Smoking Airplanes Smoke System

[Greg Arehart]

Ron,

Too bad you didn't have the smoke a couple months ago when we were circling Salida.... Would have been much easier to pick you up. And today when we were testing Steve's airplane in aerobatic mode (with me circling as the high bird) it would have been way easier to spot against the patchy clouds if there were smoke.

I'm liking the idea of using it as VCAS.

greg

[Ron Lee]

Thanks Greg. Another great use of the system. That same issue of trying to find someone has come up multiple times. This smoke system will be even more useful than I considered even two hours ago.

[rvmills]

Good pic of the 90 deg elbow Ron. I could even see using two, to keep the hose nice and tight to the sidewall, then the firewall. Good mod!

And the VCAS is a great intercept tool. There are times when environmental conditions or background make it tough to see the smoke, but its usually great, and we've used it to facilitate airborn join-ups in form work, when we are coming from different airports (and had a phone brief, of course!)

Of course there was that time at Red Flag when 4 F-15s used "inadvertant VCAS"...flew right into air that was the right temp for contrails. Next thing on the radios was all four of our Tomcats calling shots on them! Made for some good gun camera film! (and FWIW, gun camera film on Eagles was/is not that easy to get...unless you're in a Raptor these days, I guess!)

I would have liked to seen smoke from your plane Greg today...would have shortened the time between test loops and 8's in Steve's 7!

(John is likin' all this Smokin' Talk!)

Cheers,
Bob

[Jvon811]

Sorry to bring up an old thread...

I'm currently installing a Smoking Planes system in the baggage area of the -4. How are ya'll running the oil line from the back to the front?? I've seen other airplanes with holes drilled through the bulkheads and I REALLLLLY don't want to have to do that. It's unsightly and weakens the structure some.