What's hard to fly, what's easy?

[UPS DC8]

What about the DC 8

The 70 series we have at UPS have plenty of power, but the aircraft will eat your lunch. It will not slow down and go down, only one or the other (no speed brakes). You only have 22 inches of clearance on the outboard engines before you scrape a pod on landing (5 degrees of bank max). This makes cross wind landings very challenging. 8 degrees max rotation on take-off or you'll scrape the tail. The airplane is stable, but getting it to turn takes some muscle. Sometimes I have to use both hands on the wheel to get is moving. UPS has updated the avionics, but it does not have an FMS. You have to figure all desends and crossing restrictions. This can be tough with a stiff tail wind. You never get comfortable or good at landing this thing. Anyone who says they are is full of it.

Hope this helps

 

[KickSave]

I haven't flown one, but I've seen a video of the A320 that my Cousin flies. Apparently, when you are around the threshold and in position to begin your flare, it starts talking to you in a quasi French accent and calls you a "Retard! Retard!"

I would think it's very hard to fly with the plane insulting you like that. Maybe I'm too sensitive?

 

[freightdogfred]

Re: What about the DC 8

The 70 series we have at UPS have plenty of power, but the aircraft will eat your lunch. You never get comfortable or good at landing this thing. Anyone who says they are is full of it.

Hope this helps

Actually. I can't think of an airplane I'm more comfortable landing than stretch 8's. (I must be full of it?) When you get near the ground/ground effect, try easing forward on the yoke instead of flaring...(Ya gotta be on speed though) A greaser almost every time.

I guess most of the young bucks cruising this board never even heard of a C-46.... Any fool can fly an airplane, it's taking off and landing that's the hard part. You start flying a C-46 as soon as you pull the chocks. There is no airplane built that will change directions on a runway quicker than that beast.....

 

[skyking1976]

If bricks don't fly well, how do you explain the F-4 Phantom???

It just proves that with enough thrust you can get anything into the air.

SK

 

[Clownpilot]

A little reminder

Sometimes I feel bad about how tough I am on Avroach........

Then I read another gem from him like this one..............

and that feeling quickly goes away. Very quickly.

Thanks for the reminder, McGyver.

avbug never said he was "sh!t hot".

I did say that a professional pilot who finds glitches in his equipment, such that he is drawn to say it is poor equipment, should look at himself first. I stated it before, and will state it again; only a poor carpenter blames his tools.

As for the 20 series learjets; there are no bad habits. The airplanes fly honestly, have much more performance than they need, and are simple, straightforward machines. These airplanes are older, and not graced with the latest autopilots, avionics suites, or other acouterments. Big deal. They're a lot of fun, give a good ride, fly great in weather and ice, and perform very well on one engine when should the need arise. The powerplants are bulletproof for the most part; very reliable. (Their two great drawbacks being high fuel consumption and noise, and for some the latter is no great drawback). Personally, I like the sound.

If a pilot finds an airplane hard to fly, the pilot has no business in that airplane. Challenging is another matter. When we cease to be challenged, we become complacent, we die.

 

[Clownpilot]

1836 POSTS.............ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY SIX!!!!!!!!

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AND COUNTING..........................................

avbug never said he was "sh!t hot".

I did say that a professional pilot who finds glitches in his equipment, such that he is drawn to say it is poor equipment, should look at himself first. I stated it before, and will state it again; only a poor carpenter blames his tools.

As for the 20 series learjets; there are no bad habits. The airplanes fly honestly, have much more performance than they need, and are simple, straightforward machines. These airplanes are older, and not graced with the latest autopilots, avionics suites, or other acouterments. Big deal. They're a lot of fun, give a good ride, fly great in weather and ice, and perform very well on one engine when should the need arise. The powerplants are bulletproof for the most part; very reliable. (Their two great drawbacks being high fuel consumption and noise, and for some the latter is no great drawback). Personally, I like the sound.

If a pilot finds an airplane hard to fly, the pilot has no business in that airplane. Challenging is another matter. When we cease to be challenged, we become complacent, we die.

 

[UPS DC8]

Freightdogfred,

When you get near the ground/ground effect, try easing forward on the yoke instead of flaring...

I think you meant to say...AFTER you flare, ease forward on the yoke. If you push forward instead of flairing you will prang the nose gear everytime. I'm not a high time DC 8 driver, but the guys I fly with are and when you get too confident the 8 will humble you real quick.

 

[Vector4fun]

When my Dad retired from DAL. he said the DC-6 was his favorite, followed closely by the L-1011. Of course, he flew the -6 when they were relatively new. CV-880s were very fast and fun, DC-8's were very comfortable, a short -9 with -30 series (big) engines was the closest to a fighter he ever flew.


And regarding the C-46, when he was a brand new co-pilot for DAL, they landed one in Ohio with a (unkown to them) flat tire. Captain left it half on and half off the runway, told the airport manager if they wanted it moved, they could do it their **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** selves, and went for a drink....

 

[f9driver]

The B-707-300's were a bit of a handful at times, mainly because they were an early design without airspeed data feeding various pieces of the controls. It flew well when going fast and was a little sloppy when slowed to the landing configuration. To make a "greaser" you had to flare a little and than ease the nose over so the rear trucks were coming up not going down.

 

[GREAT LAKES]

Easy/Hard airplanes to fly

I fell asleep while landing the Kingair 90 one time. I flew a 1900C for while (30hrs) and felt it was hard to make a "greaser". How did this post get so wide (on the computer screen?)