AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2023 - 54

veteran instructor Brian Van Wagnen. Bowe has been training
intensively in the airplane, obtained a type certificate in it, and
recently flew it on a business trip to Tennessee.
Bowe describes flying the Howard 500 as " challenging but
doable, " and said he plans to use the aircraft much as it was
designed: as a business tool for visiting far-flung job sites throughout
North America and bringing key people and equipment
wherever they need to be.
" There's a fine line between flying it too much and not enough, "
he said. " We've got a business plan that aims to find the right balance.
I feel honored to be this amazing airplane's next caretaker. "
Stay on it
Boarding the Howard 500 takes place through a rear door as thick
as a bank vault. Multiple latches are a reminder that this is a pressurized
airplane made to cruise in the mid-20,000-foot range,
although it seldom flies high with Phillippi aboard.
" I like to stay low and see things, " he says.
The wood trimmed interior, plush leather seats, a side-facing
couch, and oversized, double-pane windows hark back to the
Mad Men period in which Howard 500s were designed and built.
There's a roughly 10-degree incline walking uphill to the cockpit
due to the airplane's jaunty deck angle. Step over the main spar
and into the cockpit and take a seat. In addition to the left and
right pilot's seats, there's a roomy third chair for an observer on
the right side of the cockpit.
The six-pack instrument panel's most modern navigation
instruments are a pair of 15-year-old Garmin 430 GPS/coms.
Another nod to modernity is an ADS-B transponder.
Navigation and pressurization controls are located on a center
console between the two pilots. Engine controls are on a center
pedestal, and engine instruments are in the middle of the panel
where both pilots can see them. A prominent annunciator panel
is just below the glareshield, and propeller feathering controls on
the far left and right sides.
Forward visibility is surprisingly good for a tailwheel airplane
through three thick glass windshield panels. Each pilot also gets
a sliding side window.
The four-blade, Hamilton-Standard props are positioned
slightly forward of the pilots, but the engines are far enough out
on the wings that downward visibility isn't too restricted.
Pilots Curt Brown, a former NASA space shuttle astronaut
and air racer, and Van Wagnen, a retired airline pilot and FAA
engineering representative, conduct an extensive briefing prior
to engine start. They review everything from standardized verbal
callouts to power settings and emergency procedures during
an unhurried conversation that was to be repeated before every
flight on this multi-day trip.
Starting the 18-cylinder, two-row, Pratt & Whitney engines
is a combination of checklist discipline and intuition. Starters
turn the props slowly, then the magnetos are switched on, and
puffs of white smoke hint that the time is right to enrich the fuel/
air mixture.
" They behave a little different depending on the outside temperature,
elevation, and whether it's the first start of the day, " Van
Wagnen said. " But they let you know pretty quick whether they're
going to be cooperative or cantankerous. "
They're cooperative today, and both start eagerly, rocking the
airframe with the gentle motion of restrained power.
Van Wagnen is in the right seat for this first leg, and the two
pilots alternate throughout the journey. Van Wagnen seems sincere
when he says he enjoys right-seat duties as much as the left.
Taxiing is a surprisingly twitchy affair for such a large airplane
due to the Howard 500's notoriously touchy brakes.
" They're the grabbiest brakes of any airplane I've ever flown,
by far, " says Brown, a former U.S. Air Force pilot. " Apply what
seems like a minimal amount of pressure and it's too much. "
Once the oil in each engine is warm, the pilots perform highpower
runups that include testing the manual and automatic prop
feathering systems, shifting the superchargers, positioning cowl
flaps and oil doors, and testing the anti-detonation system-a liquid
spray system that cools cylinders directly.
The plush, leather passenger seats offer plenty of legroom, and picture
windows provide an exceptional view outside. A cowhide couch and
wood paneling defined luxury in the early 1960s when the Howard 500
was introduced, along with a roomy lavatory with running water (and
monogrammed towels).
54
AOPA PILOT / May 2023
AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2023

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