[woofa.express]

My friend Ken asked just what it was that made me dislike the Dromader.

Yes, I’ve mentioned before there was one aeroplane I disliked, the Dromader. A mongrel bred from a thorough breed Thrush crossed with a harlot from Krakow. It goes like this. Two American Thrushes (from the Leyland Snow stable) were imported by Poland and the wings, cabin and some other components were copied and used for this new design. The engine is a copy of an American Wright Cyclone producing 973 hp. The progeny from this marriage was a bastard. I can speak with some authority about this because one of the silliest decisions I ever made was to purchase one. My reasoning was the low cost. However the purchase price was the only low cost component.
Ag flying is a demanding job and by the end of the day one is tired. But flying the Dromader, one is tired before morning tea. The aeroplane is heavy on the controls and slow to react. If the wind is blowing the aeroplane is just plain difficult. I changed the aileron servos which lightened them up, good. The elevator had to be worked in conjunction with the trim otherwise it was just too heavy and that really meant one needed 3 hands, the extra one to work the throttle. The rudder was a killer even though this pilot has titanium hip joints. If any wind displaced this aeroplane off the strip, realignment would be too slow especially with its wide undercarriage. Most strips were less than 40 foot wide and there were times we used vehicle wheel tracks on farms. The AgCat and Airtractor undercarriage would fit perfectly, but not the Dromader. To land, one can’t lower the Dromader gently to the ground. The only way is to stall it and let it crash onto the ground. No fine adjustments. And it is necessary to organise one’s self well before climbing up to the cabin so to avoid climbing back down in the event of forgetting something. For every entry/exit one needs another sandwich in ones dinner box. I just hated this and this aeroplane.
The oil temp sits past the max red line. It burns gas like there is no tomorrow. The engine runs rough. It is always cracking exhausts. If one is firebombing, somehow some liquid moves forward into the wind, then up the firewall and then onto the windscreen. Okay if it’s just water but if it is fire retardant the windscreen is painted red. And it sticks.
Remember this aeroplane was produced in an eastern block country. It has a rear facing seat behind the pilot. In the west this can be handy at times to carry your work buddy. In the Eastern Block it is to carry a security officer and there is a hole between the two cabins. This allows the security officer to poke a handgun through if the pilot decides to do a runner to the west.
Following the above comments I must say something positive about the aeroplane. The quality of workmanship in the build was unsurpassed but overbuilt. It is the design that was shit.
There were two failures in Australia I know of. One, the longerons failed shortly before landing and whilst the pilot survived the aeroplane was a twisted wreckage. The second was very sad. A popular pilot and personal friend had a wing attachment fail. I don’t believe the litigation has finished but my friend’s life has.
The only future for this aeroplane is in a kids playground and I even have doubt about that.
The pictures are of a Dromader, one the original radial, and the second is a Garret Powered turbine conversion and is infact the one that got my friend. A picture of my friend and one of his destiny.
You will notice the turbine engine is conciderably more forward because the engine is lighter and needs that forward leverage to maintain the same centre of gravity as the radial.