Death of An Old Bird

[togor]

This one won't make it to Oshkosh. Glad everyone survived. Not an expert but sure looks like pilot error to me.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/21/historic-plane-crashes-at-texas-airport-13-passengers-onboard-survived.html

My understanding is that this bird flies herself off the tarmac, tail wheel first. Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_dB6mjKQPU

A real shame!!

[Mark in Ottawa]

According to an article that I just read, the FAA thinks that there are about 1,400 DC 3 s still flying around the world. According to another article there are about 240 still registered in the USA.

I am reminded of something that my transportation engineering professor told us 50 years ago about aircraft safety rules: 1) Do not fly in any model of aircraft until there have been two crashes and the bugs have been worked out 2) Never fly in a DC 3 since we don't know enough about metal fatigue in old aircraft (they were about 25 to 30 years old at that time). Turns out that the Boeing engineers knew about metal fatigue but knew that they didn't know enough so they over- designed the DC 3, just in case! My very first project out of university was the installation of a visual approach slope indicator system for a runway at Toronto International Airport. To get the system certified it had to be checked out by a Department of Transport aviation official who took me up in, you guessed it, a DC 3.

[Vern Humphrey]

The DC3 -- designed by God, built by Adam and Eve, and it'll be around until Doomsday.

[gwp]

The State Department has at least one.

http://imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/2/5/4/1790452.jpg?v=v40

https://theaviationist.com/2012/10/05/dos-dc3/

[Bill D]

My first airplane ride - from NAF Monterey, CA to NAS Oakland - was in a DC3 in 1959.

[clintonhater]

Also my first, only a yr or two later. But did you carry your Browning Sweet 16 with you on that flight? I did, because I was going to visit my grandfather, who had plenty of quail on his land. Merely boarded the plane with the gun in a soft case, which the stewardess placed in a closet on the plane. No problems whatsoever--what Togor would call "nostalgia."

[oscars]

The State Department plane is a rebuild by Basler Aviation (BT 67) which has a highly modified and strengthened airframe such that it is sold as a zero time frame according to FAR Part 25. In addition it is fitted with PT 6A turboprop engines.

[jjrothWA]

DC-3 was designed by McDonald-Douglas, in mid-30's.
Boeing inherited when they bought McD-D and acquired their management team.

Also, due to WWII the use of Magnesium wing spars was thought to be a good alternative, but as the USN found out in the PV-3 anti-sub aircraft f the 50's, if yu get a engine fire alarm, you have thirty seconds to extinguish, on the thirty-first second, you bail-out!

[togor]

Nobody clicked on the link to see the video of the takeoff? Looks like major pilot error to me. He tried to fly it off from all three wheels down, which does not seem to be SOP (according to what others show on YouTube).

[m1ashooter]

I watched the video on another source. Its certainly was the oddest TO I've every seen.

[remus]

I flew from Ft Campbell Ky to St. Louis Mo for my wedding in 1964, and then back to the base. A really well kept DC3 by Ozark Airlines. Really an enjoyable flight. Low and slow.

[pcox]

A few years after WWll there was a period when several DC-3's crashed due to elevator problems. The FAA discovered the problem when two of their DC-3 were on a trip together and the rear aircraft crew witnessed the other one go down. The younger pilots coming up would hold the tail on the runway until they got the air-speed for take off and then rotate. That action caused the elevator control cable to pull a rubber grommet out of it's hole an aft bulkhead. The cable would then be chafed until it parted, usually on take off. A good friend of mine who was in charge of the FAA office at Lambert Field in St Louis told me the story. He was piloting a DC-3 from St Louis to Oklahoma and the rudder trim tab control broke. He and the co-pilot had both feet on the rudder pedal, feathered one engine and put all the aileron into it that they could to keep it "somewhat straight and near level". They got it on the runway at Ft Leonard Wood. He said he never got in another DC-3.

[Griff Murphey]

Just to reinforce Togor’s comment, a friend of mind flies our museum one here in Fort Worth and said exactly that. The tail wheel has to get off the ground before you can lift it off flying.