Nanchang CJ6

[TX-Rahman]

Folks,
             Ok....can finally post some pics of my friend's CJ6.  The pics below are of the plane as we were preparing it for it's annual.  He actually had the annual signed off on this past weekend.  The plane is back together and is flying once again.  I'll post more pics once I'm able to go up in it!

I took the pictures below as we were working on it.  I was pulling inspection panels and parts from the empenage and the wing slats.  I had a great time just working on the plane!

Nanchang CJ6 with the engine cowling off.








 





Picture of the front cockpit.


Picture of the rear cockpit.


Huosai-6 JIA - 9 Cylinder Air Cooled Radial - 285 HP


Regards,
TX-Rahman
"BLACK 4"

[TX-Gunslinger]

Wow!That must be a blast to fly in!  Great pics.  It's got a second seat does'nt it?  I remember when you posted the first pictures.What does one of these cost (used)?Black 2 TX Flight Leader

[TX-EcoDragon]

Cool Rah! You must be excited! I'm excited, and I'm not even gonna fly it!They are fun planes and you should have a real blast! You will get a little taste of what it's like flying a Russian Warbird! How cool is that?! The view forward from the rear seat isn't as good as in the front of course, but you will learn to rely more on your peripheral vision. It's not real wise to fly looking over to the side at first anyway, it's better to look towards the front pilot and use your entire field of vision to control the aircraft, this is how you land an airplane (well), and this skill becomes particularly critical if you happen to fly a tailwheel someday! If I were you I'd go up in a 152  for some air work. . . just to get a little stick time and also some experience with the feeling of flying in light aircraft. If you can, go up and do some straight and level, turns, climbs and descents as well as climbing/descending turns. Throw in a few steep turns if you are up to it, and maybe have the CFI do one at 60 degrees of bank (if he's willing) to feel what 2G's feels like. It will be tempting to do a lot of more fun stuff in the CJ and you'll be at least a little bit more prepared for it that way!If you do fly with a CFI first bring/buy a logbook and that time with the CFI will be time you can log towards your private cert. Just tell your intentions to the CFI and he will structure the flight accordingly, and then sign your logbook. . .  that way it's not just a "ride", but some time that can go towards your future ratings and training.Oh and Gunslinger, these aircraft are imported into the US after they have served the Chinese (or Russian) Military by a distributor who refurbishes the aircraft, sometimes very extensively to provide a US certification of airworthiness. They can also install US avionics and such. . .if it were me I might consider a US attitude indicator as I just don't think the chinese varietymakes much sense in that it uses blue to represent the ground, and brown to represent the sky! :-)  The price depends on what degree of work they do on it, but they tend to sell for around 70,000 up to 150,000 typically.Here are a couple for sale on Barnstormers.comhttp://www.barnstormers.com/cat.php?mode=search&PHPSESSID=016d5f149fa103540792c5f1734c76ceS!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[TX-Kingsnake]

I just scheduled my flight to log my second flight lesson. The time I spent in my first lesson in a Cessna 152 prepared me for the Super Decathlon flight with Eco. As I said before you can get an introductory half hour flight for $50 in a 152. Add to that, a log book and the next flight is a lesson. In theory the intro flight will show you the physical sensation to expect before advancing into performance aircraft. I know next year when I fly aerobatics with Eco I will expect the sensations. Just the fundamental aspects of flying learned in your intro flight will mean that much less time spent on basics during your aerobatic flight. I think you can expect to do at least one maneuver at the stick, the loop. I mean, I couldn’t do it but I think you could.TX-Kingsnake

[TX-EcoDragon]

I'm happy to hear you've got a lesson scheduled King!I'd say that probably the easiest aerobatic maneuver for a first timer is the aileron roll. . . as long as it is briefed before hand. . . king didn't much like these, but that was what I had intended to be the first figure he tried, and it's typicaly the one that people try first. . . the loop is often the second. You might want to avoid the wing rocks and such as these warmup maneuvers probably did more harm than good for Kingsnack!    erp. ..S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[TX-Gunslinger]

Should I go buy MS FS2000?I had the first one on an Apple II (man it was ugly, but since I had nothing else to compare it to, I thought it was great) and used to spend hours taking off, landing and navigating from place to place.  I think my favorite map was Chicago.  Take off at O'hare and fly to Midway and land.I have'nt touched the series since.  Way back then, there was'nt any type of Combat FLight sim product.S~Black 2 TX Flight Leader

[TX-EcoDragon]

well Gunny, you can find it for 29.99, and I think in some cases there is a 20 rebate!! It's clearly money well spent at 9 bucks!!! It's of course different than combat, but in many ways, much more involved, so while many who like ot see stuff go boom it's a little boring, there is much more to learn and to do than they probably realize. S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[TX-Rahman]

I'd also suggest the latest... MSFS2004.  Also check out the MegaScenery discs...  They really make a difference...   Actual satellite photos of the area you're flying over...Regards,TX-Rahman"BLACK 4"

