Walk out to the Dak

[Dakman]

Walk out to the Dak, looking at it as you get nearer, as half the walkround can usefully be done from a distance, (symmetry, is it sitting straight on its u/c etc), open rear door, deploy original crew ladder, walk up to the cockpit, check all's well, with mag switches OFF. Dismount, get empty milk-bottle, (remember them?), press up under each wing tank water-drain, throw away contents until no more water shows in bottle. Do rest of walkround, removing pitot-cover and external control-locks as you go, and place at top of step for the moment. Then turn each engine over forwards by 7 blades, (two rotations), or nine blades if you have willing helpers, as they like doing it. As much as two people can manage on a cold day, while listening for hisses (cracked head or spark plug blown out, I kid you not), odd clanks as opposed to the usual ones, looking for any prop damage, or a dead stop with hyraulic lock if oil has gathered in the lower cylinders overnight. This can quite often be dispersed by turning back and fore around that compression, but you cannot start until it is dispersed.

Stagger back round to the steps, mount, remove steps and close the forward half of the aft freight door. Carry locks and pitot cover forward to their stowage, and ease yourselves into the naturally reclined and surprisingly comfortable green leather pilots' seats, savouring all the while the still-present aromas of fuel, oil, leather and old machinery. Ratchet-up the seat so as to afford some sort of view forwards.

Complete the before-start checks, which include brakes on pressure good, gear and flap levers neutral, pressure in u/c down-lines OK, cowl-gills open, throttle 1" open, pitch full fine, fuel selectors a/r, fuel levers idle cut-off, tail-wheel lock in. Then with main electrics and all mags on and electric fuel pumps on (if fitted), press the "energise" switch for the starboard engine for about 7-10 secs, all the while priming in 2 sec bursts, then keeping it pressed, press the "mesh" switch after checking "prop clear!" Hopefully the engine will fire, and it is kept running with almost constant priming, until the fuel lever is moved forward to "auto-rich". At this point it will either settle down into a smooth purr at 1000-1200 rpm, or backfire, or catch fire, (keep it turning, suck the flames in), or stop. Yes, I can hang wallpaper one-handed, and it definitely helps if you've crept out in the small hours and fed it some hay. Repeat for the other engine, and hope its not going to have a sulk.

Nothing happens now, having seen the oil pressures rise, until the CHT's register at least 120 C. Then the hostess will pipe up "Five locks, two pins, one pitot-head cover, rear door locked, ships papers on board, 36 passengers strapped in SIR". I then reply with the flight-time and cruising altitude, weather en-route, the fact that I have just had the best night-stop ever and we must do it again sometime, and she retires aft to look after the pax and gaze wistfully out of the window.

A smart disengagement of the tailwheel lock, and by use of dabs of differential brake and the odd burst of power, we taxi to the runway holding point, where we park into wind, roll forward to engage the tailwheel lock, and set the park brake. Both engines are advanced to ~1700rpm, and both pitch levers are moved smoothly back to full coarse, and back to full-fine just before the rpm stops decreasing. This is then repeated. Then still @~1700 rpm, each large red feathering button is spun clockwise to check it is not undoing off its threaded rod, and then pressed. A fiercely-powerful magnet holds it in, but we dont want to feather the engine, so the fingers have to be curled behind it to pull it out once the sequence has been seen to start. This can take all your strength, and the absence of the pre-push spin can mean that it flies off, over your shoulder, and rolls down the aisle amongst the bemused/terrified passengers. The prop then full-feathers, and with throttle shut, will just about keep running. You then ask the aforementioned stewardess if she would kindly find and return your red knob thingy, at the same time assuring her that you are NOT referring to the previous night, and she had better be quick before the engine falls off the wing. Once retrieved, the knob is screwed back on, and this time held hard in until the electric pump has UNfeathered the prop. Then with both throttles pulled full-back, idle rpm is checked, and each mag in turn, then both mags, are turned quickly off and back on again on each engine, looking for the appropriate responses. Then with one engine @ 1000rpm, the other's throttle is advanced to zero boost, and each mag checked for "mag-drop", i.e. the engine does lose a few rpm but not too many as each mag is switched off/on again. If by some miracle the plugs have stayed clean, you are ready for take-off.

After lining-up, the tail-lock is again engaged, cowl-gills to "trail", booster pumps on, some into-wind aileron applied to keep the cross-wind (if any) from lifting the wing, seat lowered to the floor, and throttles s-m-o-o-t-h-l-y opened to 48" boost and a pre-governed 2700rpm. With a little help the tail rises, and you can start to see where you are going. The 1st Officer takes over the throttles as you keep the beast on the centreline, and she almost flies herself off at about 80 knots . Such is the noise that hand signals are the order of the day, and a quick signal to the F/O sees him reach down with his left hand, unlatch and pull back the mechanical u/c lock lever and immediately select the u/c hydraulic lever "up". After retraction and climbing away nicely, one finger is raised to the F/O, who adjusts the engines to 43 1/2"" boost, 2550 rpm. Soon after, two fingers are raised whereby, as he knows I'm a gentleman really, he selects 35""/ 2050rpm for the climb. We can then relax, do the after-take-off checks, reflect on last night, and wonder if we'll still have two engines running at the destination.

AND THEY PAID ME!!!!!

 

The above a small dissertation on the aftermath of one of many typically amazing French night-stops I had while flying as a young Captain with Intra Airways, Jersey, in the mid-seventies.

 

Dakman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jessie The Jeep]

Come on, that's only half the story!!!!!!!!!! You have to get it back down again!!! :-D

 

Steve

[abn deuce]

Nicely put so many details a dance to be done correctly everytime or if anything is skipped then chances are you and others will never get a chance to try again , Yes please do continue to the touch down !!!! :coffee2:

[Mark]

WOW!!!!

