“The Tiger Moth - a very Crashable Airplane”

0:01 The whole fleet is outside and Dave is doing the ground run right now.

0:06 Just waiting on ceiling anyway and then he's going to do

0:08 some taxi testing and then first flight in this airplane.

0:13 And I rigged four cameras to capture all of it.

0:15 This thing runs really nice and if it continues to do so,

0:19 I will be very excited about it.

0:21 We learned a lot and uh we would all kick

0:24 ourselves from time to time thinking how lucky are we

0:26 to be working on a 1942 Tiger Moth in this historic

0:30 building where hundreds of Tiger Moss flew you know during wartime.

0:34 Good job team.

0:35 All right everybody give high fives and high fives to each other.

0:43 It almost feels like an airplane that's falling apart.

0:47 Hopefully that's not a premonition.

0:48 I've got a lot of old pictures like during

0:50 the war and they would crash these things and they'd be

0:53 like just tough as hell and the pilot would be

0:57 standing next to it and the airplane would be upside down.

0:59 He'd be smiling, you know, and proud as can be.

1:03 But no, they're crashable.

1:08 This was a huge day at the museum.

1:11 They've already got a very impressive fleet here,

1:13 including a Steerman, a Harvard, which is similar to a T6.

1:18 two chipmunks and of course the RB-14.

1:22 But today we're adding what I think is going to be the crown jewel.

1:25 So Glenn and Dave are about to go

1:26 up for a familiarization flight in Glenn's Tiger Moth.

1:30 Then Dave is going to do his inspection of the Canadian

1:32 Aviation Museum Tiger Moth and launch for a test flight.

1:36 This is the De Havland Tiger Moth.

1:38 It's one of the earliest trainers from the Commonwealth.

1:41 It's got a really unique tail.

1:43 All the control cables are external.

1:45 It's a two-place airplane.

1:47 And the pilot in command sits in the back seat.

1:50 Similar to the Chipmunk,

1:51 your brakes are controlled by this handle here on the left side.

1:54 But that's where the similarities stop.

1:55 And as you'll see in this episode,

1:57 we'll learn that it's got some very weird flying characteristics.

2:00 It's exciting to have one in the fleet,

2:02 but it's an interesting airplane to learn how to fly.

2:05 The backstory of this particular one is that it was lovingly restored by Regge,

2:09 but he was in declining health and passed away in 2022.

2:12 His family wanted to find the airplane a good home where it would fly again.

2:16 I was among the crew that visited his impressive collection of projects,

2:20 many of which were his own design,

2:22 but it was a snapshot in time and his work had been sitting for a long while.

2:26 So, it seemed like a beautiful airplane and it was beautifully restored,

2:29 but then it turned out that mice had gotten into the bottom wing.

2:32 You can see along the front spire,

2:34 it's actually the mice has been gnawing on the uh

2:36 when it's chewed through some of that string.

2:38 So, the problem is they look they look good except they're not cuz on the inside

2:41 cuz on the inside the string is cut.

2:42 The mouse has sniffed it.

2:44 Yes.

2:45 And it's on both sides of the lower wing.

2:47 The test program, we're going to treat it like it's a new airplane.

2:50 Like that's kind of the way I look at it.

2:52 We've had it all the wings off of it.

2:54 And that's the big thing.

2:55 It's a biplane.

2:56 So the test program has to encompass

2:58 the differences between a mono wing and a biplane.

3:02 Contact.

3:07 And like the Chipmunk, the Tiger Moth prop spins the other way.

3:10 So typically you need left rudder when you add power.

3:12 a mono wing if it's put together right

3:15 um they tend to just work right there's not

3:17 like any severe rolling tendencies and if there are

3:20 then there's something really fundamentally wrong with the way

3:22 this was put together with a biplane you

3:26 could have this look perfect on the ground

3:29 and just with a few wing wire tensions

3:31 being out it will have a significant roll tendency

3:35 Glenn and his airplane were a huge resource

3:37 throughout this restoration we'll get to meet him more

3:40 throughout the episode but for now let's catch

3:42 up with a couple of the other team members.

3:44 All right, Mary.

3:45 So, let's talk about what you did on the project.

