L-39 Albatros - Archerfield Airport - 16 Jul 2022

Video from the channel Chris Nunn about Aero L-39 Albatros, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 20:35. Language: English. Video type: Onboard.

Flight of a passenger in the back seat of an Aero L-39 Albatros departing from and returning to Archerfield Airport. The aircraft takes off at around 100 knots (185 km/h), climbs to 2,000 feet and levels off in cruise at about 450 km/h. After a warm-up with 2.5 and 3.5 g turns, the pilot radios that he will perform aerobatics over Lake Wyaralong, northwest of Beaudesert, between 1,500 and 6,500 feet for fifteen minutes. He strings together aileron rolls, a loop, a Cuban eight, a vertical roll and a zero-g manoeuvre. He then simulates an attack on a dam wall: he hides in a valley, lines up the target at 45 degrees to his flight path, dives, simulates the release and pulls away. He explains that a second aircraft would attack five seconds later from another heading. Later he hands over the controls to the passenger for a roll and a climb to 2,500 feet, performs a four-point roll and heads back.

During the takeoff run, the pilot runs through his checks: airspeed needle, annunciators off, temperatures and pressures, and no vibration. To return he throttles back to 80 and then 70 percent and crosses the Logan Motorway at 1,500 feet. He deploys the airbrakes, which make the airframe shudder, and lowers the gear as he approaches 150 knots. On final approach he explains the four approach path lights, where two red and two white indicate the correct glide path. He aims to touch down right at the start of the runway to make the most of its length and lands on runway 28 right, with ailerons held into the crosswind. The final g-meter reading shows +4.4 g and −0.5 g.

Throughout the flight he coordinates by radio with traffic in the area, including a helicopter crossing the lake area, and with Archerfield air traffic control. The pilot highlights how smooth and light the L-39's controls are, and the aerobatics give the passenger a sense of what the 9 g endured by fighter pilots feels like.