CJ-6 Pilot Report

Walking up to a Nanchang CJ-6A it doesn’t take long to feel as if you’re stepping backinto the Golden Age of aviation, because you are. The radial engine, tandem seats, rearsliding canopies, and a dihedral “gull shaped” wing all suggest an experience reminiscentof what it must have been like to fly 50 years ago – which just so happens to be when theplane was first designed. The actual flying experience in a “CJ” only confirms thoseromantic notions. So, for anyone looking to step back in time to enjoy round enginenostalgia, the CJ is sure to please.

There are many reasons that the endears itself to so many pilots – good looks,comfortable cockpits, great visibility, delightful control harmony, and gentle yet sportyflying characteristics. Not only is the Nanchang CJ-6A a great looking and capableairplane, but it is arguably the best bang for the buck warbird flying.

When the sweet sounding 9 cylinder radial comes to life, first coughing big puffs of whitesmoke, and then quickly spinning to a smooth but rumbling idle, it’s like Scotty has justbeamed you back to the days of Earhart, Boyington, and Doolittle…of aerodromes andaviators… of goggles and leather skull caps, soda fountains and the girl next door……..

OK, enough talking, let’s go flying!

PREFLIGHT

The preflight of the CJ is pretty standard for any complex aircraft, with a few nuancesdue to round engine care – you will get oil on your hands. Airframe and panelintegrity, strut and tire pressures, free controls, and FOD free cockpits are the main tasksof the preflight…and then there’s the caged beast under the cowl. Whether it is the stockHousai H6A (285 h.p.) or the M14P (360 h.p.), the principals are the same as any roundengine.

First, peak through the rear of the cowling on both sides and the gill shutters in the frontto look for excess leaks or anything that might have shaken loose during the previousflight and was not caught on post flight inspection. Then it’s time to check for hydrauliclock by manually pulling the propeller through a dozen times. By pulling the propthrough in this manner it allows any oil that has drained into the bottom cylinders to drainout through the exhaust valves. This is one of the vital (read life and death) pre-flightitems that must be done religiously - one bent rod in flight could ruin your whole day –and must be done right (mags off, hands no more than half way down the blade, noreverse rotation, etc.). A few teaspoons to as much as a cup of oil draining out theexhaust is normal. Remember, round engines don’t make a mess, they are simplymarking their territory…

Once the engine is pulled though to clear the cylinders of oil, and cockpit preflightcomplete, it’s ready for priming. Most aircraft are equipped with a plunger type primer

in the cockpit – if you’re really cool, you have an electric boost pump/primer like this#47 does. ;) Typically six shots of prime and then six blades pulled through will do thetrick. Done right, the engine will fire on the first blade without fail - this engine wants torun!

At the top of the rest of the list is ensuring that the gear lever in front cockpit is down,and in neutral in the ground. There is no squat switch on the CJ and no one needs toexperience an inadvertent gear retraction on the ground - it’s expensive and down rightembarrassing. Your only protection is the little slide lock that prevents the handle frommoving into the up position, so it’s a good idea to double check this prior to opening themain air valve. Yep, I said air. The CJ uses pneumatics instead of hydraulics to run thelanding gear, flaps, and brakes. It is a great system that is easily serviced andrepaired…and air is cheap.

START UP and TAXI

Once your back-seater is briefed and strapped in (you are sharing the experience, right?),it’s time to climb in the front cockpit. Helmet or headset on, harness secured, air open,appropriate switches on, a bit more primer, and you’re ready to breathe life into 9cylinders of the sexiest sound in aviation outside of a Merlin at full tilt. With theemergency parking brake mod, all you need is a flip of the switch and you’re ready to go,if not a Velcro strap around the brake handle will do.

Next comes the “clear prop!” call (this is where an uncontrollable smile comes to my faceevery time). There’s just something about knowing you are about to light off one of thecoolest sounding engines ever made and puking smoke everywhere that is just hard toexplain…but once felt, you’ll always remember. A check of the surrounding area and it’stime to engage the air starter. A “POP!” and a hiss of the air starter pushing the cylindersis followed quickly buy the first cylinder firing – this baby was born to run. Keep yourfinger on the start button and flip the mag switch as the engine catches, adjust the throttleto help the engine settle in, and set about 37% on the RPM gauge…which will turn to40% as the engine warms (these settings are for the M14P, which uses percent RPMinstead of raw numbers as with the stock H6A engine).

Once the engine is at taxi temps, the most difficult part of operating the CJ isnext….taxiing! It is often said that “if you can taxi this plane, you can fly it,” and that’snot a grand exaggeration. Time to find out what this handle on the stick is all about – theCJ uses a brake handle on the stick, similar to a bike brake handle. With differentialbraking on the mains controlled by the rudder, brake pressure actuated through the brakehandle, and a free castering nose wheel it does take a bit of time to learn how to deftlymaneuver the CJ on the ground, especially at low speeds. That being said, a half hour offigure 8’s on the ramp we’ll have you pretty squared away with taxi technique…and thecenter of attention at the airport.