3:47 I uh had to recover the lower wings

3:50 because they were uh damaged while in storage.

3:53 So, we had to make some repairs

3:54 on the spars uh which the mosquito carpenter did rounding.

3:58 And then I completely recovered the the wings.

4:02 We used some new stuff that we not used to here.

4:05 Um the uh gap seals between the wing

4:08 and the rudder are this um prefinished fabric.

4:12 So that was a whole new thing for us to do.

4:14 And I'm pleased to say it's all stuck.

4:16 Looks good.

4:16 Really pleased with how it looks.

4:18 Yeah, we had a team of eight people uh for uh 2 years and 3 months.

4:23 It was a good functioning team because we didn't

4:26 have one technical guy take over or anything like that.

4:28 It really felt like we were getting a piece of history

4:31 back in the air and that's what the museum is all about

4:33 and I'm super proud to be a part of it.

4:35 It's a familyfriendly facility located in Windsor, Ontario.

4:41 Glenn and Dave were back within less than 45 minutes.

4:44 Okay, switch is off.

4:46 That was faster than I expected.

4:47 I guess you didn't need much.

4:49 It's just very uncomfortable in the front.

4:51 The back that my back cushion is killing me.

4:54 Um, no, it's it's as expected.

4:57 It's very um unusual on the rudder front.

5:00 It's very chipmunk like until it isn't.

5:02 Oh, thank you.

5:03 It uh it handles like the chippy is a very rudder heavy airplane,

5:09 but you're almost always on the left all the time.

5:11 Always left.

5:11 Always left.

5:12 This thing just like needs both directions pretty much continually.

5:16 Thanks for that, Glenn.

5:17 No problem.

5:20 Interesting airplane.

5:22 Everybody's here today.

5:24 So now it was time to switch focus,

5:25 finish the inspection on the Canadian Aviation Museum Tiger Moth,

5:29 and pull it out for essentially its first flight after many, many years.

5:35 Out she comes.

5:36 Here we go.

5:39 Well, that's a lot of guys.

5:40 A little airplane.

5:43 So starting with the taxi test cuz we're waiting for a ceiling,

5:45 but that's something you do anyway.

5:46 Yeah, taxi and ground run.

5:47 Extended ground run.

5:50 Yeah, we're waiting for ceiling.

5:51 We're at 800 ft right now.

5:52 Dave is the chief pilot for the museum and he

5:54 does all the postmaintenance flights as well as manages crew training.

5:58 Clearance is good.

6:00 Okay.

6:00 Well, the belt is kind of buried.

6:02 Yeah.

6:02 Well, let me get in my seat first.

6:04 I tried to film with one hand while

6:05 helping him get the strap sorted with the other.

6:07 It's

6:09 close.

6:09 It's It's real close.

6:11 This has to go.

6:12 I'm cramped.

6:13 I don't know if it's going to work out the shoot on cuz it's just I think it's

6:17 too much back and on the first flight I'm

6:19 going to be low anyway and not stressing the airframe.

6:22 I don't think I'm going to wear the shoot cuz it's

6:25 the geometry doesn't feel right to me.

6:27 Yeah.

6:27 I'm not worried about folding it on the first flight either.

6:29 Well, more importantly at that altitude you couldn't even use the shoot anyway.

6:33 I would take my chances landing runway or next to a runway versus bailing.

6:39 Oh, definitely.

6:40 Yeah.

6:40 No, that this is like if the a crackable airplane.

6:43 This is if the wing folds.

6:45 Yeah.

6:46 Like you would have to have a structural failure.

6:49 You got a very strong wing above you.

6:52 You've got a lot of distance between your head

6:55 and where the tail's going to land.

6:57 Okay.

6:57 Well, we tried.

6:58 Yeah, it's okay.

6:59 It's a simple airplane.

7:00 It's a an engine that I've got a tremendous amount of experience working with.

7:03 It's a It's a Gypsy Major.

7:05 We've got two of them.

7:06 I know already all the nightmare problems with these engines.

7:09 So, there's not a lot of like nebulous stuff up here.

7:11 It's just as a package, is it all still operating?

7:15 And I think the engine will stay running.

