Far 25.111

[A Squared]

It's got to be an educational experience flying an airplane where at night, you set the mixture control on the 4 Pratt & Whitney R-2800's by looking at the 18 foot flame pattern they generate.

GV

Actually, we set the mixture control by reference to the torquemters. In the DC-6 you can't see the exhaust flames, all the exhaust stacks are on the outboard sides of the nacelles. Douglas did it that way specifically so that the passengers couldn't see "flames coming out of the engines" which made then nervous. It requires a more complicated exhaust system but Douglas figures it was worth it if passengers felt safer flying a DC-6. That philosophy was abandoned with the DC-7 as it would be almost impossibe (or at least very difficult) to route the overboard stacks from all 3 Power Recovery Turbines on the R-3350 to the outboard side.

You can see the exhaust flame on the C-46 at night, and it is truly an impressive sight.