We don't see these planes so often any more.
They call it a Bi-Plane, meaning that it has a double front wing.
We are in a blessed situation, as most of the small planes fly across the ocean front. And on their way back to the local airfield, they fly over our house. Over time I have learned to listen to their engine sounds, and I can tell while sitting in the study what kind of plane it is when I hear its approach. Cessna and Piper sounds don't excite me anymore, as I have many photos of them. So, I listen for the strange engine sounds, and one distinctive chugging sound lures me out of the house at speed, as I know that it's a Bi-Plane.
This below was when I heard its approach.
Can you believe that this type of plane was the first controlled airplane to fly?
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and higher speeds made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.
And then it was gone as the house roofs limit my view of the sky.
Here below that strange plane came over again.
I think that they call it a "Pusher" plane due to the propeller at the back pushing the plane along. So, it has a propeller at the front that streams the air towards the back pusher propeller during flight. So, the front propeller pulls and the back propeller pushes, if that makes sense.
Thankfully it made a turn above my head.
The engine is a weirdly low noise, and it doesn't sound like any other plane.
I was outside waiting and hoping to get shots of a little sunbird that visits our front garden when I saw the "Pusher" plane coming along. Thankfully it turned to fly back to the ocean front, and I got the shots of it. It could have been the strong wind that dimmed its engine noise, but I saw it once before, and it was also almost silent. In fact, I posted the plane hoping that someone would identify it, but nobody did, and this was now my second time to see it last week. Hopefully someone would tell me what it is this time round.
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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