7:17 It's It's probably has a couple hours on it

7:20 on the ground at least.

7:22 The engine is the least of my concerns from a failure

7:24 perspective because of how easy it's going to be to glide in.

7:28 Um, it's really the rigging and it's it's like

7:32 we matched yours so it can't be that far out.

7:36 It had more authority in the famil flight than I expected anyway.

7:39 So I think if it has a roll tendency,

7:41 I should be able to overcome it enough to land safely.

7:44 So Glenn is obviously a huge wealth of knowledge specific to the Tiger Moth.

7:50 Primed.

7:50 I'm going to pull it through.

7:52 Brakes are set.

7:52 Switch is on.

7:55 But he's just an overall really cool

7:56 aviator with tons of experience and mechanical aptitude.

7:59 He built an RV14 during the same time window

8:02 that my team and I were building the Flight Chops airplane.

8:04 But he did it almost entirely by himself.

8:08 That should be good.

8:09 Okay, I'm trying the right hand start first.

8:13 Clear prop contact.

8:25 Okay, so what's happening?

8:26 Finished the ground run.

8:27 Finished the low speed taxi.

8:29 Handles as expected.

8:30 Sounds really good.

8:31 Static full power feels good.

8:34 It's finally cleared over the airfield.

8:35 So, um, the first thing I'm going to do is do

8:37 a high-speed taxi down seven to Foxtrot with a tail up.

8:41 Should feel like that one felt.

8:44 Come off.

8:44 If everything's good, head back to seven again.

8:47 Second high-speed taxi is actually going to be a rotation into flight.

8:51 Ground effect for a moment.

8:53 See as it accelerates, is it developing a rolling tendency?

8:56 If it is, probably just land straight ahead, come back.

8:58 We'll think about rigging it again.

9:00 Uh, but if it doesn't, then away I go for the orbit incline to 2500 ft.

9:05 15minute engine burn at 2500 feet over the airfield.

9:08 Then a little bit of low speed handling to see what it's like once

9:10 I drop below kind of 60 mph and then just a full stop landing.

9:15 All right, let's drop in.

9:16 Everybody's here.

9:21 All right, clear.

9:22 Got speed.

9:27 Contact ground.

9:43 Tiger mod.

9:44 Foxtrot Charlie India Hotel.

9:47 Fox Charlie India Hotel.

9:48 Where's the ground?

9:49 What's ground?

9:49 Foxtrot Charlie India Hotel is on that first flight as briefed.

9:52 Highspeed taxi down 7 to start.

9:54 We'd like to do a runup on 30 short of 7.

9:58 Charlie India Hotel ground runway 0 7 0 6 0 4 cal 30 0 niner for now.

10:04 Taxi golf to apron one.

10:06 Golf apron one and uh we'll wait for further instructions.

10:09 Charlie India hotel.

10:11 The really nice thing about this compared to like my previous testing

10:14 experience and even other warb birds is like everything is outside the airplane.

10:18 like everything.

10:19 It's all visible.

10:21 You can see all the all the cables, all the wires.

10:23 There's very little that you won't notice if things are going wrong.

10:27 Right.

10:28 All right.

10:29 1600 RPM.

10:30 I'm checking one mag about a 50 to 75 drop.

10:34 Other mag's about the same.

10:37 Full pressure still holding the 40.

10:39 Mixture full rich.

10:42 Brakes hard on.

10:43 Here we go.

10:44 Full power check.

10:47 Uh 2050 exactly the same as Glenn's throttle idle.

10:59 Real smooth idle holding at about 800 RPM.

11:08 All right, let's turn off the master

11:10 because that's just holding open the solenoid controls.

11:17 Free correct feels pretty good.

11:20 Tails good.

11:21 Runner's good.

11:26 All righty.

11:27 Well, think we're ready for the highspeed taxi here.

11:29 Trim looks like it's pretty good.

11:32 We'll go over the tower tower.

11:35 Fox Charlie India Hotel holding short on 07 on 3 0

11:40 ready for high speed taxi test while the radio sounds different now.

11:44 Fox Charlie India Hotel in the tower line up runway 07 07 Charlie India hotel.

