Posted on 06/13/2005 1:04:05 PM PDT by PilloryHillary
There are still a couple of air forces that fly C-46's and C-47's.
Is Wings Back???
And there's a company, Basler, that's taking old DC-3s and really heavily modifying them...hanging a pair of turboprop engines on the wings, five-bladed props, stretched fuselages, all-new hydraulic, pneumatic, and electric systems. They're pushing them to Third World countries as transports, and in some cases, monitoring/ELINT platforms.
The DC-3 really is the airplane that just won't go away...almost everything else of its era is on the airshow circuit or in museums, but hundreds of those old Threes are still out there around the world, day after day, actually *working*.
}:-)4
Cubana?
Actually, when I went to Cuba around December 2002, I flew in something called a Yakolev Yak-42D. Felt and flew like something from the 50s.
You can imagine my shock when I looked it up and found they were designed circa 1981. Soviet "technology" sure is backward.
D
They are still building them from the old designs today.
Actually the 42D is a relatively new technology. You should try the Antonov AN2 for shock value.
You would think they would steal something better, like they, the Russians, do for their military.
There are hundreds of places around the world that would have no air service whatsoever if it weren't for the DC-3. They're still doing the jobs for which they were built in the 30s and there still is no replacement for them.
It looks like they managed to set it down on the street, clipped that tree on the port side, and slewed around. Masterful job of landing the old kite - didn't hit any structures, didn't kill anyone, shame about the airplane but I doubt it gave them a lot of choices for landing strips.
It's just a thrill to hear this, after expecting the worst. What wonderful news!
Thanks for the big laugh!
"Martin said the aircraft went down about three miles east of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport shortly after departing."
Wonder if it was refueled with jet fuel rather than av-gas. It has happened before to these planes.
IIRC, the DC-3 was designed at a time when aluminum was a relatively new material for airplane construction. Without much historical data to base the structual sizing on, it ended up being over-designed. That's why they are still around today, they are basically built like tanks.
There is a picture somewhere that shows Donald Douglas pitching his design to the airlines by driving a bulldozer over the wing center section suspended about three feet off the ground
I don't know how much of the details have been broadcast nationally and I haven't read every post on this thread, but here are some first hand observations:
I was at work when the plane went down - about 6 miles away. I first heard about it on the radio and then checked out FR to get a "media summary."
My kids had a 4:00pm karate class and we drive down 56th Street to get them there. My wife, thank God, was running late and came upon the crash site just as the firetrucks were arriving. The intersection she passed through is about 80 to 100 yards from the crash and she said she could feel the heat from the fire as she drove by. Police were already on the scene chasing away the curious. She tried to call me , but she couldn't get a cell signal.
A Fort Lauderdale fire truck caught fire after leaking fuel flowed down the road and under the vehicle. The fire fighters were caught by surprise and one actually dropped his hose while trying to douse the truck. I thought that they automatically turned off when let go, but the hose flailed around for a bit before they got it under control.
I drove by this morning at 5:00am on the way to the gym and there was still a lot of media and police at the site. They had lights set up and the burnt out airplane looked very creepy there in the street.
The miraculous part of this, of course, is that no one was killed or even seriously injured. The pilot missed power lines, houses, most cars and all people. The crash site is about a 1/4 mile from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, home to nationally renown Dr. D. James Kennedy, about 1/2 mile from three different hospitals (if you drew a triangle on the map from one hospital to the other the plane crashed almost exactly in the middle). Floranada Elementary is about 6 blocks away and the plane flew right over Northeast High School. There are several apartment complexes nearby and he missed all of them. The pilot showed extreme skill in putting it down with limited ground damage and then being able to walk away from the crash.
God was certainly watching over the pilot and the neighborhood.
We flew a DC-3 from the Bahamas to Miami about 30 some years ago. (Mackey Airlines).
It was a blast for this kid. Talk about puddle-jumping. The pilot ended the flight with a typical "Thank you for flying Mackey Airlines..." and then something along the lines of "if you'll remain seated, the co-pilot will jump out and push us up to the terminal ramp."
Columbia and Thailand have converted some of their newer aircraft, designated Basler Turbo-67 or C-47TP, into gunships, designated Turbo AC-47).
These might be older birds, but they were built to last.
My Dad flew as aircrew all over South America for Panagra (Pan American-Grace Lines) just before WWII.
I asked my brother, who is a commercial airline captain, if those planes were DC-3's, and he replied:
Yep! The venerable Gooney Bird. There are a hundred or so still flying around the Carribean. They use them like pick-up trucks. With about the same quality of maintenance.
They are not fast like a jet but they are faster than putting cargo on a boat to ship it to some small island. Most have been modified with large cargo doors. Pretty much, if you can get it in the door, the airplane will carry it.
Pilots that fly them are know as "Freight Dogs". Most of them load their own cargo. Operations are pretty loose without work rules. They operate on the fringes of the Federal Aviation Regulations.
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