RUNUP, TAKEOFF, AND CLIMB

Once you’ve successfully negotiated the taxi ways to the run-up area and once againcongratulated yourself for your superior skill it’s time to for the run-up. Engine checksare standard for a piston engine…prop cycle, mag check, temps and pressures normal,everything in it’s place, a sweep of the controls and your ready to go.

One of the biggest differences in flying a CJ or any other round motor airplane is that itdoes require a slightly more deft touch on the throttle. Rolling in the power from idle tofull tilt should be a 3 second affair, minimum. The standard CJ accelerates smoothly andis airborne in about 1200 feet. The M14P powered version will be off in a little or a lotless than 1000 feet, depending on whether you have the 2 or 3 bladed prop…and if youhave the 3 blader, keep pullin’ back on that stick. I’ll never forget the first time I took afriend and fellow stock CJ owner up for his first ride in an M14P powered CJ. As wesucked the gear in the wells and established about a 30 degree nose high attitude, thisveteran pilot’s only comment was an appreciative “WHOA!” At best rate climb (90knots) the stock powered CJ will give you about 1200 fpm through 4000’ AGL, theM14P provides about double that rate. There are more exaggerated claims out there, butin 800 hours of flying both, this is what we typically see. As far as engine managementgoes, both engines have small blowers. This means that while providing a bit of extrapower, over boosting the engine is not a concern. Climb rate and aerobatics are wherethe M14P really shines through, more on that later.

Engine temperature management is especially critical in this phase of flight because youcan easily cook the cylinders in a full power climb with the gill shutters closed. On thatnote, we call the gill shutter knob in the cockpit the $30,000 dollar knob because that’sabout what it can cost you if you don’t use it to manage engine temperature correctly.

CRUISE FLIGHT

Once leveled out at altitude and throttled back to a cruise setting that nets from 13-15gph, typical cruise speed is about 150 KTAS, which will vary slightly depending onrigging, trim, and weight. Adjusting the gill shutters for cruise CHT of approx. 170-180Cand the oil cooler outlet for an oil temp of about 70C are the major concerns of managingyour engine in cruise. With the stock fuel system of 40 gallons, 300 nm flights are acomfortable VFR range. Extended range tanks offer anywhere from an extra hour tothree extra hours of flight time. Having sat in a CJ for a 4:22 flight, I can tell youspeaking for my behind, that 2 extra hours of fuel is plenty!

With a stock trim system, you can only control elevator trim from the cockpit. Roll andyaw trim are accomplished with bendable trim tabs on the control surfaces. This meansthat you can only accurately trim the aircraft for straight and level flight at one airspeed.While perfectly manageable the vast majority of the time, it does create a fuel feedimbalance with the gravity feed fuel system. There are several things that can be done tomitigate the problem…the best one we have found is installing a 3 axis electric trimsystem that allows you to trim the plane for hands off for any cruise speed. It’s also a

nice feature in the climb, particularly with the M14P which requires a boot full of rudderwhilst ascending from the surly bonds of earth.

The CJ provides a very comfortable ride for a warbird. The cockpits are roomy enoughfor even larger people to comfortably sit for a couple of hours. The visibility is verygood and the tandem seating puts you right on the center line of the aircraft behind thespinning propeller. On warm days, it is fun to put the canopy back and fly open cockpitstyle.

MANEUVERING, AEROBATICS AND FORMATION

Being light and responsive on the controls, the CJ does a very good job of telling youwhen you’re flying the plane correctly, and gently nudging you when you are not. Thecenter control stick gives maneuvering a much more natural and innate feel than a yolk.There’s also something about having the stick in your right hand and the throttle in yourleft that just feels right. The tandem seating and bubble type canopies allow for fantasticvisibility. All these things combine to make you naturally feel as though you are truly apart of the airplane.

In the slow speed regime slow flight, stalls, and spins are all quite benign, and not to beconfused with it’s cousin, the Yak-52 which has more aggressive but still completelymanageable departure characteristics. The CJ does not exhibit any bad habits, and isperfectly predictable throughout the entire flight envelope. It truly is a joy to fly and isone of the many reasons that the CJ is the choice of many former fighter pilots.