11:51 This is like the weirdest hybrid of a Steerman and Chipmunk feeling right now.

11:57 Charlie India Hotel tower the highspeed taxi is approved.

12:00 Exit Fox Trot and contact me on ground one 121 decimal 7 on Foxtrot.

12:06 Charlie Hotel.

12:07 I was with the crew gathered to watch

12:09 from the ramp and Glenn was manning a handheld radio.

12:12 So say what you said again.

12:13 You think the chance he's going to say something?

12:15 No, I'm just saying that it's going to be on a rig rigging.

12:18 It's hard to get it right and we'll need some tweaking.

12:22 My bet is leftwing low.

12:25 Okay, here we go.

12:26 Power's coming in slow and steady and mouthful.

12:34 Behavior is normal so far.

12:35 When you get the tail up, does it feel like it's one wing heavy?

12:38 And then if it is, what is causing it?

12:41 No, it's pretty straight.

12:44 Oh, she's flying a little.

12:45 On the high-speed taxi test, brought the tail up.

12:47 Didn't feel any rolling tendency.

12:49 Started to slow down and I guess I relaxed

12:51 my forward pressure a little too much, so she flew.

12:54 She flew a little bit there.

12:56 At that point, I was rolled back to idle.

12:58 I just let it settle into a three-point,

13:00 which ended up turning into a bit of an RV

13:01 three-point where it kind of but it felt good.

13:04 So, maybe a little more forward trim.

13:06 This flies sooner than Glenn's.

13:08 Didn't feel any rolling tendency.

13:10 Counts as a flight, I guess.

13:12 We've got Glenn's vast sea of experience.

13:15 So, he's done a bunch of essentially we got a tension gauge,

13:18 tensionometer, and we matched all these wires up to what his were.

13:22 and his doesn't really have a rolling tendency or if

13:25 it does it's very minor and we're hoping if our wings

13:28 are built the same way and the tensions are all

13:29 the same because there's no book spec on what what is correct.

13:32 So, um without a without a book spec like what do you go on?

13:35 So, we have a working tiger mod to go off of and it if you tighten just you

13:39 know one thread on one of these wires like

13:41 it will change the shape of the two wings.

13:43 It will pull and twist the two the two sets of wings and you

13:48 essentially are going to introduce some kind

13:50 of change in the way the airplane flies.

13:53 I am lighter so I mean that's not super surprising that it wanted to fly.

13:57 Ended up in a nice three-point attitude landing there.

14:01 Thought I had it pinned pretty good but uh there were kind of two options there.

14:06 One was to continue flying, which is wasn't particularly desirable,

14:11 and I definitely didn't want to pin it back to the ground because

14:14 I feel like that would have really upset the airframe in its current state.

14:17 So, I was really just holding it off for the three-point landing,

14:20 which is a little slight bit bouncy, but felt fairly uh safe.

14:24 I didn't really feel like the airplane

14:26 was rolling in any particular direction there.

14:28 And actually cognizantly I saw some slight roll and then I was checking

14:33 my my hand and it was like yeah okay I was introducing a slight

14:37 bit of of right roll to it and uh as I move my hand

14:40 towards the center of the cockpit again it was very much flying straight.

14:44 So I don't think the roll tendency if any

14:46 is going to be significant enough that I need

14:48 to worry about it but I definitely don't want

14:50 to climb away with any kind of great angle here.

14:53 I want to really see once I'm airborne.

14:55 I really want to see that it's going to feel correct.

14:58 I did introduce a little bit more nose down trim uh because I feel like maybe

15:02 the position that Glenn kind of set initially

15:04 wasn't quite exactly where I wanted to be.

15:07 I thought it'd be a little uh more cumbersome on the ground.

15:10 Um it's not bad.

15:11 I mean, mind you, it's a deadcom day,

15:13 but uh I don't really feel like it's that weird uh in terms of its tilt.

15:18 I know I've heard a lot about these things being kind of topsyturvy,

15:21 and it's not that bad so far.

15:23 Charlie India Hotel winds tower the right hand orbit up to 2,500 ft is approved.

15:29 Wind 0 4 0 at 4.

15:31 Clear takeoff runway 07.

