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.

 

[Jungle_Jet]

Rhoades Aviation still has two or three they fly out of BAK, I see them all of the time. However, their rep leaves much to be desired, from people who have flown there.

 

[DC-3TP]

Forest Service DC-3's

The US Forest Service flies three DC-3TP's. Two are owned by the Forest Service and one is under contract from Rhoades. They are smokejumper platforms. They fly everything from smokejumpers to pax. The best
missions are the para-cargo ops and the cargo missions to the backcountry airstrips in Idaho.

 

[Wang Chung]

and Miami Valley pulled the plug.

Sh1t!! That's really too bad to hear...they had a real sharp fleet of 3's, and recently, too.

 

[Dart]

Stay very very very far away from rhoades...That is a S%$t hole. I worked there for about two years...went from the 3 to cv to lear and all the twin cessnas in about 6 months. There 3's are all down now and I dont see them ever flying agian.

There is a few ops out of long beach that fly 3's to catalina(sp) and maybe a few out of Tx somewhere!
I will try to get the names for ya..just PM me if you want.

 

[Xfr8dog]

Oh yea, i forgot... Otis Spunkmeyer in San Fran flies a couple of 3's. They're really really cool, all passenger (tours of the Bay Area) retrofitted to look like the passenger birds of old. They even make the 88 year old flight attendants and the pilots wear the WOOL uniforms that were the norm back then. The service is supposed to be top notch.

However I have NO idea how to apply or if theres even been any turn over in the past few years. Would be a lot of fun though.....

 

[Texan Driver]

Otis Spunkmeyer has been out of business for awhile. At first they sold the Goons to Jim Gabbert and he in turn sold them to a private individual after operating them for a few years. At least one of them now resides in Hayward.

 

[TRLpilot]

a buddy of mine was out in el paso a couple of months back checking into a dc-3 job. it was a daily run down to chihuahua to pick up car parts. seems the company was looking for a pilot-a&p type, 2 for the price of 1. needless to say he's still at his old job.