L-39 Albatros Jet Ride

Video from the channel Tom McNerney about Aero L-39 Albatros, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 9:01. Language: English. Video type: Onboard.

The video follows a passenger flight in an Aero L-39 Albatros, from taxiing and communications with ground and tower to take-off on runway 35 left, a very low stretch of flight over the water and the return to land on the same runway. Midway through the flight the pilot hands over the controls to the passenger for a while and then takes them back to return.

Before take-off the passenger notices the fuel flow indicator, which shows about 70 gallons per hour at idle. In flight, speeds of 300 knots or more are mentioned, along with a pass at about 50 feet over the water. The pilot performs a parabolic manoeuvre that produces a few seconds of weightlessness and explains that he could extend the tail slide, but that it's not advisable at low altitude. On the way back, the landing configuration is shown: half flap, then full flap with the nose rising, and the comment that there's no need to use the airbrakes.

It is a 2007 cockpit recording of a recreational flight in the jet trainer. It shows the L-39 flying low and its handling on approach, with spontaneous comments rather than technical explanations.