Stalls:

The CJ stalls dirty at 62 knots and clean stall is about 67. Power on stalls require asignificant nose high pitch angle and a lot of rudder to keep the ball centered. With theM14P, full power on stalls require about a 60 degree nose high attitude! Flight controlsstart to go mushy around 75 knots and the buffet begins roughly 5 knots slower. Anycompetent pilot can easily recognize the onset of the buffet and avoid a stall at this point,so going deeper into the stall regime is a conscious decision. With full aft stick, poweroff, and the ball centered, the nose of the CJ will just gently fall through at the break andquickly recover with the release of back pressure. Secondary stalls are possible, butrequire the same conscious effort as a primary stall. Accelerated stalls are also easilyrecovered from and not likely to result in spins.

Spins:

Just as with the stall, the spin does require a concerted effort to achieve. Without gettinginto the details of basic spin entry techniques, the CJ does take urging and a bit of power

just before the break to cleanly enter the spin. Despite proper inputs held in place, the CJwill start to come out of the spin on its own after approximately 2 turns. At this point avery nose low spiral will ensue and measures need to be taken quickly to avoid overspeeding the aircraft (Vne = 201 KIAS) and subsequent rapid build up of G’s.

Aerobatics:

Being built as a military trainer, the CJ is no stranger to aerobatics and other moreexhilarating forms of flying. The airframe is rated +6/-3 and will handle all basicaerobatic maneuvers with ease. With a little practice, even a loop can be comfortablyaccomplished at 3 G’s. Gentleman’s aerobatics are a sheer delight in the CJ and are asgracefully and easily accomplished in the CJ as any plane I’ve flown. Roll rate is amodest 120 degrees per second, and a loop takes about 800’ of vertical. With the stockengine, the CJ requires you to exchange altitude for energy, so after a sequence of acouple of vertical maneuvers, you will have to climb back up to reset. Acro is where theVenyendev M-14P powerplant makes a very noticeable difference. With this engine, youcan fly all the vertical maneuvers you want without loosing altitude…it really is adifferent airplane in this regime. It should be noted here that, just like any other airplane,the CJ is no stranger to design limitations. Having a dihedral wing, it does not do

negative G maneuvers particularly well and does not like sustained inverted flight. Thenagain, most of us don’t like sustained inverted flight much either!

Formation:

The CJ is also a great formation platform. Because of that afore mentioned dihedral, theplane is quite stable. Combine that with responsive controls and great visibility, the CJ isa delight in formation. If you’ve not experienced formation before, don’t be quick todismiss it. Even the most reluctant pilots often come to really enjoy the challenge offlying formation well, and the camaraderie and social aspects of flying with others. Andthe CJ community is, in fact, the most active formation community in warbirds. The RedStar Pilot’s Association (www.flyredstar.org), of which most CJ pilots are registeredmembers, has the most comprehensive and active formation training program in thecountry.

DESCENT, PATTERN WORK, AND LANDING

The main concern in the CJ during descent is no different than most other piston engineaircraft – maintaining proper CHT. Once in the pattern the main thing to remember isthat if a radial engine is going to quit, it’s most likely going to be during a power change.The CJ does not glide particularly well, so keeping your pattern tight is best for safetyconcerns.

Gear speed (Vfe) is 120 knots and flap speed is 90 knots. The flap is a single split flapdesign that we affectionately refer to as the barn door. Speed in the standard pattern is 80knots. RPM goes to climb power on downwind. Properly flown the approach angle inthe CJ is much steeper than a standard GA aircraft. If you need to get down quicker, theaircraft side slips beautifully with full rudder and you can create some pretty exciting yetperfectly controllable decent rates if desired. Also, with the bigger propellers used on theM14P your power off descent is comparable to a set of keys.

Hold 80 knots until final is pretty standard and 70 knots over the fence works well. TheCJ’s robust trailing link gear readily absorbs even less than average touchdowns.Holding the nose off reduces wear on the brakes, but will decrease your visibility (youhave nearly 6 feet of nose out in front of you, which is something to remember when youare taxiing in as things disappear under the nose at about 20 feet in front of the aircraft).

Go-arounds are easily accomplished. Since you’ve already moved the RPM to climbpower, simply advancing the throttle full forward will quickly arrest your sink rate andsend you climbing, even with the flap still down. It is a good practice, however, to grabboth the throttle and prop with your left hand and take the engine to full power.

POSTFLIGHT:

(One note on shutdown before climbing out to examine your bird: 20-30 seconds of 60%power prior to shutdown cleans the plugs and puts most of the oil in the sump back in thetank, which is good practice with the oil shutoff valve installed)

The post flight is simple: a quick walk around that includes draining the moisture catch,or “snot” valve and wiping down the belly with an oil rag is all that is left. Oh, and don’tforget to turn off the air, lest you come out to an empty air bottle the next time you goflying!

Pushing the plane back into the hangar is simple and can be accomplished with a handtow bar by one person.

My favorite part of the post-flight is wiping the plane down with an oil rag andreminiscing about the flight. Just like in the days of Boyington, goggles, soda fountains,and the girl next door….