There are a few F-27's still flying. Mostly as freighters. There are a lotta 1937 designed DC-3/C-47's still flying in passenger and cargo configurations. The F-27 was supposed to be a replacement for the Gooney. Oops.
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Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"
- Thread starter B-string
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- Oct 22, 2015
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- 256,859
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- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Pretty much my first flight, the Convair 240.
Nice plane. We(Navy band)went one way in a C-47, back in the Convair. Quite(quiet)a difference.
Awww Man!!
He’s been a part of our evening ritual since we lived in Hawkinsville. That’s 25+ years ago.
R.I.P. dude... you did good!
I had the good fortune to see them, along with Phil Keaggy/Peter York, and Richie Havens at a show an old friend of mine produced in 1974.
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D
My first commercial flight as well. 1967. Janesville, WI to Duluth, MN with four stops in between (circled and skipped one due to weather). I picked that flight instead of the one-stopper just because. Dear ol' dad almost killed me in a Cessna 172 a couple of years earlier. I saved his butt that time, but never flew with him again. But I loved take-offs and landings. Lots of fun!
As far as comfy goes, you're right. Once in motion. Walking in the aisle to my seat was steep enough that I had to hold on to the seat on either side. Gotta love those old tail draggers!
One of these bad boys!
Even less fun carrying band gear.
I just came across this recording of Phil and Peter, from the same year (probably, while they were touring together, as this a couple hour drive from where I saw them).
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,165
- 256,859
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
This is how travel was supposed to be now 
D
Yeah. That and the 707. I wasn't flying much back then, so I was always seated in the very back of the bus. I'm sure that experience was where the term "aluminum people tube" originated. Long and narrow.
The 707, 727, 737 and 757 all had identical fuselage dimensions. That crippled the 757. It couldn't handle standard containers, so everything had to be hand loaded. I flew one into Caracas once, and was horrified to see the grounds crew back up a pickup truck with 2x4s in the bed corners, with chicken wire wrapped all the way around, for the luggage. Dudes just pitched luggage out of the hold into the back of the truck, a drop of more than 6 feet.
Welcome to Venezuela, mf's!
D
Sucking English mushy peas through a straw in zero gravity? I'll pass.
Nah, that's travel as it was in 1968, silly!
Not sure why/how we took a few steps backwards, though, since then.
The think the DC-3 was one of those designs that just hit the sweet spot so well there's no need to mess with them. 1911 .45, Converse Chuck Taylors, A2 jacket, M-65 jacket....Martin D-28...P-bass.
The airline I always worried about in Norway was Braathens Safe. They fly (or flew - haven't been to Norway for 20+ years) between cities. On flights from Aberdeen Scotland to Oslo Norway the choice was usually Aberdeen-Stavanger-Oslo or Aberdeen-Gatwick-Oslo. Any Braathens Safe flight was fine perfectly fine, and I'm darned sure the planes were in A-1 condition, but with an average flight duration of just 45 minutes, the fatigue rate on those airframes must be horrendous.
Oh. Avoid flying into Bergen. The airport sits in the bottom of a fjord and the buffering as you fly over the rim can have the flight attendants bouncing off the ceiling.
Oh. Avoid flying into Bergen. The airport sits in the bottom of a fjord and the buffering as you fly over the rim can have the flight attendants bouncing off the ceiling.
Remanufactured DC-3’s are still rolling off the line today, serving areas with harsh climates around the world.
BASLER TURBO CONVERSIONS
Looks like they pretty much jack up the windshield and install a new goonie under it.
Yeah, I mean I get it about putting in turbos and extending the life of the plane, but there just isn't anything like hearing the sound of a radial aircraft engine.
When I first started flying out here in the early 2000's, the airport had those very high staircases on wheels that you used to see all the stars walking down and waving from. They've modernized it a lot since then. They still use them in the little airports out here in the various cities though.
I took a flight out of Boston to the Cape during the early 90's and the plane seated maybe 20 people and had two radial engines, love the sound of those, also love the sound of a big V8.
The Douglas DC-3... the Ampeg B-15 of aircraft. Or is it the other way around? My first flight on a DC-3 / C-47 was from the naval base at Rota, Spain to Kenitra, Morocco. My second was the return from Kenitra to Rota. The aircrew regaled us with tales of the parts that used to fail and fall off this very plane which had been flying that route for 20 years or more. On final approach to Rota, the pilot aborted the landing and circled the field 3 or 4 times while rolling the plane left and right. On the last orbit the landing gear finally extended and locked. A good time was had by all!!!! I should add that I ended up working for McDonnell Douglas about 15 years later.
I should add that I ended up working for McDonnell Douglas about 15 years later.- Status
