Post by Hero540 on Oct 30, 2011 9:30:47 GMT -5
Hey folks! So, I'm a huge fan of the Douglas DC-3. I want to, sometime in my life, fly aboard one before I die...but at any rate...Dutch's DC-3C is spectacular and very challenging to fly correctly...I've been having a hell of a time in it.
-BUT-
In my virtual career as a pilot I got picked up by a small-time cargo outfit called Sparrow Air Freight. These guys rent a couple of hangars and run shop from a container office out of Bakersfield Municipal Airport , California (L45). They are kinda a bubblegum and bailing wire repair-job outfit, but I'm desperate and they needed a pilot, so I went ahead and applied for the job. Got my checkride outta the way and got assigned a very short job as a sort of "test run" from L45 to KCCB. Loaded up with 6,300lbs of miscellaneous goods and one very desperate passenger, a sort of shifty looking guy who really needed to get to Cord, California some 90+ miles away...
Flew the flight based on a GPS plan, monitoring all the systems like a paranoid man possessed, at around 6,500ft. Had to do some weaving into valleys and climbing to get over some very very large mountains blocking the way into KCCB. Nice weather, not much to complain about during cruise. I was making good time, and soon found myself reporting TOD with my systems still in the green. Flew in and made the landing, no bounce and the FO commented (I think his words were) "Damn, you really greased the landing, good job!" I'm estatic! The plane hasn't burst into the flames and we're all alive and this cargo is okay. I announce clear of the runway for traffic and as I pull onto the taxi way, I hear applause from the cargo hold.
Mr. Shifty, despite no in-flight services and his only seat a crate of mail, thought highly of my landing.
A greaser landing is well within my range in most of my flights. That's nothing new. In other FSCaptain flights, I've had my FO comment on my nice landings, but I've never had passengers applaud before, and I especially never felt the accomplishment I felt doing it in the DC-3C!
The complexity of that plane makes this so magical...it's difficult to manage and learn, and having had a brief, albeit very successful flight today in the DC-3C makes this very memorable for me!
Thanks Dutch for all of your hard work on FSCaptain, and the wonderful DC-3C!
-BUT-
In my virtual career as a pilot I got picked up by a small-time cargo outfit called Sparrow Air Freight. These guys rent a couple of hangars and run shop from a container office out of Bakersfield Municipal Airport , California (L45). They are kinda a bubblegum and bailing wire repair-job outfit, but I'm desperate and they needed a pilot, so I went ahead and applied for the job. Got my checkride outta the way and got assigned a very short job as a sort of "test run" from L45 to KCCB. Loaded up with 6,300lbs of miscellaneous goods and one very desperate passenger, a sort of shifty looking guy who really needed to get to Cord, California some 90+ miles away...
Flew the flight based on a GPS plan, monitoring all the systems like a paranoid man possessed, at around 6,500ft. Had to do some weaving into valleys and climbing to get over some very very large mountains blocking the way into KCCB. Nice weather, not much to complain about during cruise. I was making good time, and soon found myself reporting TOD with my systems still in the green. Flew in and made the landing, no bounce and the FO commented (I think his words were) "Damn, you really greased the landing, good job!" I'm estatic! The plane hasn't burst into the flames and we're all alive and this cargo is okay. I announce clear of the runway for traffic and as I pull onto the taxi way, I hear applause from the cargo hold.
Mr. Shifty, despite no in-flight services and his only seat a crate of mail, thought highly of my landing.
A greaser landing is well within my range in most of my flights. That's nothing new. In other FSCaptain flights, I've had my FO comment on my nice landings, but I've never had passengers applaud before, and I especially never felt the accomplishment I felt doing it in the DC-3C!
The complexity of that plane makes this so magical...it's difficult to manage and learn, and having had a brief, albeit very successful flight today in the DC-3C makes this very memorable for me!
Thanks Dutch for all of your hard work on FSCaptain, and the wonderful DC-3C!
