Home to the Air Force Test Pilot School, the base is
interested in someone who can supply two different single-engine turboprop
aircraft (of similar taildragger types) so students can make optimal direct comparisons on the same day.
The Air Force announced the idea in a Request For
Information (RFI) document released Friday.
“This RFI is issued solely for information and planning
purposes – it does not constitute as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise
to issue an RFP in the future,” Air Force officials said in the document.
The Test Pilot School is where the Air Force's top pilots,
navigators, and engineers learn how to conduct flight tests and generate the
data needed to carry out test missions. Human lives and millions of dollars
depend upon how carefully a test mission is planned and flown. The
comprehensive curriculum of Test Pilot School is fundamental to the success of
flight tests and evaluations.
If the Air Force decides to award a contract in the future for
the taildragger planes, they will support one of their three graded qualitative
evaluation events (a requirement for graduation) during the academic year.
“It may or not work but we’re going to see if the students get
more out of it with this new process,” the Air Force said in the RFI.
In August 2022, the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)
announced a $3 billion contract to purchase 75 AT-802U Sky Warden taildragger aircraft
that will operate as light attack/armed reconnaissance planes.
SOCOM is a unified command that oversees various special operations
components of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force.
The Air Force expects the Sky Wardens to be fully
operational in 2029.
It has been over 50 years since the Air Force has operated a
single-engine taildragger.
6 comments:
Not true, the U-2 is a single engine taildragger. It just doesn’t have a propeller.
Why a tail-dragger?
The U-2 is over 60 years old. Why is the Air Force wasting what is going to amount to millions on an aircraft that has no real operational need in its inventory? Pilots who fly the U-2 have already proven they can fly tail draggers in the actual aircraft or simulator during the interview process. A real waste of money. But heck, Why not ask. The government is broke but keeps spending money like it's going out of style.
The U-2 is not a tail dragger. It is a single engine jet with bicycle landing gear near the center of the fuselage. It also uses small outrigger gear on the wing tips during takeoff that drop off when the plane leaves the ground.
Yes the U-2 does have a tailwheel but does not share the same ground handling characteristics as what 2e know as a taildragger. For a long time the Navy test pilot school maintained a U-1A De Haviland Otter nicknamed "The Humbler" for test pilot familiarization. It's a handful to land and taxi.
Funny how the AF wants this mission, only cuz of money, and we know it should go to the Army. The AF took the twin-engine cargo plane from the Army and then placed them in storage.
The AF views this plane like the A-1E; which was an awesome plane. Wonder how many will volunteer for this duty and how many will be volunteered? Any Army attack pilot would fly this plane and mission.
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