Posted on 07/31/2026 11:59:58 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The Douglas DC-3 was mass-produced during World War II. Today, one of the few still remaining transports passengers in Colombia’s jungle.
We were cruising at eight thousand feet, low enough to make out individual trees in the rainforest below, when a towering wall of midafternoon cumulus arose before us.
There was no way around it — it was many miles wide — and no way over it because we were in an 84-year-old Douglas DC-3, arguably the most legendary plane ever mass-produced yet one without a pressurized cabin, which limited how high we could fly.
As the plane and the storm closed in on each other, Captain Joaquín Mosquera slid his window shut. When traversing clear skies, he hangs his elbow out of it as if he were driving an old pickup truck down a dirt road. That’s how riding in a DC-3 feels, too: like being pulled by a tractor through the sky.
This exact plane — one of only 16,000-or-so that were made — was the last operating a scheduled passenger service. As soon as I heard about it while on assignment in Colombia, I knew that I’d do whatever it took to get on board — both as a journalist and as an aviation geek.
The remaining few DC-3s mostly operate...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Pay wall BS.
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I flew in RC47s in Việt Nam. My impression of the plane is that if we got hit and were still alive it would land at an airstrip. Lost an engine as the plane was ascending from Đà Nẵng the plane took off from Đà Nẵng to return to Pleiku one engine punked out. The tower called for us to return to the airfield. The pilot who was an old hand with C-47s turned west, flew over the appropriate mountain ridges, turned south over it and cut the other engine. We rode the updrafts back to Pleiku. It was a very pleasant flight without the engine noise. He started the good engine in time for landing. The pilot was grounded for a month but was put back in the air the same week because he was needed up there.
Great story - both my dad and uncle flew in Nam.
Cool story.
Same engines in the equally-legendary PBY amphibian...
(A warplane and rescue vessel)...
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I think it’s cool that a few of these aircraft remain in passenger service. Quite a large number remain active commercially in specialized roles, generally not just passenger flights. Many are in upgraded form, usually fitted with turboprops and modern avionics.
Full article via a image. Zoom in.
Wow.
Thank you for sharing and thank you for your service. I salute you!
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Cool.
Sometime in the early 70’s my first major dive trip was to Cayman Brac.
Flew out of Tampa in. DC-3.
It was a party atmosphere on board.
Somewhere over the Everglades we hit some rough air. Tossed a few people around and drinks on the ceiling.
Got real quiet and somber for a few minutes.
Then someone started to giggle. Laughing ensued and the party was on again.
Landed in Miami to refuel and pick up a few extra passengers.
While waiting aboard we noticed the pilot out on the wing doing something with the port engine.
A few minutes later another man in dress clothes joined him. They took off a cover and wacked something with a mallet.
Pilot climbed back aboard and started the engine.
Belched black smoke for a bit and settled down.
Trip to Cayman Brac was otherwise uneventful.
Dive experience was hard to top for decades!
Later found out the other man was the President of Cayman Air.
The Wrigley family owned one converted to private executive seating livery. It ended up in Oklahoma City where we chartered it for a trip to Lakeway in Austin in ‘82 for our engineering meeting accompanied by spouses. It was a small oil company I was working for. My son was just an infant and of course went with us. His first airplane ride. He retires from the USAF soon having accumulated an insane number of hours in high performance aircraft.
Later, when we continued up the road, I saw these in a big grass field:
I had to pull over and get closer to get a closer look. They seemed to be in tip top shape.
Just superb. They even retrofit these with turboprop engines!
I love those planes. They say the airframes are so rugged that with appropriate maintenance and care, there is no limit to how long they can keep flying.
They fly well but when one of those P&W 1830’s laydown on you with load on board, you will have your hands full.
They fly well but when one of those P&W 1830’s laydown on you with load on board, you will have your hands full.
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