15:33 Clear takeoff 07.

15:35 Right hand orbit of 2,500 Charlie India Hotel.

15:38 Okay, there's a resonance on frequency on 24/7

15:41 that doesn't exist on 217 which is interesting.

15:44 One more check of the control continuity.

15:47 Brakes we want all the way off.

15:51 Brakes down.

15:52 Here we go.

16:02 Parachute is alive.

16:05 Tracking well.

16:12 We learned so much and uh we're so grateful to have been a part of this thing.

16:16 And uh big kudos to Michael Bento

16:19 from Centerline who bought the machines for us.

16:21 She bought not only the moth but also a Cornell.

16:24 And we're going to move right into the Cornell next.

16:26 And hopefully in a year or two,

16:28 we'll be standing here celebrating the first flight of that one.

16:32 Oh, it's very weird.

16:37 I wouldn't say it has a roll tendency though,

16:38 but the elevator is way out of pitch.

16:40 That is when I really noticed the trim after rotation.

16:43 So, I brought the trim way forward and then it

16:45 kind of set it at a faster than normal climb,

16:47 like 75 mph, and it just wanted to go.

16:49 This thing really wanted to fly.

16:51 Yeah, this thing needs a lot of forward trim,

16:55 good climb performance, uh, which is not how it felt this morning in Glenn's

16:59 because I think there's two of us in it.

17:00 And he had a little more fuel, I think, too.

17:02 Performed very well.

17:03 Flew very much the same.

17:05 Kind of centered the stick and let my hands off.

17:07 It flew straight, which is exactly what we wanted to know.

17:10 Is it going to have a rolling tendency left or right?

17:12 It really doesn't have any kind of rolling.

17:14 Fuel pressure is holding.

17:17 Temperature is good.

17:18 God, what a rudder heavy airplane.

17:20 Mc Glenn was not making that up.

17:22 All right, we're going to throttle back to 1900

17:26 and we'll start maneuvering over the airfield here.

17:28 We'll level out 2,500 tower Charlie India Hotel

17:32 is level 2,500 and we'll just be maneuvering overhead.

17:36 Charlie Hotel.

17:39 Let's see what she's got for tendency.

17:42 Very very sham ground.

17:47 Are you on frequency?

17:50 That's primitive.

17:52 There's zero roll tendency.

17:55 Excellent.

17:56 So, the rigging is good.

17:57 No roll tendency at all.

17:59 No, you said it's rigged perfectly.

18:02 How did you guys pull that off on the first try?

18:04 Because you had yours to basic.

18:06 No, we we used mine to just get uh tensions on the the wires.

18:12 Had smart levels and took our time and was anal about it.

18:17 That's amazing.

18:18 Yeah.

18:18 So, in the old days, they had to just guess,

18:20 but you guys have all kinds of tools that help you get there.

18:24 Well, they had they had in kilometers and stuff, but they weren't digital.

18:28 They'd be the ball.

18:28 And that's what I used when I rigged mine.

18:30 I didn't have a smart level.

18:33 This thing just wants to never fly straight ever.

18:36 It's like real.

18:37 It never wants to go straight, but it's super light on the controls.

18:40 It's so weird.

18:42 I'm getting quite comfortable with it.

18:44 It's uh it's it's kind of delightful, actually.

18:49 Low pressure holding steady at 40 lb,

18:51 which is exactly what I would expect out of a gypsy.

18:54 Still feels quite smooth at 1900 RPM.

18:57 Fuel sight gauge showing slightly above half a tank.

19:02 I'd say this air speed indicator is ridiculous.

19:05 I mean, it's goes to 250,

19:08 which is means that this whole thing is operating between 12:00 and 1:30.

19:13 This thing has a tremendous amount of elevator authority.

19:16 I can tell it's just it's it's crazy how much there probably is behind me there.

19:22 I'm going to level this thing out.

19:23 I'm going to slow down.

19:23 See what it feels like going slow.

19:25 So, this is 60 mph indicated in the back.

19:30 50 60.

19:31 So, we're plus five in the front.

19:33 Wing gauge showing 60 there.

19:36 All of these disagree with each other.

19:38 That's interesting.