[TX-EcoDragon]

Oh . . yeah . . . don't get 2000. . lolS!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[TX-Gunslinger]

Duh  2004.Thanks Eco and Rah.  I believe I will get it soon.  There is so much stuff out there for it in terms of add-ons and such.I keep passing it up at Fry's.  Next time I go I'll pick it up..I know there's a quite a bit of content in there with respect to civil aviation.  Once I get it up and flying, I'll search around and see what you all have been up to with it.Thanks again,"G"Black 2 TX Flight Leader

[TX-EcoDragon]

Yes, the sim aviation groundschool should get more content as we do more "flying" together. it is easiest to meet up and go over the details online, on coms, after reading the lesson plan in advance, so as I have time I'll write some more. Oh and I should mention, for those that don't know, ScubaSteve is also a real world pilot and will hopefully be able to help a little with the endeavor to add more content to the library and to facilitate online practice sessions!S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[TX-Rahman]

UPDATE:Well folks... Yesterday...beautiful day that it was...I went up in the Nanchang CJ6!!  Man...it was awesome!  I don't have the info to post here like Kingsnake did after his ride with Eco...but I can just say it was great!!We started the day at Ron's house doing some riveting on the new wing slats he fabricated.  We then went to the field and had to do some more riveting and fitting the slats on the plane and making sure that they didn't effect the operation of the flaps.  Once installation was successful we had the plane topped off with fuel and did the preflight.  He had me walkaround the plane with him explaining everything he was looking for.  He then had me climb up on the wing and explained all the controls, instruments and all in the cockpit and also explained bailout procedures.  We made sure both magnetos were in the off position and he had me handturn the prop around 19 halfturns.  He then got me situated and strapped into my parachute...the kind that you sit on.  (I need to lose weight...man did my butt hurt from sitting on that!!)  He got me all strapped in with the 5 point harness.  He then strapped himself in and started with all his checklist before engine start....saying everything out loud for me so I would know what he was doing.  Once everything was setup properly...he said he was going to start the engine...  He yelled "clear" and fired the huge radial up!  Now I know what it's like to be sitting behind all that horsepower.Motion sickness=None!  I dunno if it was the relief band that I bought or just the the fact that he kinda took it easy at first to make sure I would be ok...  This plane totally rocks!  Granted, I don't have alot to compare it to because I've only ever flown commercial.  My first GA ride but....  Acceleration was awesome...lifted off in no time and climbed damn'd quick!  We flew from  Houston Southwest Airport (KAXH) to Brazoria County Airport (KLBX) for a short ride to make sure the wing strap was ok...  It's a short 24 NM hop directly south from airport to airport  He let me take the controls for a while and I was able to keep her pretty straight and level...we did have some turbulence so it was cool to actually be feeling what my stick inputs were translating to!  The plane is very light on the stick...again...I don't have all the experience in the world but I would say this plane flies nicely!  What a rush!  He took the controls back and we landed at KLBX...  The landing:  Reminded me of an Eco landing...high angle of attack...dove right onto the runway....nice soft touchdown.  We taxied to a resterant they have at the airport and hopped out to look at the wing strap.  It looked great.  We hungout outside at the resterant and talked with some other pilots for a while.  They were curious about his plane.  After we left Brazoria...we flew around for a while and did some nice turns that nailed me more in the seat...was a hoot!  He also climbed out at Brazoria a bit hotter than before.  I loved every second of it....  I could ramble about the flight for days...  I didn't bring a camera...sorry guys.  I figured that I wanted to be able to soak up the flight without having to look through a viewfinder.  I thanked him and thanked him....hehe.  He told me that he would be taking me up alot more...  Said I could be in his crew for when he flied it to airshows...  Sounds great to me for sure!  Man..makes me want to get my license so maybe one day I could own something like this...Awesome!  Maybe next time I'll be able to bring the camera.Just had to share!Regards,TX-Rahman"BLACK 4"

[TX-Kingsnake]

Cool. I was waiting to hear about your flight. Sounds like you had fun. Any maneuvers or will that be in the next flight?TX-Kingsnake

[TX-Rahman]

Kingsnake:  No real manuvers this flight....  I think he was taking it easy on me....I had mentioned that I wasn't sure about getting sick or not.  I think in this plane because of the canopy that I would be fine though.  I didn't feel the least bit sick...  Field of view was great .   I also had on the relief band device...  So...I'm not sure if I would have gotten sick without it...figured that it was on, and I didn't feel sick at all...why mess with a good thing  Next time I hope to take some pics and maybe give a better report and all.  Like I said in my previous post...I could talk for days about the flight...  Maybe that's what I should do with the 8X server...I should sell her and devote 100% of the proceeds to funding my flight training... Regards,TX-Rahman"BLACK 4"

[TX-EcoDragon]

So, when you going again?S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO