualification run Wednesday with binoculars and the airplane looked and sounded great.

The question which comes to mind is the actual cause of the gap. Is it a mechanical inability of the uplock system to positively lock the gear due to the inherent design limitations, or is the door/gear being forced to extend due to aerodyamic forces? Is the wing being internally pressurized somehow ,as far fetched as that sounds, or is it an external aerodynamic force of some kind. I know the airplane has been flying successfully for many years, however I believe that the team is not resting on its laurels and is always pushing the limits.

I realize that we here on the forum have no inherent "right" to any of the answers to the above questions, but I ask them here in the spirit of furtherance of knowledge. Selfishly, and I am sure I speak for many air race fans, it would sure help with the old heart rate to know that the gear problem is fixed. Having just said that I am sure the airplane would not have flown Sunday had it not been addressed to the satisfaction of all.

Finally, thanks to the Rare Bear Air Race Team and owner Rod Lewis for continuing to provide to us fans the opportunity to see such a fantastic airplane perform every year.

[Funflyer]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

John, just heard you popped into the local R/C hobby shop this past saturday and I missed you. Whenever you are up here for any FHC doings and would like to go fly some r/c give me a jingle and I will provide the planes and the field (club ) Hope to see you soon at kpae. Rad

["Bear" Driver]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

Don't know where you found that pic from my Air Force Academy cadet years. But that motivated me to come up with a few more facts:
1. The average age of the top four starters in Sunday's Gold was 61.75
2. The average age of the top four finishers (after our engine blowed up) was drug down by Sherm Smoot (age 60), to 61.5
3. The "baby" of the whole race was, I think, Stew Dawson at age 54
4. My age in that picture from 1968 was the same as the younger Mr. Hinton is today!.....He and the others like him truly represent the future of the World's fastest motorsport.....

John Penney, "Rare Bear" team member

[Ron101502]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

John, you ain't old until you feel old. You're as good as any race plane pilot can be, a class guy, a few years ago I flew with someone you served with in the USAF, poor guy had his passport stolen on his second to last trip before retirement. When I have the sun in my eyes (which captains always do) I wear a Checkered Flag Clug baseball hat and Wally asked me about it and the conversation came around to you flying the Bear (we airline guys know what strange conversations come out on long over ocean trips) and he had nothing but praise and respect for you and I think you may still have that glider record???

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us and best wishes for the future of the Bear team and you and your family especially.

Ron Henning
ex-Korat

[dvddude]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

And, we never got to the decision point, but attempting a landing with one gear down probably would not have been a viable option.

First off, Mr. Penney, thanks for the information on what really happened and all of the hard work, you and your crew have done for this sport in providing some of the finest racing over the years! My hats off to all of you on Team Rare Bear!

A few technical questions, if I may:

1) Why is this considered an unlandable situation? Is it due to the possibility of being unable to keep the airplane on the runway to prevent a runway excursion? Is the threat of a "cartwheel" or wing digging into soil so prevalent as to make it a risky, unsafe solution?

2) If this is an unlandable solution, how does this compare to what the NATOPS manual recommends? Can a "stock" Bearcat be landed with one main landing gear locked down safely?

3) If landing on only one main landing gear on the runway is considered too risky or unsafe, what about ditching the airplane on water? Would a ditching on Lake Tahoe or Pyramid Lake have been any safer? Would you have considered this?

4) What is the difference in the stall speed of Rare Bear vs. a stock Bearcat? Is this difference a huge factor in the aforementioned scenarios?

5) At the races at Mojave '76?, when Mr. Shelton landed the Bear with the gear problem, what exactly did he have that created that problem? Was it an all gear up landing or a partial gear down one? Did Mr. Shelton learn anything from that experience and pass it on to you? Did that temper your decision making process as you were troubleshooting the landing gear problem this year at Reno?

Just curious to know your thoughts on the "only one main landing gear locked down" landing scenario.

Thanks in advance for your posting here for all of us to learn more info about the Bear!

[BellCobraIV]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

5) At the races at Mojave '76?, when Mr. Shelton landed the Bear with the gear problem, what exactly did he have that created that problem? Was it an all gear up landing or a partial gear down one? Did Mr. Shelton learn anything from that experience and pass it on to you? Did that temper your decision making process as you were troubleshooting the landing gear problem this year at Reno?

I can't post toward answering any of the rest of your questions but I can answer some of the above.

The belly landing at Mojave in 1976 was the result of an oil line failure, and the resultant complete failure of the engine. This set up a one shot landing scenario, the Bear was pitched up lined up with the runway, the gear did not extend hydraulically, Lyle was told by radio at the last minute he had no gear, and pulled the emergency handle, extending the gear, unfortunately there was no time left for gear extension and at the same time fortuanately only the left gear had partially extended and was not locked. The left main gear collapsed into its wheel well and the engine froze with the propeller in a perfect "X" so the plane "rolled" out on a shower of sparks from the front blades and the extended tailwheel. The damage consisted of an antenna on the belly, the propeller, and the left hand pocket gear door. the wing tips never even touched the ground. Paint on the belly wasn't even scratched!

BTW if you want more, I have not read it yet but ordered four copies last night;



http://www.authorhouse.com/bookstore/ItemD...okid~50572.aspx

[jarrodeu]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

When did the book come out?

Jarrod

[BellCobraIV]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

When did the book come out?

Jarrod

Very recent, I don't know the exact date of the books release, but we hit Barnes and Noble last night and ordered four copies, so it's in their system.
John

[taglialavore]

Re: The "Bear"..The Week..The Facts

I´m soon ordering this book I was waiting for so long time.
Thank you a lot John!