trustysteed
Guest
Elmer Fudd said:
is that where the phrase 'up to your nuts in guts' came from?
Dakota ahoy!
- Thread starter Arch
- Start date
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is that where the phrase 'up to your nuts in guts' came from?
Elmer Fudd
Miserable Old Bar Steward
- Location
- Durham, and I am the eejit
trustysteed said:
Dakotas are supposed to be/were one of the easiest planes to fly and service, that's why so many were snapped up by private individuals after WWII for private airlines
OP
OP
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Elmer Fudd said:
It certainly sounds like it. Apparently they are still in service as airliners in some South American nations, and in South Africa, where they are scheduled to remain so until 2040, by which time the model will have been flying for over 100 years... (if not the actual last few planes)
The chappie giving us the talk said if he had the money he'd like to do one out to live in (he mentioned a cocktail cabinet..) and island hop around the Med and then the Far East...
andy_wrx
Über Member
We went to Venezuela a few years ago, flew out to a jungle airstrip, canoed to Angel Falls, flew back.
We flew in a C47 (civilian Dak), with a plate inside saying built in 1947.
Some of the party were nervous of flying in it, but to me it was far more exciting than yet another 737 Dumbo.
The airline was the domestic arm of the Venezuelan national carrier, not some tatty old airline, and the reason they were flying it was because it worked.
The pilots were a knarled old veteran and a young guy only in his 20's. I asked him in my dodgy Spanish if he'd rather not be flying jets, he smiled and said no, this was a real aeroplane.
They had one pair of cycling gloves between them, one on his left hand and the other on his right, and it became obvious why - the throttle levers vibrated-about so much that you needed a glove on that hand.
We took off and flew into a wall of cloud, up through it and along for 3/4 hour or so, then the pilot found a hole in the cloud, dived the plane into it and spiralled down really steeply and tightly until we popped-out under the clouds.
Down below was miles of jungle, looking like broccoli, and rivers, and broccoli, and rivers, and more brocccoli and nothing else - no towns, roads, railways, anything to navigate by.
Also there were tepui's, the steep-sided flat-topped mountains (think Conan Doyle 'The Lost World', but without dinosaurs) and that's why we'd spiralled-down so steeply - he could see jungle through the hole in the cloud, so dived down the hole rather than running into one of these tepui's.
We flew about for half an hour or so, didn't find the jungle airstrip, so back up through the cloud and back to the airfield.
Had lunch, tried-again in the afternoon, much the same as before, another spiral dive through the cloud, but this time navigation was better and we found the airstrip, disturbed the kids who were playing football on it and landed.
Got bitten to bits canoeing up to Angel Falls, but the flight was bl**dy excellent !
We flew in a C47 (civilian Dak), with a plate inside saying built in 1947.
Some of the party were nervous of flying in it, but to me it was far more exciting than yet another 737 Dumbo.
The airline was the domestic arm of the Venezuelan national carrier, not some tatty old airline, and the reason they were flying it was because it worked.
The pilots were a knarled old veteran and a young guy only in his 20's. I asked him in my dodgy Spanish if he'd rather not be flying jets, he smiled and said no, this was a real aeroplane.
They had one pair of cycling gloves between them, one on his left hand and the other on his right, and it became obvious why - the throttle levers vibrated-about so much that you needed a glove on that hand.
We took off and flew into a wall of cloud, up through it and along for 3/4 hour or so, then the pilot found a hole in the cloud, dived the plane into it and spiralled down really steeply and tightly until we popped-out under the clouds.
Down below was miles of jungle, looking like broccoli, and rivers, and broccoli, and rivers, and more brocccoli and nothing else - no towns, roads, railways, anything to navigate by.
Also there were tepui's, the steep-sided flat-topped mountains (think Conan Doyle 'The Lost World', but without dinosaurs) and that's why we'd spiralled-down so steeply - he could see jungle through the hole in the cloud, so dived down the hole rather than running into one of these tepui's.
We flew about for half an hour or so, didn't find the jungle airstrip, so back up through the cloud and back to the airfield.
Had lunch, tried-again in the afternoon, much the same as before, another spiral dive through the cloud, but this time navigation was better and we found the airstrip, disturbed the kids who were playing football on it and landed.
Got bitten to bits canoeing up to Angel Falls, but the flight was bl**dy excellent !
OP
OP
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Wow. I'm envious.
Much as it flies in the face (pardon the pun) of my green credentials, one day I'll book a pleasure flight on a Dakota, or a Rapide. That's style!
Much as it flies in the face (pardon the pun) of my green credentials, one day I'll book a pleasure flight on a Dakota, or a Rapide. That's style!
- Location
- the post-brexit wasteland
in the late 80s i had a flight into guilin airport, china (where they have those mountains you see on chinese restaurant tapestries) in an old trident 2 in the pissing rain. took three attempts to land
NickM
Veteran
- Location
- Darwin's birthplace
Depends on whether the co-pilot likes youNickM said:
boom tish!!
I dunno, I have to provide the punchline too...
There was a prog on the Discovery channel ages ago where they were talking to aircrew abut their planes. One gnarled old bloke flew Dakotas almost from the day they were issued to the Army Air Corp was asked what he thought about the aircraft. His reply was 'You might break one, but you won't wear one out.'