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Toilet paper bombing

donaziza

donaziza

Well Known Member
Someone told me about this a few days ago. Its tossing a roll of toilet paper out of your airplane, and then yanking & banking to see how many times you can cut the streamer with your plane. This sounds GREAT:p More fun than a human is supposed to have. BUT-----one minor problem-----how to get the roll of toilet paper out of a RV 8 or any RV for that matter. ( This guy didn't have an RV):rolleyes: Anybody got any ideas??:D
 
It's fun in a Cub - not so sure how it would be in a fast RV....(if you could figure out how to get the roll out).
 
Paper

Did it a few times in my Skybolt. Be carful and only cut thru the paper with the wings . The first time we did it was with the prop , found some paper on the top of the motor , could easily block the oil cooler of intake .
 
T.P. Drop/cutting

I used to do that frequently in a 7GCAA Citabria, I second the recommendation of only cutting with the wing. No only can the paper effect engine cooling. You also need to be carful not to hit the cardboard center roll as it Can/WILL DENT the leading edge of wing.
 
why not take out the cardboard center. i would hate to damage my plane while having so much fun. :)
 
When I was a cadet at the Air Force Academy, I "heard" of guys who would fly gliders over the superintendent's house and drop oranges in his pool. I always wondered what he thought when he found mysterious citrus back there.
 
The gliding club where I learned to fly was based out of a sheep paddock in South Australia. The field was infested along the fence lines with paddy melons, a totally inedible wild melon about the size of a softball. Must've tasted bad, even the sheep left them alone.

We had an ES-59 Arrow, a wood and rag sailplane which could be flown without the canopy.

It became something of a tradition to toss paddy melons overboard at the top of a winch launch to see if you could bomb the safety cage of the winch. The cage was made out of steel mesh; a direct hit would cause the paddy melon to basically liquefy, showering the winch driver with bitter smelly fruit pulp.

By the time I joined the club, the winch safety cage had been replaced with a sealed enclosure made out of checkerplate and polycarbonate, causing the practice to fall out of favour: Hitting it would scare the heck out of the winch driver with a massive bang, but if they didn't get any in their hair then what's the point? :D

The old Arrow was great fun for toilet paper streamer cuts. VNE was 128 kts, but it was so draggy that it was almost impossible to get that fast without a vertical dive. Thermal up to 7000 or 8000 feet, toss out a roll, see how many times you could cut it by the time you were down to 2000, then find another thermal and start again.

In an RV I'd worry about overspeed, these planes are too slippery and have too much power to weight ratio.

- mark
 
turbo said:
why not take out the cardboard center. i would hate to damage my plane while having so much fun. :)
Click to expand...

You're looking for a streamer as the roll unwinds. without the cardboard tube, you just have a wadded up mess. This also happens if you aim for the bottom of the streamer rather than the tail and cut the tube free. Also, if you make a last second correction and pull too much "G", the wake of the aircraft will wad it up as you pass.

And I have pulled much toilet paper out of the cowling, pitot tube, air filter and brace wires of my Hiperbipe.
 
newt said:
The gliding club where I learned to fly was based out of a sheep paddock in South Australia. The field was infested along the fence lines with paddy melons, a totally inedible wild melon about the size of a softball. Must've tasted bad, even the sheep left them alone.

We had an ES-59 Arrow, a wood and rag sailplane which could be flown without the canopy.

It became something of a tradition to toss paddy melons overboard at the top of a winch launch to see if you could bomb the safety cage of the winch. The cage was made out of steel mesh; a direct hit would cause the paddy melon to basically liquefy, showering the winch driver with bitter smelly fruit pulp.

By the time I joined the club, the winch safety cage had been replaced with a sealed enclosure made out of checkerplate and polycarbonate, causing the practice to fall out of favour: Hitting it would scare the heck out of the winch driver with a massive bang, but if they didn't get any in their hair then what's the point? :D

The old Arrow was great fun for toilet paper streamer cuts. VNE was 128 kts, but it was so draggy that it was almost impossible to get that fast without a vertical dive. Thermal up to 7000 or 8000 feet, toss out a roll, see how many times you could cut it by the time you were down to 2000, then find another thermal and start again.

In an RV I'd worry about overspeed, these planes are too slippery and have too much power to weight ratio.

- mark
Click to expand...
Of course one could easily overspeed the airplane. This then becomes a test of one's pilot skills and still being able to cut the streamer. Makes a better pilot of you, or at least me anyhow.
 
Many years ago I tried this a few times in a J-3 Cub. Never could get the hang of it...either the TP wouldn't unroll properly, or I couldn't attack it properly.

One time to overcome the unrolling problem a friend and I unrolled most of it first in a huge bundle and dumped that overboard. It looked like a huge piece of lint drifting in the sky. Still couldn't hit it :( It took forever to climb with two aboard the J-3 so we were too impatient to get lots of altitude.

Which reminds me of a gripe with Vans. Why don't they make a model with an opening door or canopy in flight? Aside from throwing things out, there's nothing like a warm summer evening with the door and window open on the J-3, hard forward slip to landing...
 