 

I am in there with you Dakman you have to relay the part where you come in for landing assuming you have 2 engines of course.

 

Nicely put.

[Jack]

WOW - that is a great insight from someone who has been there - you can't get better than that!

 

Part 2 :whistle: whilst airborne :-D :-D :-D

 

Got to put this in here

 

http://www.hmvftv.com/watch/3e71d9181a67b7542122/C47-Upottery-Devon

[antarmike]

Having sat in the BBMF Dakota last year I can't beleive how close the windscreen is to the pilots face. I found it very claustrophopbic....

[Jessie The Jeep]

But an excellent view!

[N.O.S.]

Nice, very nice - like reading a book - leaves a bit to the imagination.

 

Whereas, Run out to the Jimmy -

 

Run out to the Jimmy, looking as you get near as nearly all the pre-drive checks can be done from a distance (is she sitting level, any pools of antifreeze or oil slicks underneath?), kick a few tyres as you circle around to the driver's door, open and slide up onto the bench seat, winding down window as you go, pump the gas pedal a couple of times as you tweak the choke and turn on ignition, gun the starter motor and ease back on choke as the motor splutters into life, check flies are done up and hair is tidy in rear view mirror as you wait impatiently for a little heat to get into the engine, and then engage clutch, select 2nd gear and ease the girl into motion, and - well, that's it really

 

(Oh yes, wonder if brakes will still be operational when you arrive at your destination) :whistle:

 

O.k., no comparison at all, is it!

[GPWdriver]

Beautifully written Dakman.

 

I learned a valuable lesson about Daks once. Never let them fly the LAM SID out of Gatwick during peak hours. Not unless you want to wait half an hour before launching the next departure.

 

Did you end up flying for Jersey?

 

Bob

[N.O.S.]

Dakman, you owe me a good night's sleep.

 

Couldn't get to sleep thinking about your "all in a day's work" post. I kept trying to imagine a smartly dressed TWA pilot at San Fransisco airport, struggling to turn the prop over, and it just didn't seem right.

 

So can you enlighten us more -

 

1) Was this the norm, and part of working for a small provincial airline?

 

2) Did you wear smart attire, or a pair of coveralls a la Insp. Dalgleish in his flying days?

 

3) Did you fly to destinations where there was someone to do all these checks for you, or was this a result of you flying the last of the breed, hence no ground support at all, or was it because you were flying to minor airfields where there was no support anyway?

 

Answers awaited with interest (before bedtime!).

Tony

[Dakman]

 

Hey, glad you liked it....plenty more where that came from, but got to be careful not to stray off the subject too much, and keep the posts to a reasonable length methinks. So look out for the climb, cruise, approach, landing, engine shutdowns, engine failures, etc etc , in due course.

 

Meanwhile to answer some of the questions:-

 

1) Yes, this was quite the norm when starting a day's work away from base.

 

2) We had a very smart uniform, and tried to keep it clean!

 

3) I've never flown any aircraft I haven't walked around. Why? Well, there used to

 

be a small syndicate who kept a small 2-seater french Jodel aircraft in a shed on a farmers

 

strip, and flew it weekends, and sometimes did a bit of maintenance during the week. One

 

Saturday morning, a member came up to do some solo flying. He pulled the aircraft out,

 

checked the fuel and oil, checked the control column for "full and free movement", started

 

up, lined up on the runway, opened up the throttle, and careered off at 90 degrees right,

 

and ended up nose down in a ditch, writing off the aircraft.

 

WHY? Well, one of the other members had come up during the week, removed the

 

rudder, and taken it home to replace the fabric covering.........TRUE STORY!

 

4) Ordinary turnrounds did not require the turning and draining checks, only the

 

first flight of the day, and at home base we had engineers to do that.

 

And yes Bob, Intra became Jersey European, which split into JEA and Channel Express, and

 

in my time I flew for both, (last DC-3 flight 29/4/81), and converted on to Viscounts, Twin

 

Otters (JEA and British Antarctic Survey), Trislanders and Islanders, (Aurigny), BAe-146's,

 

(TNT Airways), and latterly the gentlemans aeronautical carriage, the Airbus A300, (still

 

TNT), with the 3-crew cockpit.

 

So, more will come soon, but I don't want to clog up the thread!

 

Dakman.

 

 

 

 

[Jessie The Jeep]

.........

 

WHY? Well, one of the other members had come up during the week, removed the

 

rudder, and taken it home to replace the fabric covering.........TRUE STORY!......

Dakman.

 

 

Unbelievable!!! Even on the models, I give them a walkaround check. Ensure the prop and engine mounting is tight and prop free from damage, silencer tight, control hinges secure, wing attachments secure, controls full and free and working in the correct direction, landing gear secure, wheels free. All that and it's just a model.

 

For any plane I climb in, I'm much more cautious!!! If a model goes wrong, chances are, you'll walk towards the bits. If a real plane goes wrong, you are lucky if you can unstrap the bits!!

 

Steve

[N.O.S.]

So, more will come soon, but I don't want to clog up the thread!

 

 

Oh, I don't think there would be any complaints in that respect..... ;-) Thanks.

[N.O.S.]

Hey, glad you liked it....plenty more where that came from, but got to be careful not to stray off the subject too much, and keep the posts to a reasonable length methinks. So look out for the climb, cruise, approach, landing.

 

Dakman, you need to get cracking on this pretty sharpish, you've been in the air since mid-January and there can't be much fuel left to get safely back on the ground!!!!!