19:40 But we know the rear seat indicator

19:41 is correct because of the pedo static certification.

19:44 And did you notice that wing wire resonating?

19:47 This was actually a snag that was resolved with a half turn of tension.

19:50 Okay, we are at 50 mph.

19:53 Positive aileron control still.

19:55 I mean, it's a little little dead, but okay.

19:57 So, we're showing 55 in the back, 57 in the front, 53 or so on the wing.

20:06 This actually doesn't even feel slow.

20:08 Airplane still flying.

20:09 Very much flying.

20:11 Still quite positive.

20:12 Very very mushy but positive.

20:18 And we'll reacelerate here tower.

20:22 It's Charlie India Hotel.

20:24 I'd like to uh descend below this layer here.

20:26 I might just be a little bit erratic in my trajectory to find a hole.

20:30 Charlie Hotel tower.

20:31 Roger.

20:31 Just be advised at 172 just departing runway 12.

20:35 Okay.

20:35 Keep an eye open tower.

20:39 Charlie.

20:40 Looks like the circuit altitude will be just fine here.

20:42 1,500 like to join the left and land.

20:47 Charlie tower.

20:48 Roger.

20:48 Runway 07 cleared left.

20:51 Charlie India Hotel and its crosswind limit is not very good.

20:55 In fact, like I've kind of demonstrated this phenomenon.

21:00 I want to show you this.

21:01 You may want to shoot this.

21:02 I think it's interesting.

21:03 So, if you walk up to the Steerman and you grab

21:05 a wing on the Steerman and I rock it and you let go, it just stops doing this.

21:09 But if I introduce this resonance and let go,

21:12 like it's that is a lot of movement after I've let go of the airplane.

21:16 That translates into how this thing handles on the ground.

21:18 And it's it's a a little bit more, I think,

21:20 of a fair weather flyer than the rest of the fleet.

21:23 Tower Charlie India Hotel is late down 0 to land.

21:27 Charlie India Hotel tower wind is 0104 now.

21:31 Clear to land 07.

21:33 Quick land.

21:33 Charlie India Hotel.

21:36 Dave was totally quiet during this approach, so I'm going to leave it uncut,

21:40 but I'll add some context via voice over.

21:44 He intentionally flew this approach a little bit fast.

21:46 It's a 9,000 ft runway, so he wasn't worried about going off the end.

21:49 He just wanted to have extra energy in the bank in case he lost the engine.

21:54 And something he told me off camera later,

21:56 which I thought was funny and worth adding here.

21:58 The flying characteristics were so weird with this airplane

22:01 that if he hadn't already flown Glenn's,

22:02 he would have thought there was something wrong with it.

22:04 But it flew exactly like Glenn's.

22:06 So kudos to the build team for getting the Tiger Moth exactly to spec,

22:09 even if it flies weird.

22:12 The rest of the flight was completely

22:13 uneventful and the landing was really nice.

22:16 I absolutely greased it on the runway, but it no wind and a high idle.

22:22 It just wanted to keep going.

22:24 Eventually, I knew I had to kind of change the angle of attack

22:27 because it was just going to roll on its wheels past Fox Trot.

22:30 So, I I just started to ease back on the stick and it didn't fly,

22:32 but I felt like it was very much ready to fly again.

22:35 And I just gently put some brake on and let it uh let it stop.

22:43 Charlie in the hotel tower, exit Fox,

22:45 contact me on ground 12 Fox and ground Charlie in the hotel.

22:51 If you made it to the end, thanks for watching.

22:52 I'll be sharing the process of getting checked out in this airplane soon.

22:56 And I've also got an episode coming where we're formation

22:58 flying with four of these airplanes for the Battle of Britain.

23:02 So that's a pretty cool debrief.

23:03 And definitely if you want to visit this facility,

23:06 it's an amazing museum located in Windsor, Ontario.

23:08 It's the Canadian Aviation Museum.

23:11 The volunteer crew gives great personalized tours.

23:13 And if you want to fly the airplanes, you can.

23:18 And until the next one, keep your flight chops sharp.

23:22 It took me 10 years to get mine to fly hand.

23:25 But then we just copied yours.