|
|
Fri, Oct 15, 5:36 PM (5 days ago) |
|
||
|
||||
If you think people won't get up tight, like the warning says, "
Not Politically Correct.
: Fw: The Age of the 727 - (WARNING: Not Politically Correct!)
Eric
I realize most of you have not flown
the B-727, but this is for those on my list who - like me - have. Enjoy.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some truth to the following. The 727 wasn't a Water Wagon,
but it did smoke a little. The FAA took a lot of fun away by limiting airspeed
to 250 Knots below 10,000 feet. Hearing the clacker after flaps up at 2000 feet
could only be experienced in Mexico or the Bahamas in later years....or right
after takeoff in Buffalo chasing an American 727 on the way to ORD.
The Age of the 727
Those were the good ole days. Pilots back then were men that didn't want to be
women or girly men. Pilots all knew who Jimmy Doolittle was. Pilots drank
coffee, whiskey, smoked cigars and didn't wear digital watches. They carried
their own suitcases and brain bags, like the real men they were.
Pilots didn't bend over into the crash position multiple times each day in
front of the passengers at security so that some Gov't agent could probe for
tweezers or fingernail clippers or too much toothpaste. Pilots did not go
through the terminal impersonating a caddy pulling a bunch of golf clubs,
computers, guitars, and feed bags full of tofu and granola on a sissy-trailer
with no hat and granny glasses hanging on a pink string around their pencil
neck while talking to their personal trainer on the cell phone!!!
Being an airline Captain was as good as being the King in a Mel Brooks
movie. All the Stewardesses (aka. Flight Attendants) were young,
attractive, single women that were proud to be combatants in the sexual
revolution. They didn't have to turn sideways, grease up and suck it in to get
through the cockpit door. They would blush, and say thank you, when told that
they looked good, instead of filing a sexual harassment claim. Junior
Stewardesses shared a room and talked about men.... with no thoughts of
substitution.
Passengers wore nice clothes and were polite; they could speak AND understand
English. They didn't speak gibberish or listen to loud gangsta rap on their
iPod. They bathed and didn't smell like a rotting pile of garbage in a jogging
suit and flip-flops. Children didn't travel alone, commuting between trailer
parks. There were no Biggest Losers asking for a seatbelt extension or a Scotch
and grapefruit juice cocktail with a twist. If the Captain wanted to throw some
offensive, ranting jerk off the airplane, it was done without any worries of a
lawsuit or getting fired.
Axial flow engines crackled with the sound of freedom and left an impressive
black smoke trail like a locomotive burning soft coal. Jet fuel was cheap and
once the throttles were pushed up they were left there. After all, it was the
jet age and the idea was to go fast (run like a lizard on a hardwood floor).
"Economy cruise" was something in the performance book, but no one
knew why or where it was. When the clacker went off, no one got all tight and
scared because Boeing built it out of iron. Nothing was going to fall off and
that sound had the same effect on real pilots then, as Viagra does now for
these new age guys.
There was very little plastic and no composites on the airplanes (or the
Stewardesses' pectoral regions). Airplanes and women had eye-pleasing
symmetrical curves, not a bunch of ugly vortex generators, ventral fins,
winglets, flow diverters, tattoos, rings in their nose, tongues and
eyebrows.
Airlines were run by men like C.R. Smith, Juan Trippe, "Eddie
Rickenbacker" and Bob Six, who built their companies virtually from
scratch, knew most of their employees by name, and were lifetime airline
employees themselves...not pseudo financiers and bean counters who flit from
one occupation to another for a few bucks, a better parachute or a fancier
title, while fervently believing that they are a class of beings unto
themselves.
And so it was back then....and never will be again! Damn! Flying is the second
greatest thrill known to man. What is first, you ask?
Landing, of course.
Editor: Two LEX 727
stories with a little self confession.
FO landing “What happened?” - LEX had a crosswind and in the DC9 we all got
pretty used crabbing and kicking for alignment close to the flare and touch. That worked ok on the 9. And as a very senior 9 FO my technique was
actually quite good. Well, now I was new
back on the 727 as an FO and here I was in LEX and I tried that technique on
this crosswind landing and we hit so hard my fillings came loose. I turned to the Captain and asked, “what
happened?” He shrugged and just looked
at me like I was just another inept FO.
Well, I gave it a lot of thought, and I theorized that I threw in enough
control wheel turn to activate some wing spoiler assist. Well, if that happened you will destroy lift
and the result will not be pretty. After
spending some time watching other lousy crosswind landings by the left seater,
I confirmed my suspicions in my mind.
Roll the control wheel enough on short final and without adding power,
you will get a spoiler assist and a resultant drop to a hard landing from lift
destruction. Bad bad unexpected landing
but it led to a lot better earlier slip application with a lot better landings
in the future.
Capt Line Chk Screamin Apprch - When flying, in my after-Delta-Life, our Brand
X trainers would often say that ‘Delta guys’ would keep it going but hit all
the approach criteria somehow at the last second and things would ‘work out.’ Well, I can somewhat attest to that and
confirm that after a lot of reps one does get used to just how long (or how
little) distance and time is needed to slow and configure right on time. Well, today I was on one of my 1st
line checks as a B727 Capt and my line chk was none other than one of ORD’s
favorites Capt Bob Slette, who in turn was being looked at by another ORD fav
Capt Jim White. Bob was in the FO
seat. I was cleared for the visual at
LEX and whipped it toward the runway a little high but a lot fast. I knew the runway wasn’t the longest so I
began every trick I knew to slow and configure…… and slow some more. I turned to Bob in the FO seat observing and
said, “Bob, if at any time it doesn’t look okay for you just shout and we’ll
wave off.” I continued to scream down
final slowing but not slowing as fast as I’d like or should. I took another look over at Bob and said, “Is
it ok?” His eyes were like saucers as he nodded yes, while Jim had a look of
‘no way’ on his face. This was long before the ‘1000’ configured and on
speed’ requirement and also way before approach monitoring of ASAP. Somehow as
we got to short final we were in good enough shape and landed. Bob and Jim both
lost a couple of years off their life as they wiped the sweat from their fore
heads and both either thought I was the luckiest of ‘hot dogs’, or that I will
somehow, someday learn from my screw ups.
I don’t know which, but it was a long long time after that approach,
that I got that embarrassingly behind. And
YES, I did learn a little something from “whipping” it in on visuals from that
day onward.
If you have some 727 lessons or
stories, love to hear them and share with the group. Please send ‘em on in.
No comments:
Post a Comment