DC-3's

[Capt. JD]

Anyone have info on Saber Cargo Airlines? Thanks for any information about this company...

 

[cargoflyr69]

I was under the impression that they are no more

 

[Capt. JD]

Thanks...

That's what I though because there website doesn't exist anymore... Do you know what happened? I was trying to see if they needed any F/O's for those DC-3's, that would be fun to fly

 

[OPECJet]

If its the one out of CLT, they are no longer. The a/c are still sitting near the US MX hangar though.

 

[Xfr8dog]

I flew for them years ago. I still keep in touch with a 3 Cpt that lives in CLT. They are not coming back. They are gone. And as much as I loved flying the DC-3, gained very valuable experience and made a decent wage there, I have to say its for the best. I saw published in an air cargo magazine that they had hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fines for failure to comply with maintainence and falsifying maintainence records. I can tell you first hand that that is absolutely true. They were one of the "135 operators" that gave all the others a bad name.


The above statement is not flame bait. If you dont like it, PM me!

 

[pilotyip]

Gooney's on the way out

The cost of engine overhauls and a decline in the number of companies overhauling the 1830 have pretty much ended the glory days of the DC-3. We used to see them come through YIP at 4-5 per week. Then the companies started dropping out of the DC-3 business. ILF dumped theirs, Saber just disappeared, and Miami Valley pulled the plug. There is still one operator out of Canada who comes through YIP every once in a while. I am extremely fortunate I still get to fly the DC-3 for a museum here at YIP. It is probably the most babied DC-3 (C-47) in the world and everything works like it should. It is the real thrill of flying, for the pilot makes everything happen, there is nothing automatic. Lowering the gear is a 5 step process.

 

[falcon20driver]

Now you got me wondering, what are the 5 steps?

 

[pilotyip]

5 steps

1. Confirm positve gear lock lever in proper position, non erect and not locked.
2. Lower gear hyd porting valve lever to the down position, observe hyd pressure on landing gear hyd panel, watch for bump.
3. Push in landing gear down lock indicator light (spring loaded push button thing on the gear hyd porting valve selector thing), observe green light on insturment panel indicating gear is down, but not locked.
4. Move gear hyd porting valve lever to the neautral position, observe green light on insturment panel is illiuminated.
5. Manually place landing gear poistive lock lever into the locked poisiton and place the positive lock lever keeper in the overcenter hold position.

The gear is now down and you can read the checklist.

This was so much better than the DC-2 where you actually had to manually pump the gear up and down, the DC-3 was a modern airplane for co-pilots back then.

 

[prattzl]

Not sure who the operator is but there was a company that flew 3's into Tuscaloosa, AL (TCL) with parts for the Mercedes plant there. I think they came out of GSP but I am not sure. Sorry I don't have more info. Maybe someone else recognizes this company.

 

[falcon20driver]

So how does a pilot get qualified to fly as a copilot or captain on the Yankee Air Museum airplanes?
It has to be quite a thrill to fly those old birds.