30 October 2008

Correspondence from Liam Lang

Hello Norseman Friends ! I know I have been a bit remiss in updating the site, and for that I do apologise. That said, I received a great story and some pics from a fellow Norseman enthusiast in Louisville, KY which I'd like to share with you, so to get it out there quickly, I'm posting his story and pics for you here. Enjoy and thanks again to Liam for the wonderful contribution!

September, 2008
Hi Julie,

You have a great website - I've visited it a few times over the years. Finally thought I'd write in with my Norseman story and send you a few pics of CF-JEC, Sn: 469.

I flew for Sabourin Lake Airways in Cochenour, Ont, (Red Lake) from 1980-85. Started on the 180/185, then flew the mighty Norseman one fall doing fish hauls from a small commercial fishing camp the natives were operating. One day, one of the other pilots brought JEC in, complaining that the elevator trim crank was slipping. You could trim nose down, but not nose up! Our mechanic took a look at it, fiddled with it some, and got the trim tab to where it was almost faired with the trailing edge of the elevator. He told me what he had done and said to just not use the darn trim! Well, I got in, cranked up the Pratt & Whitney, and thundered down the lake for my run up North, about an hour away. I was empty going up, so JEC got airborne fine, but sure enough, there was a bit of nose down trim still present, and my arms were going to get mighty tired trying to hold that for an hour! We always had a substantial rope tied to the diagonal brace tube running just behind the pilots seat, so I grabbed the rope, wound it around the control column a few times, and then by ɣrankingŀthe rope tight, voila, I had my elevator trim! (You can see what I'm talking about in the picture of me at the controls).

Arrived at the fishing camp and proceeded to load 1700 lbs of slimy, gutted, headless fish, arranged in big plastic tubs. Good thing it wasn't during the heat of summer - eau du fish is pretty potent! We had a big tarp lining the inside of the cabin, but no matter how hard we tried, that fish slime always worked its way out of the tubs, past the barrier, into the interior, and eventually the belly of the airplane! We would use buckets and buckets of Pine Sol water trying to remove the smell.

When I finally fired up for the run home, there was barely a breeze, so I knew that the takeoff was going to be extra work to get on the step and get those big Edo 5400's to break their suction. A nice headwind and surface chop was always a welcome help in getting off the water. The lake was shaped like a boomerang, with an island at the apex. I taxied as far as I could, and after turning around estimated there should be plenty of room to get airborne, so up came the water rudders and I eased the power up to unleash the 600 horses on the Pratt - I was going to need all of them for this takeoff. We plowed on down the lake, and slowly, oh so slowly, I could feel JEC accelerating, so when things felt right, I nursed her up on the step, and we thundered along some more. The airspeed was barely inching its way toward takeoff speed, and that island was front and center in the windscreen. Oh well, I was committed, and there was no sense in stopping the takeoff now - I'd deal with the island in another 60 seconds or so. Finally, with barely enough airspeed, I applied aileron to lift one float out, and now in a sideslip, coaxed and pleaded with JEC to get airborne.

Eventually, the other float also came out of the water, and usually at this point it was a matter of accelerating to climb speed while easing the flaps up and heading for destination, but not this time! Remember that slight nose down trim I mentioned earlier?

Now I desperately needed some nose up trim just to get the old girl to even consider accelerating, but it was not to be. There we sat, JEC, the decapitated fish, and myself, lumbering along a few feet off the water, firmly in ground effect, the airspeed needle seemingly stuck and refusing to budge. I resisted the strong urge to tap the glass on the gauge, because deep down, I knew it would be futile. Besides, with the Pratt bellowing and hollering, there was enough power coursing through the airframe to provide all the instrument vibration one could ever want! Now the island that seemed comfortably distant at the beginning of the takeoff run was inexorably starting to loom larger in the windscreen! There wasn't any room left to chop the power and land straight ahead without risking a crack-up on the rocks - besides, that would only delay the inevitable trip home, and, not wishing to spend the rest of the day at a forlorn fishing camp hoping the wind would pick up for a second try, I sure as heck wasn't about to let those floats see water again until it was at the home base. Besides, this was the bush and one way or the other, unless you blew a jug, you figured out a way to get the trip done.

There was only one thing left to do, and that was to try and buy some more time, so I booted in some rudder and skidded JEC into a shallow turn away from the island. Down another stretch of the lake we roared, still in ground effect. Almost imperceptibly, the airspeed needle started to wiggle and waver, slowly, oh so slowly inching its way into positive territory. I was able to nurse JEC out of ground effect, pick up about another 10 or 15 knots, and coax the old beast up to about 500 feet AGL at around 100 feet per minute before deciding that I had probably reached the new out-of-trim service ceiling. I cinched up the control column strain-reliever for the slog back to home base. It was a happy moment when the floats finally touched water, I having learned a very graphic lesson about Norseman aerodynamics! I'm glad to hear that JEC / sn 469 is still around, apparently now registered to Collin Oliver in Brooks, Alberta, the province of my birth.

Regards,
Liam Lang (B-757/767, UPS)
Louisville, KY
LLang@IPApilot.org



CF-JEC, SN:469

CF-JEC, SN: 469

CF-JEC, SN: 469

Norseman Fan

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