TThurston said:
Are there any federal regulations that apply to dropping things out of airplanes?
Click to expand...

In Canada the wording is something to the effect that the operator of an airlpane must not drop anything from that aircraft that is likely to cause hazard to persons or property on the ground. It seems unlikely that a bog roll would cause any damage, even if you somehow forgot to undo that first stuck-down piece and it fells out as a closed roll.
 
Buggsy2 said:
Many years ago I tried this a few times in a J-3 Cub. Never could get the hang of it...either the TP wouldn't unroll properly, or I couldn't attack it properly.

One time to overcome the unrolling problem a friend and I unrolled most of it first in a huge bundle and dumped that overboard. It looked like a huge piece of lint drifting in the sky. Still couldn't hit it :( It took forever to climb with two aboard the J-3 so we were too impatient to get lots of altitude...
Click to expand...

The trick is to get a foot or two unwound first. Too much and it will tear, not enough and it won't unroll. "Brand" also makes a difference. The cheap stuff is hard to keep together going over the side. It's also good to throw it out in a turn so you can see it fall for the first attack. After that, it gets easier to keep track of.
 
Snowflake said:
In Canada the wording is something to the effect that the operator of an airlpane must not drop anything from that aircraft that is likely to cause hazard to persons or property on the ground. It seems unlikely that a bog roll would cause any damage, even if you somehow forgot to undo that first stuck-down piece and it fells out as a closed roll.
Click to expand...

Someone on the ground could get wiped out. :D
 
Things don't always go as planned...

Finding a way to carry and release bags of flour or even Estes rockets is fun to contemplate, no doubt it'll be done. It's worth remembering that surprisingly, things don't always fall to earth, at least not initially:

http://www.military.com/video/milit...idents/f-18-bomb-test-disaster/1000788900001/

The moment of interest is at about 0:30 into the recording.

1. The most important aspect of using gravity weapons for fun is to ensure they stay with you without fail throughout all possible flight regimes (spins, stalls, full rudder deflection yaw rates and hard landings, because you never know) until you tell them to go away.

2. The second most important aspect of carrying bombs for fun is to make sure they ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY go away when you tell them to. A "hung" bag of flour probably won't be an issue, however a "hung fire" rocket (if someone goes there) would be a hazard to ground personal if you return in that state. Also, referencing the video, who knows what other issues could arise from a flour "bomb" stuck in your bomb bay.

This is where all the safeties and circuits and red/green lights and Master Arm Switches come from on military aircraft: knowing what you've got and knowing FOR SURE when you don't have it anymore.

Getting your "bombs" to hit the target is the least of your worries, plus that's the really fun part requiring hours and hours of practice and generating tall tales and outright lies; but only after you've got #'s 1 and 2 nailed down.

I really hope someone, or many ones get working on this. Nothing more fun than a Bomb Comp!
 
Fun, but potential danger..................

A word of caution here----------

I watched a C 172 come within about 10' of rolling up into a ball once out at Soggy Dry Lake------------they got so wrapped up in chasing the TP that they almost hit the ground. Of course, dry lakes dont give you much of a horizon/depth reference but still, be careful if you do this.
 
In 1982, I was in a 4-ship of F4s that got airborne with toilet rolls stuffed into the speed-brake recesses. We did a dawn raid on the Royal Navy. Toilet rolls at 450kts explode. Apparently they were cleaning confetti off the ships for weeks!

My all-time favourite mission :D
 
we tried a EAA flour bombing contest with the -6A tilt-up once. had no idea when to toss and couldn't see where it went. you can open the canopy enough to drop a bag. the cubs clearly had the advantage.
I will add that I have burst balloons with the T-craft prop before. one day I saw 4 balloons while in my -6A. I cranked a 180? but at the last second I swerved away, the balloons had a bottle attached. I don't do balloons anymore.
 
hate to bring this up but what about the litter issue?
is all this always done with permission over private property?
i can imagine what a trooper would do if i flipped out several hundred feet of t.p. along his beat, or a warden in the woods.
 
A few years ago I participated in a pumpkin dropping contest at Courtland AL.
I needed some sort of external launch mechanism and came up with the following device.
2lbc284.jpg


It worked on the flat tips of my rocket by using a "spear" mounted on a pivot at the front of the wing. An electrically operated solenoid, (rear door window of old jeep cherokee), allowed the spear to rotate and drop the pumpkin.

On the first attempt I had premature pumpkulation and totally missed the airport.
My next pass, after landing and loading, at least hit in the area of the target, old outhouse.
As far as my research could determine there are no ballistic profile charts for pumpkins.
 
Regulations

TThurston said:
Are there any federal regulations that apply to dropping things out of airplanes?
Click to expand...

Yes:

Sec. 91.15 ? Dropping objects.

No pilot in command of a civil aircraft may allow any object to be dropped from that aircraft in flight that creates a hazard to persons or property. However, this section does not prohibit the dropping of any object if reasonable precautions are taken to avoid injury or damage to persons or property.

Generally its considered safe to drop toilet paper - and ping pong balls...
 
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