Jim Stewart wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Jim Stewart wrote in
:


Bertie the Bunyip wrote:

Much snippage...


technique. I have a frined who flies the 777 and he tells me it
flies just like an airplane.

Ok, I'll bite. What airplanes don't fly like airplanes?




Well, some of the older airliners had some interesting and
challenging quirks. They were not very speed stable on approach,
wallowed around like a milk van and could develop rates of descent
on approach that could plant you in seconds if you weren;'t careful.
Then there's the FBW Airbusses. Every time I talk to one of those
guys I walk away more confused about how the flight controls work
than I was before. Others, most of the 4 engine contraptions, for
instance, have to be landed wings level. The nmost recent crop handle
quite nicely, don't have spool up times stretching towards ten
seconds and just generaly are pleasant to handle. The satisfaction in
handling the older jets came mostly from tricking them into doing
what you wanted them to!

What did you think of the 727? In my youth I flew a lot
as a 727 pax. There was always something reassuring
about having 3 people up front and 3 big ole engines in
the back. Engines that you could fsking feel when the
levers were pushed all the way forward. A real airplane
for passengers that love planes.

I liked it for some of the same reasons you did. The three crew thing
was great. We used pro flight engineers ( as opposed to a kid fresh out
of Embry Riddle ). It wasn't exactly a sprots car in the handling
department, but it went where you told it with a bit of persuasion
(though you would get exactly the opposite view from a guy who came onto
it off of a 707, which was supposed to be a real handful) It was very
fast. Anything up to mach .93, a bit slower if you were heavy.
Very noisy flightdeck (wind) Nicely thought out for it's day with lots
of redundancy in all systems. It must have seemed like something from
Buck Rogers in 1963.

Then there was the time I asked if I could sit up front.
The copilot graciously apologized for not being able to
let me, but he kindly offered to let me tag along as he
preflighted the a/c. Those were the good old days.


Indeed. You wouldn't get that now.


Bertie