zzz Speak for yourself Zoom

On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 09:33:42 +0000, John wrote:

Chuck (never flew in a DC-3 but I got 300 hrs watching them) S

I can actually add to this conversation. My father flew for Crown
Cork and Seal when I was a kid and their corporate airplane was a
DC-3. I got many rides in that airplane, often in the jumpseat behind
the pilots and sometimes sitting in the right seat where I got to
lower the flaps and drop the gear upon command. Also got to adjust
the cowl flaps but never could figure out how to do that (odd
cylindrical switch, one for each engine) and Dad had to lean over and
do it himself.

When I was taking flying lessons from him, he asked if I wanted to fly
the DC-3. I forget how many hours I'd accumulated by then but it was
probably around 20 because I only reached 25 before college
interrupted my training.

We had gone flying in a Piper Apache which I got to fly. It wasn't
that much different from flying the 172 in that you just pushed the
throttles to the end of their travel and lifted off at the appropriate
speed. So I had a whole hour in twins when the offer was made. I was
about 17 years old.

My father of course started the engines. It was the usual routine for
radials, but it seemed fiendishly complicated. It involved priming
and turning the engine through three blades and flicking on the
magnetos and then playing with the mixture while playing with the
throttle. The engines rumbled to life one cylinder at a time,
belching clouds of smoke and finally settling down to a whuffing
chuffing rumble.

I was instructed in how to taxi and Dad released the brakes. I
advanced the throttles cautiously and we eased forward. Dad handled
the radio, contacting ground and got taxi clearance. I remembered to
add throttle to the outside engine to help us around corners. One of
the tricks my father taught me was to lock the tailwheel down once we
were pointed generally straight down the taxiway. We left it locked
until we began to edge toward one side or the other, then unlocked,
straightened out and relocked it.

I'm pretty sure my father ran through the engine runnup this time, but
I probably read the checklist for him while he either set or checked
the various items.

Engine runnup was impressive with those 1200 horsepower engines
roaring away and the prop swinging by just inches from the fuselage.

I was waiting for further instructions once we got clearance to
takeoff, but my father just told me to line up on the runway so I
released the brakes and we trundled out and I got it lined up.

I looked at my father, expecting him to say something but he just said
"let's go." Remember, up to that time I had not flown anything more
powerful than a 172 or an Apache, neither of which had engines that
developed over 150 hp. Takeoff for those airplanes was throttle up
all the way, as far as you could push it. Having heard no
instructions as to what throttle setting to use, and hearing him say
"let's go", I grabbed those two big throttles and pushed them WAY up.

The two engines responded with an extremely loud bellowing and we
began to move forward. My father, moving extremely quickly, grabbed
the throttles and reduced power to the usual takeoff setting while I
concentrated on keeping the airplane srtaight with the rudder.
"Y'know you can overboost the engines", he said forcefully. "Well no,
I didn't know because you didn't tell me where to set them." I
responded while pulling back on the column to begin climbing out.

"Well you can" he said again, this time more quietly and began to tell
me what airspeeds and what compass heading he wanted me to fly. We
were headed to Idlewild to pickup a part for the airplane so we set
course for that airport.

My recollection is that the control forces were really hard for me to
manage, being a skinny 17 year old. I don't recall trimming any,
perhaps my father did that for me.

I did not land it at Idlewild or North Philadelphia for the return
trip so I can't claim that.

But I did do the takeoff. My rememberance is that it was like flying
a house. It was massive and the control forces very high. It was
lumbering and slow to respond to any input.

A few years later the company bought a DeHaviland DH 125. That
airplane I definately did NOT get to fly.

Corky Scott