THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9604300103
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Preparing to land at Naval Air Station Norfolk during the 1996 Azalea Festival air show, I found myself suddenly thinking about an old joke:
``It isn't how far you fall that hurts you. It's the sudden stop at the end.''
Until then, our hop aboard the Soviet-built Antonov AN-2 biplane had been uneventful. The most interesting aspect was the history of the aircraft, a history that, in many respects, was full of surprises.
Looking like a vintage airplane out of the late '20s, '30s or early '40s, the single-engine craft turned out to have been built in 1970. Although the first AN-2 rolled off the line in 1947, they are still being built.
``They are the third most commonly made airliners in the world,'' explained pilot and owner Steve Sevier of Murfreesboro, Tenn.. ``Over 12,000 of them have been built.''
Many of the planes were - and are - commercial airliners. Aeroflot, the official airline of the Soviet Union, still struggling along on a wing and a prayer since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, has flown about 8,000 of them.
Configured for passenger service, the planes carry up to 14 passengers, in accommodations that are somewhere between those of a Ford Tri-Motor and a Douglas DC-3.
Other versions of the sturdy craft, designed by the famous Antonov Design Bureau and built in Kiev, in the Ukraine, have served, or are serving, as cargo planes, float planes, firefighting aircraft, air ambulances, crop dusters, executive transports and in a variety of other specialized functions.
The one I was riding was configured for five passengers in the cabin, in single seats (two on one side, three on the other) separated by an aisle.
According to Sevier, the plane originally had been an Aeroflot airliner, until, after the fall of communism, Aeroflot, like other Eastern-bloc organizations, began selling off assets in exchange for hard currency.
``They didn't exactly give it away,'' said Sevier, who acquired the plane in 1992.
Since then, Sevier, a DC-9 pilot for USAir, has been taking the plane to air shows around the country, where it always receives curious looks and keen interest.
``Did you notice the propeller turns to the right?,'' Sevier asked. ``On most Russian aircraft they turn to the left. But this plane's engine is a version of the Wright 1820 that powered the B-17, built over there under license.''
The engine had to be de-tuned because the plane, although large for a single-engine craft, is very light and has all that wing surface. That brings us back to the landing.
The aircraft can take off - become airborne - at 30 mph. It can land at 25 mph.
On the day of our hop, a crosswind was blowing across the field at about 20 mph.
The gentleman from the flying club gave us a little warning.
``Because of the crosswind, he's going to land it on the taxiway,'' he announced.
Yeah, right.
Another joke came to mind, about a pilot who landed his jet transport sideways on a runway:
``Whew,'' he remarked to his co-pilot, ``this is the shortest runway I've ever seen.''
``Yes,'' the co-pilot agreed, ``but it sure is wide.''
On the approach, Sevier came in parallel to the runway. At its end, he made a U-turn and now was flying over it. But we weren't descending. Slowly - our airspeed was only about 100 mph - the runway passed beneath us. At about the halfway point, he took us down, dropping us like a rock. My heart - and stomach - were left behind at about 400 feet, and I began thinking about that sudden stop.
The ground loomed up closer and closer. At the last minute, he turned to the left and set us down on the taxiway, as gently as a feather. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by DAWSON MILLS
This Antonov AN-2 biplane was featured at the Azalea Festival air
show.
by CNB